1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 258 Busy Ronan

French education focuses on efficiency rather than duration, and emphasizes the balance between classroom learning and independent time. Students can have an extra-long lunch break of 2 hours or more every day.

Schools in mountainous areas also let students finish school early for commuting reasons, so even though Vieri is in grade 12, he can still get home at 4:.

In the past, he would find something to do before dinner, watch TV or play football for a while after dinner, and then start studying. But since he talked about the future with Ronan, he would come to the restaurant directly after school and go back after dinner.

Ronan would assign Vieri some light work to do every day, and would also remind him to pay attention to the topics discussed by people around him and guests.

There are so many different kinds of people in a restaurant, from all walks of life. If you broaden your horizons, your logic and angle of thinking may change.

At the same time, Ronan also told Vieri that if he didn't want to come anymore, he could stop at any time, and there was absolutely no intention of forcing him.

He could go back to being the carefree Vieri who only loved football.

Vieri, who was labeled as "childish" by his parents, likes the working atmosphere of a group of people working hard for a goal. Isn't it the same principle when playing football?
11 people are working towards one direction.

At the same time, he also hopes to prove through his performance in the restaurant that he is not a naive child. He has the ability that matches his 17-year-old age, so he especially cherishes this one hour every day.

"Ladies, desserts are here. Enjoy your meal." Vieri placed four cakes on the dining table one by one, and then went to another table to help the waiter clean up.

After he left, Vivian asked Zoe with a rich expression:

"Is that Ronan's new waiter? He's quite handsome. And he seems very hardworking, always busy. What's his name? Do you know if he has a girlfriend?"

Zoe put a small piece of cake in her mouth and said with a gloomy expression:
"That's my brother."

Weiwei was petrified instantly:
"Why don't you communicate at all?"

From taking orders to serving wine, dishes and desserts, their table was entirely served by Zoe's younger brother, but there was zero communication between the two.

If memory serves me correctly, the man also addressed Zoe as 'Madam'.

Zoe said in a complicated tone:

"Perhaps he wanted to better integrate into the environment, so Ronan arranged for him to experience life here."

Vieri's relationship with his family has been very bad recently. Sometimes Louis and Leah want to take the initiative to talk to him, but Vieri always avoids them.

The only person he trusts now is Ronan
Although Zoe often bickers with Vieri and occasionally ridicules him, she sincerely hopes that Ronan can help Vieri successfully get through the end of puberty and let him become the happy and carefree younger brother again.

French schools often arrange various practical activities for students or encourage them to go out and experience life. Zoe's excuse did not arouse any suspicion among her friends.

Vivian looked around:

"Speaking of Ronan, why don't we see him? Isn't today Friday? He should be in the restaurant."

Regulars knew that Ronan would be in the restaurant on Friday and Saturday afternoons.

Zoe bit the spoon and said:
"Ronan is pruning the vineyard."

Ronan usually goes into the mountains to collect truffles, so the pruning of the grapes is relatively slow. It is expected that it will take until January to complete the pruning. However, November to January is the time for pruning branches and leaves, so it doesn’t matter if you are a little slow.

"Ronan is such a busy man, picking truffles, running a restaurant, taking care of a vineyard—" Vivian deliberately asked in a joking tone, "Does he still have time to accompany you?"

Cotillard, who was eating dessert silently, made a "shut up" expression:

"Vivian, please don't bring up this topic again, okay? You weren't there that day, and Ronan said he would go hiking with Zoe to Bonnieux on Saturday."

Paulette clamped her voice and made exaggerated body movements:

"No, no, you're too busy on weekdays, take a rest on Saturday!"

Cotillard suddenly grabbed Paulette's hand and said lovingly:
“But Zoe, I feel more relaxed when I’m with you. I want to go with you.”

Vivian rolled her eyes:

"Luckily I didn't come that day."

While eating dessert, she looked at Vieri and said:

“But Zoe, your brother is really good looking.”

Zoe said in a pleading tone:
"Okay, okay, let's talk about the 'Land Art' project."

She began to understand Vieri a little.
If one day Vieri and his girlfriend were to be intimate in front of her, she would also find it difficult to "accept".

Ronan loves grapevines and often stands behind the French windows to observe them.

I like to watch their graceful bodies stretching along the vines according to unique patterns.

I also like to watch them change from bright green in the spring to dark green in the summer, and then to orange and dark red in the autumn.

I also like to see the majestic appearance of the grape vines standing proudly in the open land after being pruned in winter.

Now Ronan loves the vines even more.

Because these things will appear in Provence in a different form and appearance in the near future.

Ronan did not throw away or burn the cut vines, but sorted them out and piled them in the donkey shed.

However, the donkey shed is not very large and there are many carpentry tools inside. It is estimated that there will be no room for them after cutting three or four more times.

"This donkey shed is too small." Ronan muttered with a frown.

This small donkey shed is usually not suitable for furniture making, and it certainly cannot be used for any other purpose after storing grape vines in it.

