1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 228 An unexpected friend

Zoe never dressed herself up in Lourmarin.

She can "conquer the world" with just her face, without too much decoration. Moreover, she is a low-key person and does not want to attract too much attention from the villagers.

But Zoe knows how to dress up, and she is very good at it.

She transforms herself into a fashion icon every time she goes to Aix.

Girlish style, college style, sporty style, mature style, punk rebellious style, Renaissance style. All can be handled.

In her wardrobe, there are oversized shirts, double-breasted suits, pencil skirts, metallic wrap skirts, riveted belts, and fishnet gloves.

After dressing up carefully, Zoe is no less beautiful than any girl from a big city, especially with her own special temperament.

It was obvious that the first reaction of the two girls from the big city when they saw Zoe was not the joy of seeing their 'idol' but deep surprise.

Does this young artist not only have talent, but also has such good temperament and appearance?
This is so surprising!
After all, artists wearing thick glasses and unkempt appearance are more common in Provence.

After the shock, the happiness increased several times.

Today will definitely be a pleasant art exchange journey!

Zoe invited several different groups of people to come today. Ronan arranged for them to sit in the same area and brought everyone who came to see Zoe here.

And these artists also like this atmosphere.

Art requires collision and communication, and this is exactly the artistic environment they need!

The artists were having fun communicating with each other, and Ronan was happy too.

Zoe showed obvious "leadership" qualities, talking eloquently throughout the whole process, showing her confident nature.

Who wouldn't be happy to have such an outstanding and beautiful girlfriend?

"Ronan, you are so lucky. Lourmarin, no, the 'bright pearl' of Provence has been brought home by you."

Every child in the village likes the beautiful sister Zoe. She is also the idol of many young girls in the village, just like boys of Vieri's age regard Ronan as their idol.

Having seen another side of her idol, Isabelle, who was only a teenager, was more excited than Ronan. She couldn't continue working and kept looking in Zoe's direction.

Ronan proudly said:

"That's for sure. I am the happiest person in the world!"

The scope of art is very broad, and the people who came today are not all engaged in the same art industry, so the content of the conversation is also very diverse.

"The decoration style of this restaurant is so unique. I have never seen it in Provence. Have you seen it?"

Someone brought up the topic of the restaurant's decorative style, and many people immediately followed suit.

"My eyes lit up when I came in. I didn't expect there would be such a unique restaurant in Lourmarin. What's its style?"

"I've been eyeing those unique accessories for a while, what are they?"

"My friends, I love this place! Next time I will bring my sketchpad, this place gives me so much inspiration!"

“Zoe, did you design this place?”

A hint of tenderness appeared on Zoe's serious face. She pointed at Ronan who was talking to Feng Zhen at the cashier counter and introduced him:

"My boyfriend designed the restaurant. He made everything from the tables and chairs to the accessories. He is actually an artist."

"Is this true? Is your boyfriend also an artist?"

"He made every one of them himself?!"

"An artist-owned restaurant? God, that's so cool!"

Someone enthusiastically invited Ronan, hoping that he would join the exchange.

Ronan came among the artists and said modestly:

"Compared to Zoe, I'm definitely not an artist. It's just a small hobby. The decoration style here is designed around the food, with many Chinese elements, such as this coaster."

Seeing that Ronan could also say a lot, a chubby girl smiled and said:
"Come on, sit down and talk about your love story with Zoe. I'm sure it's full of art."

Ronan doesn't know anything about art. He only knows about decoration. And today's protagonist is Zoe:

"No, no, I have things to do, you guys chat."

Seeing that Ronan didn't want to join, everyone was too embarrassed to make things difficult for him, but Zoe suddenly hugged Ronan's waist, raised her head and raised her eyebrows:
"Everyone seems to like pink wine. Can you get us two more bottles?"

Ronan looked at her with a complicated expression, which contained a thousand words:

You, you always say that I always put you into my future plans for everything. Aren't you the same?
You're still worrying about me while holding a 'fan meeting'!
Zoe also returned Ronan's look, which contained only one sentence:

If I'm not worried about you, who should I worry about?
Artists are indeed much more receptive to rosé wine.

There are people who drink red wine, white wine and rosé wine at the beginning.

But under Zoe's guidance, they later drank almost all pink wine.

Watching these fashionable men and women drinking bottle after bottle of pink wine, especially the star-like Zoe who never put down her pink wine glass. There were also several tables of female guests nearby who ordered pink wine, which is a rare occurrence since the opening.

