1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 91 The Many Faces of Louis

Ronan thought Louis was just talking.

How to repair a broken gearbox?
Unless he was a farmer and also worked as a car mechanic.
But Louis really crawled under the oil-covered car. Ronan had no experience in repairing cars, so his job was to keep shifting gears in the cab to make sure Louis had fixed the car, and then occasionally get out of the car to hand him some tools.

"What's going on now?" Ronan changed gears every once in a while, and the bottom of the car would make a creepy friction sound as two rusty gears were squeezed together without any lubrication.

"I think I know what went wrong." Louis' voice came from under Ronan's feet, "Please shift to third gear."

Ronan obediently shifted gears and saw Zoe's head appear behind the window, asking him with her mouth if he needed help.

Ronan shook his head at her and Zoe made a 'good luck' gesture and left.

"I still can't shift into third gear." Ronan replied.

It's not that Louis' car can't be shifted into all gears, only first, third and fifth gears are not working. Second and fourth gears are fine.

A series of terrifying noises came from under the car again, and Ronan couldn't help but ask:

"Do you need me to bring Pire here?"

There was no garage in Lourmarin, so whenever someone's car broke down, they would bring Pires over. He had worked in a professional garage in Apt.

But Provencal people hardly repair cars. This is just Pires' hobby. His job is to sew traditional Provencal quilts with his family. He is an out-and-out craftsman.

"There's no need to blame Pires for this minor problem. When the car was started, black smoke thicker than that of a tractor was emitted, but I still fixed it." Louis said passionately.

"That's right, you broke it." Leah came out with a basket of clothes and said gloomily, "It was already broken like that, and you forced it to start in winter. The terrifying roar of the ignition lasted for several minutes. I thought the Germans were coming again, so I carried Zoe out barefoot, and I saw a ring of fire rolling out from under the car, and it didn't stop until it rolled to Alan's house."

Alan's house is a 10-minute walk from Louis' house.

Zoe's head appeared behind the window again, and she told Ronan with her mouth:
"They had a fight this morning."

Ronan shrank his neck, indicating that she understood.

Louis' voice came from under the car:

"The car will break down if it's not started. It hadn't started for a week. I had to start it."

Leah put the clothes basket under the tap in the yard:

"Thank you so much, it could have been open for many more years."

Then she returned to the house and said to Ronan as she passed by:

"I made some cookies, come in and have some coffee."

Ronan was so embarrassed that he didn't know how to respond.

Are you two forcing me to take sides?

"It's almost done, we'll go in right away." Louis, who didn't know the situation, thought his wife was talking to him.

Leah forced a smile and went inside.

I don't know if Louis suddenly had some realization about family relationships, or if he wanted to save face in front of Ronan, he talked endlessly about the secret of a "happy marriage":

"After being married for a long time, passion will inevitably fade, but I have a secret to maintain passion. Every once in a while, I will find a way to make Leah worship me and help her recall the memory of 'that man is really charming.'"

Ronan and Louis have a good relationship and can joke around without hesitation:

"Is car repair part of the secret?"

"Oh, no, no, no, it's just a minor problem." Louis' tone became serious, "Now put it in first gear."

Ronan shook his arms mechanically, and the smooth feel of shifting gears told him that the situation was different from before.

"It seems." Ronan tried the third and fifth gears again. "Oh my God, it works. It's clearer than the previous gear."

Louis climbed out from under the car:

"I just said it was a minor problem, just a missing part."

Ronan couldn't believe it.

Louis actually fixed it himself?

"Honey, I fixed the car!" Louis shouted excitedly toward the kitchen window. Leah's voice came from inside:

"Wash your hands and help me get the clothes out while I take care of the snails."

"Okay!" Louis happily picked up the high-pressure water gun in the yard.

The smile on Ronan's face froze before it even stretched out.

He thought Louis wanted to wash the car with the high-pressure water gun, after all, it was really dirty, but Louis actually used it to spray the clothes basket.

Leah was worried about Louis washing clothes, so she put down what she was doing and came out to see the clothes escaping from the basket one after another and falling to the ground under the impact of the high-pressure water gun.

"Oh my God!" Leah screamed sharply.

Ronan hid far away.

Shouldn't he have come today?

After that, Leah never treated Louis well again and told him not to touch anything in the house.

Louis didn't care. He sat on the sofa and talked to one client after another in a very emotional voice.

He said the car breakdown had delayed a lot of things, as he was supposed to take three clients to see houses today.

Leah was cooking in the kitchen, Zoe was busy in her studio, and Louis was absorbed in making a phone call. Ronan was sitting alone in the living room and was a little bored at first, but after listening to Louis talking on the phone for a while, he actually became interested and simply sat next to Louis, listening to the conversation on both sides of the phone.

"Hello, I saw a real estate information in the Coast, on page x of issue x. My family and I really like the appearance of that house. Can you tell us its specific address?"

"Coast" has been a best-seller in southern France for many years and is a professional travel magazine for young readers.

In addition to wonderful texts and exquisite pictures introducing the scenery of various places, there are also a lot of real estate news.

Louis crossed his right leg over his left leg, looking relaxed:

"Oh, that house, it is indeed very beautiful."

"It looks pretty good. We fell in love with it right away. Where is it?"

"You can come to my office to talk about it. There is all the information about it there."

"That's great, but where is it?"

"Between Aix and Marseille."

"So where exactly is it located?"

“Standing on the second-floor terrace, you can see the beautiful views of Provence and the Mediterranean Sea at the same time.”

“Close to a city or a village?”

“The apartment is nice, with plenty of sunlight and a beautiful environment, but not remote.”

"By the Mediterranean?"

"If you guys come over tomorrow, I can show you the house tomorrow."

"Okay, can you tell me your office address?"

"Oh, of course, of course you can. What time will you come? I'll leave a time in advance."

Ronan was stunned.

Can we still chat like this?
He simply couldn't connect this Louis with the Louis who had just washed clothes with a high-pressure water gun.

Louis hung up the phone and shrugged:

"As a good real estate agent, you must learn to keep the conversation on your own channel, rather than following the person asking the question."

Ronan clapped his hands in sudden realization.

He seems to know how to deal with that interview tomorrow!
　Brothers, there has been a change of plan. We are going to attack Sanjiang.

　　There will be three updates tomorrow, one in the early morning, one at 12 noon, and one at 7 pm.

　　I haven’t asked for follow-up reading for more than a month since the book was published. This is the only, and most important, time. I’m begging you to read it tomorrow!
　　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)