1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 278 Pruning Excess Grapevines

The Parisian family has become completely 'Provence'.

Over the past year, they have fully experienced the warmth and hospitality of the people of Provence, and now they extend that warmth to Bruno, who is spending the holidays alone in a foreign land.

After celebrating the holiday at Louis's house, they invited Bruno to rest in their guest room, as driving back to the dormitory alone on Christmas Day was not a wise decision.

This enthusiasm lasted until early the next morning.

Bruno woke up to an unusually 'Christmas-themed' breakfast.

Seeing that Bruno was staring at the cutlery, Ronan explained to him:

"My girlfriend made this a few years ago. She didn't have room for it at home, so I brought it over. Doesn't it have a festive feel?"

Bruno said with a smile:
"My two children will love them."

He then looked at the Christmas-themed food on the table and said jokingly:

"I never expected that breakfast could be so 'grand'."

He was impressed by last night's Christmas dinner; there were only eight of them, but the table was laden with enough food to feed at least a dozen people.

Luo Tianhai sat down with a newspaper in hand, and said with a smile:
"In Provence, time is the least valuable thing, so why not live life a little more 'grandly'?"

Watching Ronan and his family leisurely eating and drinking coffee, Bruno had no idea that they would be going out to work in about an hour.

He had only experienced this kind of lifestyle when he was on vacation.

What Bruno found even more incomprehensible was the reaction of the Ronan family when Luo Tianhai said he had eaten a bit too much the night before and his stomach was a little upset.

In Paris, a normal person would take medication or call a professional pharmacist, but Feng Zhen's first reaction was to pour Luo Tianhai a glass of olive oil.

That's right, olive oil!!
Feng Zhen's explanation for this is:

"In Provence, for a range of minor ailments that are not life-threatening, such as stomach aches, heartburn, joint pain, and tooth decay, you can try drinking a little olive oil first to see if it helps."

Luo Tianhai skillfully drank the olive oil:

“People in Provence say that there is evidence from the medical and scientific communities that olive oil is good for the body. I don’t know if scientists and doctors have said this, but sometimes drinking olive oil really does work.”

As if advertising, Ronan picked up a barrel of olive oil without any brand label and showed it to Bruno:
"Especially this extra virgin olive oil, freshly pressed this month, has even better 'medicinal effects.' I've heard that drinking a cup every day can add 25 years to your life."

Bruno clicked his tongue in amazement and asked:
How long have you lived in Provence?

Ronan put down the olive oil barrel, smiled, and shrugged:

“It will be a year in half a month. I know what you’re thinking, but Provence has this kind of magic that changes anyone who comes here.”

Bruno smiled and picked up his coffee cup:
"I believe there is such magic here."

After Christmas, everything at the restaurant returned to normal. There was nothing special to pay attention to; all that was needed was to count the money every day.

However, due to Ronan's limited time, the winter pruning of the vineyard in front of his house was not progressing as expected, so the sensible Vieri took advantage of the Christmas holidays to help Ronan prune the vines every day.

In Vieri's world, Ronan was the person who understood him best and treated him the best. Even though Zoe gave him a signed jersey, it couldn't shake Ronan's superior status.

Being able to help Ronan is what makes Vieri happiest!
One afternoon, Vieri was working in the vineyard when an old, secondhand Citroën hatchback pulled up on Ronan's asphalt road, and Louis, dressed as a farmer, got out of the car.

"Is there a second pair of pruning shears?" Louis asked his son.

Vieri pointed to Ronan's donkey shed:
"Do you need me to get it for you? It's all piled up with grapevines there now, so it's hard to find anything."

Louis turned with a flourish and headed towards the donkey shed:

“You underestimate me, Vieri. I’ve been dealing with grapevines since before you were born. They might be more obedient in my hands than in Ronan’s.”

Vieri bent down to continue working, and a minute later he heard a sound like a house collapsing coming from the direction of the donkey shed, followed by Louis's furious exclamation:

"Damn it, are you building blocks with grapevines? Help me, I'm drowning in them!!"

The wonderful parent-child activity was ruined by the collapsed grapevines.

As Louis worked, he kept complaining about how dangerous it was for Vieri to pile things up like that:

"Didn't you think about what would happen if your sister went in? What if she opened the door and a falling grapevine cut her hand? How would she then attend Gold's event?"

"There's so much space in the yard, why did you have to cram them into the donkey shed? And pile them up so high. Do you think that's funny, Vieri?"

Vieri made a 'spare me' expression:

"Ronan said that it's best not to leave the grapevines in the open, and I'm just temporarily putting them there. The new tool shed is going to be built next week, and Ronan said that the workers will build a place to store them. It's because you opened the door too hard that they fell over. Ronan and I open the door every day, and this has never happened before."

With Vieri bringing up Ronan, Louis couldn't say anything more, so he could only try to save face in other ways:

"You left too many buds. You should only leave 6-8 buds on long branches and cut off the rest. They will absorb too much nutrients."

Vieri put down the pruning shears and looked at his father, who was a dozen meters away:

“Leave 2-4 buds on short branches and 8-12 buds on long branches. This is what Ronan told me.”

Louis looked at the grapevines and said:

“It doesn’t matter if you cut a little more. I’ve been farming for over ten years, how could I make a mistake?”

