1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 271 'Exquisite' Gift
One Monday morning.

Ronan was drinking coffee and enjoying a hearty breakfast in the warm kitchen when he suddenly heard a loud bang outside the window, as if two cars were colliding at high speed.

He immediately raised his buttocks and looked out the window, and found that it was the postman Tracy's bicycle that collided with the mailbox.

This situation is unbelievable.

Is Tracy doing some backcountry racing?

Seeing Tracy patted her butt and stood up from the ground, Ronan sat down with confidence, but more than ten seconds later, there was a knock on the door of the house.

"Hello, Ronan." Tracy greeted with a smile standing outside the door.

Ronan hesitated for a moment.

If a postman hits a mailbox, he should be able to file a work injury claim.
He came to me to ask for medical expenses?
"Hi Tracy," Ronan said, pointing at the mailbox. "I saw you got bumped. Are you okay?"

Tracy waved the Provence newspaper and the private weather forecast printed by the "Carpunk Weather Station" in her hands and grinned:

"It's okay. There was dew this morning and it's slippery."

Ronan's family has been subscribing to newspapers for several months, and Tracy always puts them in the mailbox.

How come it was delivered to my door today?

Is there something you want to say?
Ronan tried to turn sideways, and Tracy really came into the room and sat down on the sofa.

In Provence, wine is served to guests no matter what time it is.

Ronan poured a glass of pink wine in front of Tracy, and Tracy actually drank it.

"Pink wine, oh yes, yes, you love pink wine." Tracy said to herself with a smile.

Ever since Tracy appeared at the door, he had been smiling, and Ronan began to wonder if he had hit his head.

It's just a glass of rosé, why are you smiling at it?
Is it your birthday today?
Won the lottery?

Has the pocket money your wife gives you increased?

Ronan waited anxiously for Tracy to solve the puzzle for him.

But Tracy took his time to recount the interesting things he and his wife saw when they traveled to Avignon last week.

As they were talking, the glass of pink wine was finished. When Ronan poured him a second glass, Tracy told him the purpose of his trip.

"Hey man, look what I brought you!" Tracy pulled out a calendar from his canvas bag.

He flipped through the pages quickly until he saw a picture of a girl in a bikini posing in a difficult position on the beach. Then he stopped:
"The post office has a new calendar with all the holidays for next year. Isn't this photo of a beautiful woman nice?"

Ronan quickly closed it, while wondering why Tracy would give him such a 'nice' gift.

They had spoken no more than 20 sentences before today.

"It's free." Tracy took a sip from the glass, then suddenly winked at Ronan, "But you can buy it if you want."

It was not until Tracy's eyelids fluttered that Ronan finally realized why he came - he came to ask for a 'New Year's tip'.

At the end of each year, the French usually give service personnel a small amount of cash or gifts to thank them for their year's service.

Tracy may have felt a little embarrassed to be direct, so she gave him a calendar.

Ronan quickly gave Tracy 50 francs and personally walked him to the bicycle:
"Thank you for your hard work Tracy. You have worked hard this year."

Tracy got on the bike a little shakily and rode away, but the smile on his face got even bigger.

Ronan touched the mailbox with a piece of paint knocked off and realized that it was an accident caused by drunk driving.

The glass of wine Tracy drank at Ronan's house was definitely not the first glass of wine today, nor was it the last. For the next half month, a drunk postman would continue to haunt the Luberon countryside.

Tracy laughed, but Ronan was about to cry.

New Year's tips are also called Christmas red envelopes. Whenever you start tipping service staff, it means Christmas is coming.

But the restaurant’s Christmas events haven’t been planned yet.

"We are short of people, so short of people." Ronan shivered with cold and quickly ran back to the house. The temperature was very low in the morning.

When he got home, he found his mother Feng Zhen carefully looking through the calendar.

"Remember to hide this kind of thing after you buy it next time, don't let Zoe see it." Feng Zhen put down the calendar and went to the kitchen to eat breakfast. Ronan: "???"

Ronan can completely let go of the weaving craft business.

With the professional Batti and the prestigious Aknina watching over you, you don't have to worry about anything, big or small.

But in the restaurant, there was no one around Ronan who could help.

Luo Tianhai can manage the kitchen, but it is not appropriate to leave marketing and promotion to him.

A while ago, Ronan went to participate in a special truffle market and organized women to make things to prepare for Christmas activities, and there were less than 10 days left before Christmas.

He went to the mountains to collect truffles during the day, while thinking about the direction of the activities.

When I come back in the evening, I arrange for the waiters to buy decorations and watch them decorate the place. At the same time, I have to think about what fun things I can design to attract more people.

People are busy like spinning tops, spinning all the time, and have to do everything by themselves.

Zoe is the one who may be able to help Ronan, but she is currently busy preparing works for the "Land Art" event, and Ronan will definitely not agree even if she comes.

One night.

After Ronan finished arranging the tasks for the waiters during the next day, he turned around and saw Vieri sitting at the cashier counter, while Feng Zhen was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's my mother?" Ronan asked Vieri.

Vieri said as he lowered his head to write and draw:

"In the kitchen, my mom was testing Christmas-only desserts and she wanted to try some."

Ronan continued to ask doubtfully:

"Why don't you go home? It's almost 8 o'clock now."

Vieri came to the restaurant to help for half a month, without missing a single day, but on weekdays he would go home after 6 o'clock.

No homework today?

Vieri said without even looking up:
"I'm on Christmas vacation, from today to January 1th."

French students have many holidays, and they are also scattered. Students in different regions have completely different holidays depending on the climate.

Taking the Luberon Mountains as an example, the longer holidays include summer vacation (2 months, starting in early July), Christmas vacation (about 7 days), winter vacation (15 weeks, to avoid the coldest days in February) and spring vacation (2 weeks, including Easter).

In addition, there are some public holidays and religious festivals, such as Labor Day, Victory Day and Ascension Day.

Without waiting for Ronan to reply, Vieri put down his pen, picked up his calculator and punched in a number:
“This is today’s turnover.”

Ronan smiled and asked:
"Isabelle shooed you to the cash register?"

In the first few days after Vieri arrived, Ronan would assign him things to do.

After that, I got busy and almost forgot about him.

Vieri didn't slack off either. He went wherever there was a shortage of people and did everything except the back kitchen.

In the process, he gradually found a little interest - that is to get more people into the restaurant.

After that, he often appeared in commercial streets and at the entrance of restaurants, and also did part of the work of welcoming guests.

But for some reason, Vieri and Isabel, whose job was to greet guests, had different personalities and were always arguing.

Ronan guessed that Vieri sat here because he was angry with Isabelle.

Vieri made a "the sky is falling" expression:

"She's even more insufferable than Zoe."

Ronan suddenly had an idea:
"Then why don't you try to compete with Isabel for work? How about I arrange some other work for you?"

"What kind of work?" Vieri asked expectantly.

Ronan smiled and raised his eyebrows:
“Join me in planning Christmas activities.”

(End of this chapter)