1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 226 We are the most suitable people in the world!

Seeing traces of wild boars near a village is a very dangerous thing.

It is said that the ancestors of this domestic pig ate everything, leaving scars wherever they went.

More than one farmer in Lourmarin has complained that their melon fields have been raided by wild boars.

Many people also said with certainty that they had encountered such a behemoth weighing more than 300 kilograms rushing towards them from several hundred meters away, knocking over trees and rocks along the way.

"Didn't I knock you over?" Ronan asked Fabian seriously.

Ronan has been asking people around him about wild boars recently.

His family is the closest to the dense forest. If the wild boar runs out, he will be the first to suffer.

It is necessary to know as much as possible about the 'enemy'.

Fabian lit a cigarette in fear:

"Luckily I had a gun with me that day and I used it to scare it off."

Ronan discovered a logical loophole:

"Since you have a gun, why don't you just shoot it to death?"

Fabian shrugged.

"I didn't bring enough bullets. If I hadn't killed the wild boar, I would have been the one to die. You know, wild boars eat people."

Ronan's expression has never been so serious:

"You shot it twice, and the man-eating creature let you go?"

Fabian thought carefully and answered:

"It rushed in another direction. I guess its target was not me. It might have been the melon field in the village or something else. Anyway, I was lucky enough to survive."

Ronan sighed:

"If the wild boar in the dense forest came to the village to look for food or water, my family would definitely not be able to escape. Would it be stupid enough to bypass my house and the vineyard and run a few hundred meters to the center of the village?"

Henry, who couldn't bear to see Ronan suffer any injustice, started to insult him:

"The government should relax hunting regulations! We're giving those animals too much time to reproduce. They can roam safely in Provence for eight months every year. What else can they do if not have babies? A wild boar can have at least six cubs per litter, and up to 6! And then those cubs will keep having babies the next year. In a few years, there will be more wild boars in Provence than people!"

Thanks to Henry's comfort, Ronan's face became even uglier.

Could it be that a family of wild boars came from that dense forest? !
Pierre also began to comfort Ronan:
"I heard that the government blocked off that dense forest because they are going to carry out a professional wild boar expulsion operation. When the time comes, all the hunters in the vicinity will participate. Don't worry, Ronan, the wild boar problem will be solved soon."

Pierre's consolation was of no comfort, and Ronan asked nervously:

"All the hunters around here are going. Does that mean the hunters in our village will also come along?"

Theo said, holding a cigarette in his mouth:

"I have to help Lucas with something recently, so I don't have time to go."

Fabian also said regretfully:

"I have to go to Apt in the next few days, so I can't attend."

Ronan's expression finally improved:

"That's fine, that's fine."

If you guys go, my family will really be finished!
Since then, Ronan and his family have been living in fear, all the while looking forward to the "professional wild boar expulsion operation" that Pierre mentioned to start as soon as possible.

The two guns Gabriel sent were always placed in the most accessible place. Due to special circumstances, Marseille and Xiao Hei were also sent to Zoe's house for the "autumn vacation".

The three of them left together in the morning and went home together in the evening. They had no personal time and no freedom.

Ronan had an illusion - the government was not blocking the dense forest, but the three of them.

"Wild boars, please leave here quickly. Life like this is too hard!" Feng Zhen complains like this every day.

On a mild morning, the Ronan family finally saw their savior - five jeeps and a dozen hunters sitting inside.

Ronan’s first reaction was that he was saved!

Since all the people who came were strangers, it meant that the amateur hunters he knew did not participate in the operation.

The second reaction is professional!

Not only did they wear uniform camouflage uniforms, but their equipment was also very advanced, making them look like a group of well-trained mercenaries.

The hunting dogs also looked very reliable. After getting off the car, none of them showed any interest in romance. All of them circled around fiercely and roared as if they were not to be trifled with. It seemed that they were already practicing how to surround a wild boar.

This visual impact made Ronan feel as if he was in the middle of a large-scale manhunt or a war that was about to break out. He felt tense but also full of a sense of security.

He believed that after today, life would return to its original track!
In order to get the results of the war as soon as possible, the Paris family gave the students a day off and waited at home for good news from the battlefield.

But Luo Tianhai was not idle either:

"I learned how to make cakes from Leah and will send them over when they have a break."

Feng Zhen immediately went to get the fruit:

"I'll cut another fruit plate. After all, they are here to help us, so we must thank them."