Ronan didn't know when these vines would be used, but he knew that he would start renovating with Zoe in the spring of next year and might need to use this area.

So next we have to find some other place to store them. But where?
Ronan came out of the donkey shed and surveyed his backyard in the sunset.

The backyard is large and there are many vacant areas, but there is no place to provide them with shelter from the wind and rain.

I don’t know if it will snow this winter. If it is soaked for a long time, it will be unusable in the future.

At this time, Ronan looked back at the old donkey shed again.

"How about just upgrading it?" He muttered softly, stroking his chin.

Having tasted the charm of machines, Ronan and Zoe will definitely not use hand tools to make furniture in the future, at least not when they are on a tight deadline.

They all want to get married quickly, the sooner the better.

But neither Ronan's nor Zoe's home had a place large enough to accommodate the mechanical tools used by two people to make furniture. They needed a professional workshop large enough.

As soon as this idea came to mind, Ronan became excited.

Owning a large and spacious workshop has been his dream since he was a child, and purchasing things is Zoe's hobby. He couldn't even imagine how much fun it would bring to the two of them if they were to build a workshop!
I just don’t know if Cafu has time?

This project is roughly equivalent to building a small house. Ronan certainly cannot complete it alone, so he needs to find a professional to do it.

It just so happens that the 1000 wreaths are almost finished and are now piled on the second and third floors of the restaurant.

Ronan decided to go to the restaurant to contact Cafu later. In addition to telling him the good news that the order was completed ahead of schedule, he also asked about his construction period.

Ronan didn't specifically count how many people were involved in making the 1000 wreaths, but he thought it must have exceeded his previous estimate.

At first he thought it could only be finished by the 15th. After working for two days, Ronan estimated that it should be finished by the 10th, but the final result was that it was only the 7th today. Ronan had to find someone to count for fear that he would exceed the quantity.

Ronan returned to the restaurant, and Cornell and Theo, who had just helped count the items, came down from upstairs.

"More than 930. That will definitely be enough for tomorrow."

Ronan said with some headache:

"Then we need to quickly inform everyone to stop doing what they haven't done yet."

There were so many people coming to get the materials that it was very troublesome to count them.

Ronan has learned his lesson. Next time he takes an order, he will find a special person to count how much materials and accessories each person took.

The wreath order is just like opening a restaurant. The chaos on the first day leads to the rational planning and efficiency afterwards.

Cornell said disapprovingly:
"It's okay. If we exceed the limit, we'll keep it for now. Maybe we can sell it again next year."

Theo sat in his old seat and reminded Ronan:

"Christmas is coming soon, don't forget to plan the event, Anna is waiting for you to give her a gift."

In addition to the vow-fulfilling ceremony, Halloween is the second busiest day of the year in Lourmarin. Not only are the villagers of Lourmarin looking forward to Ronan planning another event, but when Ronan was setting up a stall in Mena village, villagers from other villages also asked about it.

Urbana, the stall owner across from him, has been asking this question for three weeks.

In the minds of the villagers in these neighboring villages, Lourmarin is the 'Aix' of Luberon, and they must come to see it during festivals.

Ronan rubbed his head.

It is said that December will be a more relaxing month, but there are too many things to do.

Truffle picking, restaurants, grape pruning, weaving, building a tool shed, and Christmas are going to be too busy again.

Ronan quickly calmed down and walked towards the cashier:

"Got it. I'll start thinking about the theme for Christmas activities next week."

Theo shouted from behind:
"Plan for a few more days, Halloween is only one day and I haven't had enough fun yet!"

Ronan: "."

Another sweet trouble!
Ronan called Cafu to inform him that the work would be completed tomorrow and he could deliver the goods. He also asked Cafu if he had time to build a workshop for him in the backyard.

Cafu asked Ronan to deliver the goods directly to Apt, but he did not answer the workshop's questions. He just said that he would go to Lourmarin again in a few days and they would meet and talk then.

After hanging up the phone, Ronan immediately started preparing for the delivery, but his brothers were busy with work during the day and no one had time.

However, Theo and Cornell will go to the village immediately to help Ronan find other villagers who can drive trucks, and they should be able to find them soon.

Ronan kept sighing in the restaurant.

Too short of people
It would be nice if I had a few more helpers around.

Vieri finished his "experience life" today. When he left the restaurant and went home to study, he saw Ronan sighing all the time and said sensibly:

"I'm going to take my driver's license test during the winter break, and I'll help you deliver the goods in the future."

Ronan touched his head:
"You should study hard first."

Vieri and Ronan waved goodbye:

"Driving is of course a form of life practice. Many of my classmates can drive, so I can also take my mom to Avignon to take the pastry chef exam. Dad and Zoe are very busy every day. No matter who goes to take my mom, it will delay their earning money. I am the most suitable person to do it."

Ronan smiled and watched Vieri disappear into the night.

Vieri is so smart.
How could such a good child have problems?
(End of this chapter)