Ronan's restaurant finally has a little bit of a rosé vibe to it.

After sending the artists away, Zoe said happily:
"I've invited everyone to your restaurant, which should be of some help to you." Ronan would say to everyone he met, 'This is a restaurant owned by Zoe and I, and the two people on the logo are us,' but Zoe felt that she had done too little for the restaurant.

Before the opening, she was thinking about what else she could do for Ronan and the restaurant.

But she didn't know how to run a business, couldn't cook, and was helpless in anything in the restaurant.

Ronan had been having a headache recently because of the 'pink wine atmosphere', and they had discussed it quite a bit when they were alone.

So when an artist wanted to come see her, Zoe’s first choice was to take them to Ronan.

Zoe isn't sure if artists can really solve the problems Ronan wants to solve, but she will bring as many artists as possible to Ronan's restaurant, and any help she can provide will help.

Ronan patted Zoe's head twice lovingly:
"Thank you."

Zoe tapped Ronan's lips twice in dissatisfaction and said in an unquestionable tone:

"Your restaurant's decoration is so unique that it would have attracted the attention of artists sooner or later even without my recommendation. I just completed it ahead of time. What's there to thank me for?"

Ronan laughed and retorted:

"But you should have told me in advance."

Zoe sniffed twice guiltily:
"I didn't tell you because I wanted to surprise you. Are surprises only given by boys to girls? And I did more than just invite the artists here."

"What else did you do?" Ronan asked in surprise.

Zoe happily held Ronan's arm and looked around the restaurant:

"I've also arranged an interview with that magazine at your restaurant. Can you help me find a good background? This is my first interview. How did you answer questions from the media before? Aren't you nervous?"

On a weekday afternoon.

A magazine specializing in art content came to Ronan's restaurant to interview Zoe.

In fact, there is no need to look for a special background, every corner of the restaurant is full of "characteristics".

There is an exotic atmosphere here that Provence has never had before.

After entering the restaurant, the editor of the magazine exclaimed in amazement, saying that this was the most different restaurant he had ever seen in all his long years in the industry.

He decided to give Ronan a brief interview and asked him to talk about the design concept of the restaurant.

These two parts will appear on different pages of the same issue of the magazine.

Of course Ronan wouldn't refuse.

Who would resist free publicity?

Although it is a niche magazine aimed at artists, "no matter how small a fly is, it is still meat."

Zoe's interview content is consistent with her "usual style" - doting on her husband.

While talking about her artistic concepts and the inspiration for her works, she repeatedly brought up the topic of her boyfriend Ronan and the decoration of the restaurant.

She said that it was with the influence of her boyfriend and the beautiful environment that she was able to create one work after another.

Of course, Ronan also followed his "usual style" - pampering his wife.

In addition to talking about his restaurant design concept, weaving skills and passion for rosé wine, he repeatedly turned the topic to the help and influence of his girlfriend Zoe.

"Zoe has been with me since I started setting up my stall at the market, and she was involved in the entire decoration process. Without her encouragement and company, I would not have designed the restaurant so well. This is the truth."

After interviewing the young couple, the editor smiled and commented:

"I didn't expect that our magazine could be related to 'emotion'. If there is a chance, I will recommend it to my colleagues and ask you to accept some emotional programs. The effect should be very good."

The mermaid was on display at the Granet Museum in early October.

Starting from late October, more and more artists began to meet Zoe in Ronan's restaurant.

Sometimes Zoe would even set aside a whole day to receive visitors.

The collision between artists was very helpful to Zoe.

By setting aside some time for socializing and reducing her total working hours, her output of work actually increased.

Zoe's explanation for this is that the intensive communication with her peers gave her an "inspiration burst", with many good ideas appearing every day, making creation easier.

She often told Ronan confidently that she felt the future was bright and she was becoming more and more confident.

Zoe's development is extremely smooth, but Ronan encounters more serious problems.

Artists are coming to the restaurant more often, but their influence on the rosé is still minimal.

Artists don't come to the restaurant every day, and at most three or four tables are occupied, which is still a long way from what Ronan calls the "pink wine atmosphere".

Seeing that it was already mid-October and Ms. Astrid would soon be free, Ronan still hoped that the bigwigs in the association would add fuel to the restaurant's fire.

How could he satisfy Astrid?
Just as he was thinking about how to improve the atmosphere of pink wine in the restaurant, an "unexpected friend" came to the restaurant.

Someone Ronan could never have imagined.

"Bati, my friend, why are you in Lourmarin?!"

(End of this chapter)