Vieri's emotions began to break down:
"But I've been keeping the buds at 8-12 buds these past few days. Do you mean I have to redo it, Dad?"

Louis stopped what he was doing.

He came here to mend his relationship with Vieri, so how did it turn out like this?
"Let's take a break." Louis left the vineyard, opened the car door, and got into the car.

The father and son need some time to cool off.

Vieri also left the vineyard, but he chose to sit a dozen meters away from Louis. After a minute of calm, Louis spoke first:
“I didn’t force you to be a farmer or a real estate agent. In fact, whatever you do, your mother and I will support you.”

Vieri threw the hay in his hand away forcefully:
"Zoe told you?"

Louis turned to look at his son:
Why don't you think it's Ronan?

Vieri said in an icy tone:
"Ronan will only tell Zoe, but Zoe will tell all of you."

Louis slapped the steering wheel weakly:

"Vieri, aren't you being a little too hostile towards us?"

Vieri said defiantly:
"Don't you have much hostility towards me? Everything I do is wrong, even pruning a branch and leaving a few buds is wrong."

“I—” Louis wanted to explain, wanted to refute, but couldn’t find a good reason.

Honestly, he never affirmed anything about Vieri.

Both parties share responsibility for the tense family relationship.

Vieri got up, dusted himself off, and went back to work in the vineyard.

The above is a microcosm of their father-son relationship over the past six months. Their conversations are full of tension, and Vieri would often run away after only a few words. The matter would then be left unresolved, but it would only fuel greater anger in their hearts.

But after Vieri left this time, Louis went after him.

Vieri looked up to the sky and sighed:
"Please stop nagging me, Dad. I promise I'll prune all the grapevines I didn't prune the other day!"

Louis stopped at the row of grapevines next to his son's and began pruning as well:
"No need. Maybe if we leave some, something different will grow next year."

Vieri stopped what he was doing and listened carefully to the sounds behind him.

But after waiting a while, and hearing nothing more than the sound of scissors, he focused on his work.

"Snap, snap—" Louis skillfully trimmed away the excess grape buds.

Zoe and Ronan are right; it's time to change our attitude towards Vieri.

So let's start by 'cutting off' and negating this habit.

Perhaps a pruned father-son relationship, like this vineyard, can bear new 'fruit' by next autumn.

Christmas is followed by New Year's Day, and with two major holidays in quick succession, the Provençal people who know how to enjoy life can't help but indulge in a feast.

Although the Christmas activities are over, Ronan Restaurant is still quite popular, with groups of friends sitting for hours on end, chatting about everything under the sun.

No matter what the topic, there's always a Provençal 'expert' who can chime in with a few words.

Hearing the artists talking about the terrifying northwest winds of November, Pierre and a few farmers felt compelled to show off their expertise.

Ronan had just returned from the mountains when he was pulled to sit at this table and forced to absorb knowledge about the meteorology of Provence.

"Do you know how many kinds of wind there are in Provence?" Pierre asked Ronan.

Ronan knew these people needed an 'audience' who could provide emotional support, so he feigned curiosity and asked:

"How many kinds of winds are there? Just the four cardinal directions, right?"

Fabian slammed his hand on the table triumphantly, quite pleased with Ronan's reaction:

"In Provence, every wind has its own name; we don't refer to the wind by directions like east, west, south, or north."

"For example?" Ronan asked, suppressing a laugh.

Pierre gestured with his hands:
“The winds from the south are called ‘sailing winds,’ which originate in the African desert and leave everything covered in dirty dust; the winds from the east are called ‘Levant winds,’ which bring rain; and the ‘Travezo winds’ blow from the west.”

Fabian also started showing off:
“‘Black Mountain Wind’ is a north-northeast wind, ‘Biso Wind’ is a north-northwest wind, ‘Gregor Wind’ is a northeast-east wind, and there are also ‘Mangjifangji Wind’, ‘Damo Wind’, ‘Xishanpo Wind’. Every wind that can be marked with a direction on a compass has its name, and there are more than 30 kinds.”

Ronan seemed to smell a conspiracy.

Could it be that Pierre, the "king of pranks," has targeted him again, wanting to make fun of him?
The people of Provence must have so much free time. They actually give the wind so many names?
To verify whether it was true or false, he asked:

"What about that northwest wind in November? What was it called?"

Pierre and Fabian said in unison:
"The wind that blows from the northwest is called the Bula wind."

Ronan was taken aback.

It actually has a name.
However, the northwest wind that had caused everyone to complain a month ago was described by the cheerful Provençal people as a "small wind," not worth fearing.

Pierre said in a relaxed tone:

"The Brahma wind is nothing compared to the Mistral wind. The Mistral is the most destructive wind in Provence. If this kind of strong, cold wind from the north were to visit Provence, I wouldn't be in the mood to drink and brag with you all here."

Fabian was in a good mood, he said:
"If the Mistral wind comes, even if the price announced by Château Moli tomorrow is half of this year's, I won't be laughing."

Ronan suddenly looked up:

"Will Château Moli announce the price to us tomorrow?"

Every year at the end or beginning of the year, the Moli Winery Cooperative announces the latest "friendly" price for red wine to nearby residents.

This year, Lourmarin grapes were of high quality, resulting in a further discount on prices. Ronan, a major wine drinker, is also paying attention to this.

Pierre rubbed his hands together excitedly:

"Tomorrow!"

(End of this chapter)