Ronan turned around and tried to find something to do:

"Why don't I freeze some wine? We don't seem to have any ice cold beer at home."

"No, no, how can you drink when doing such a dangerous thing? How can you do such an unreliable thing!" Feng Zhen stopped him sternly.

Ronan smacked his lips and picked up the coffee pot:

"Okay, I'll make some coffee."

The three of them prepared the "comfort items" while looking out the window anxiously.

Did you find the wild boar?
At around 9 o'clock in the morning, the first news from the front line reached Ronan's home.

The sharp-eyed Feng Zhen saw a hunter in camouflage clothes walking towards them in the sunlight.

With the sunlight behind him, he looked as sacred as a soldier returning from the battlefield.

With her hint, Ronan and Luo Tianhai also discovered the man.

But the young man had better eyesight, and Ronan noticed that he had a rifle barrel on one shoulder and something that looked furry on the other.

"His hunting dog seems to be injured." Ronan gave his judgment.

"No way, is it that dangerous? The hunting dog was bitten by a wild boar?!" Feng Zhen closed the window in fear, as if the wild boar would rush into the house and eat them all in the next second.

Luo Tianhai opened the door:
"Go check it out, maybe he needs help."

Ronan's family is the closest household to the dense forest and is also the only supply station in this war.

"Is he okay?" The Paris family trotted over to check on the hunter and his hound.

The entire right front paw of this poor hunting dog was covered in blood, staining its owner's camouflage uniform red, and its other three legs drooped limply, showing that it was seriously injured.

"God, please go to my house and treat it. There are medicines for treating external injuries." Feng Zhen took the initiative to invite the hunter home.

"Thank you." There was no sign of gratitude on the hunter's face, and sadness seemed to have swallowed him up.

He carried the hound to Lennan's yard, carefully washed the hound's paws and checked the injuries.

Luo Tianhai kindly reminded:
"I advise you to take care of it briefly and take it to the vet. I heard that wild boars carry viruses, and if they get infected, it will be troublesome."

Every wild boar that is hunted must have its tongue cut off and sent to a professional place for testing. Only after passing the test can it be eaten or sold. This is common sense that everyone in Provence knows. The man said in grief:

"Probably not. We didn't see any wild boars."

"Didn't you see the wild boar? Then how did it get injured?" Feng Zhen's eyes were bigger than light bulbs.

The man sighed:

"It's afraid of heat, and it stayed at home all summer without going out much. Its claws are not sharp anymore, and it got hurt today because it ran a little too much."

Paris family: “???”

Where are the professional hunters?

Ronan kept comforting himself that this person might be a coincidence.

There must be a professional hunter among those dozen people who can easily solve their big troubles.

But before ten o'clock, all those people had retreated from the jungle.

They took off their camouflage uniforms, put on clean shirts, put down their shotguns and professional tools, picked up their knives and forks, and started their picnic beside Ronan's vineyard.

During this time, I also went to Ronan's house to ask for ice cubes, saying that their beer was not cold enough.

Ronan clenched his fists angrily on his way to work at the restaurant.

There is not a single reliable hunter in Provence, not one!
The task of protecting our homeland can only be shouldered by ourselves!!
When I returned home that evening, the blockade of the dense forest was lifted.

I heard that this group of professional hunters did not find any traces of wild boars in there, and no one has actually seen wild boars there from beginning to end, but a few footprints suspected to be wild boars were found.

However, the lifting of the blockade did not make Ronan take it lightly. In order to protect his family and himself, he upgraded the [Hunting] skill in the system to level 3, hoping to improve the safety factor of his family through the ability provided by the system.

Ever since he spent 8 points of [Happiness] in August to learn [Cooking] to level 2000, Ronan has not spent much, and only spent 4 points to learn [Weaving] and [Pottery] to level 600.

Now he can accumulate about 2000 [Happiness] points every month, and after upgrading [Hunting] to level 3, he still has more than 1500 points left for future use.

Level 2 [Hunting] still brings basic knowledge and hunting common sense. If Ronan sees the suspected footprints in the dense forest, he can clearly judge whether it is a wild boar.

Level 3 [Hunting] brings two abilities.

One is that his understanding of animals has deepened. He can now judge the general meaning of what the other party wants to express through the animals' calls and behavioral characteristics. He cannot get into the specific content, but he can see the emotions.

The second ability was his enhanced ability to use firearms—the sharpshooter of Lourmarin was born!

"Come on, wild boar! As long as you appear within my shooting range, I will kill you within three shots!"

In the darkness, Ronan held his two guns and swore with bright eyes!

The easing of lockdown has brought no changes to the Ronan family.

Before going to bed, Feng Zhen would still use heavy objects to prop up the door, for fear that wild boars would break in at night.

The first thing they do every morning when they wake up is to check on the condition of their home and vineyard, fearing that the home they have built with great difficulty will be 'razed to the ground' by some behemoth.

She also got into the habit of staring out the window nervously no matter what she did, so that she could be the first to spot the legendary bad thing that could overturn all the trees and rocks.

That morning, after the family of three had finished lunch and were about to go to the restaurant to work, Feng Zhen, who was on guard, let out a scream that was even more piercing than that of Marseille when he was a child.

"Wild boar! The wild boar is out!!"

Ronan almost threw the cup away.

He picked up the two guns and went to the window, and sure enough, he saw a dark, moving object at the far end of the vineyard.

Although it was far away, he was sure it must be a wild boar!

"What should I do? What should I do?" Although Feng Zhen was scared, she did not forget to lock the door first.

"Don't be afraid, as long as it is within my range, I can definitely hit it." Ronan came to the best shooting point in the house.

Luo Tianhai asked nervously:
"Do you want to call Teo and the others to help you?"

Ronan sneered:
"When Theo and his men come, they will only fire salutes to scare the wild boar back. We don't know when it will come out next time."

"Can you, can you, son?" Feng Zhen asked haltingly, "I heard from your friends that your shooting skills aren't very good."

Ronan confidently closed one eye and aimed:
“Every bullet hits its target.”

Ronan's performance in the past year has convinced his parents that he is not a boastful person.

He said every shot hits the target, so it must not be too bad.

So they nervously watched the uninvited guest approaching their home.

It's just that this 'notorious' guy doesn't like to rush around as everyone says, and his speed is slower than a human walking.

Finally, when it came into Ronan's shooting range, everyone could see its appearance clearly.

Its dark brown fur was covered with morning dew, and its nose kept twitching. Every time it smelled something like an eyebrow on its eyes, it would tremble. There were a few strands of green grass on its face, making it look "silly and cute".

"Is this a wild boar?" Feng Zhen poked his head out from behind Luo Tianhai, wanting to see it more clearly. "Why is it different from what I imagined?"

Ronan's index finger was firmly on the trigger, but he didn't press it down.

This is indeed a wild boar.

It's different because it's not yet an adult.
According to the knowledge provided by the system, this wild boar is only about 5 or 6 months old at most.

Luo Tianhai also discovered something was wrong:

"It didn't destroy anything, unlike what the villagers said."

"What should we do? Ask someone to catch it?" Feng Zhen had already gotten rid of his fear and became curious.

While the couple was discussing, gunshots suddenly rang out, three times in a row.

"Hey, don't shoot first!" Feng Zhen shouted.

She was about to scold Ronan for being too anxious when she saw the wild boar turn around and run quickly towards the dense forest. It soon disappeared without a trace, as if it had been extremely frightened.

Ronan put down the gun and said without any emotion:
"Missed."

Feng Zhen patted his chest in fear and whispered in a weak voice:
"Fortunately, my shooting skills are not good. I was scared to death, scared to death."

In the evening, Ronan left the restaurant and went to Louis's house.

After the wild boar incident, he hadn't gone on a night out with Zoe for a long time.

But Zoe didn't have time to go out with him today. She was working on a very important piece - a thrush made of glass and ceramic.

Zoe is going to use this bird, which is very common in Provence, to attend the new meeting.

The half-baked hunters in the village can't catch anything else, and the thrush is the only thing they can catch.

"Don't be depressed, okay?" Zoe patiently comforted Ronan after hearing him describe the 'thrilling scene' that happened that morning.

Ronan looked at the thrush and remembered what happened in the morning. He suddenly smiled and said:
"No, I'm not depressed at all. I'm actually quite happy."

"Happy?" Zoe looked up and asked, "Why are you happy?"

Ronan sat behind Zoe and put his head on her shoulder:
"Because we are similar in many things, of course I am happy."

Zoe smiled and patted Ronan on the head:

"Because our shooting skills are terrible?"

Ronan hugged Zoe tightly, looked at the many animal elements in the studio, and said happily:
"Not only that. We must be the most suitable people in the world!"

(End of this chapter)