1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 296 Hope Never Fades
That night, Ronan recorded a low of -14 degrees Celsius.

Other farmers also conducted their own monitoring and obtained similar results.

The temperature after the smoke reached -14 degrees Celsius, indicating that the actual lowest temperature brought by this cold wave was far greater than that.

After waking up, Ronan received a phone call from his mother.

"The radio said that the lowest temperature in Avignon that night was -12.4°C, in Carpentras -14.2°C, and in Luberon the temperature generally reached -16°C. The meteorological bureau said this was the largest cold wave in the 20th century except for 1956."

Having not slept well the night before, and with something weighing on his mind, Ronan said in a less than pleasant tone:
"Thank goodness, the weather system in the province of Vaucluse is finally working. I thought they would wait until the cold wave was over before they started working."

"Will our grapes survive?" Feng Zhen asked worriedly.

She and Luo Tianhai had to take care of the restaurant, so they didn't stay up late at night.

When they got up, the smoke in the garden had already gone out, and everyone had gone to sleep, so they didn't know the specifics of what had happened during the night.

Ronan ran his hand through his hair and stirred it vigorously:
"It's hard to say. We'll only know for sure when they're dug up in the spring, but we won't be able to fully confirm the situation until June or July."

Once February is over, spring begins in Provence.

However, Pierre was worried that this year would be as turbulent as last year, with a possible "late spring cold snap," so he decided to wait until early April to let the grapevines emerge from the ground.

That's when you can see how many people have frozen to death and how many have suffered frostbite.

However, it cannot be ruled out that some grapevines that had their frost-damaged buds pruned or that appeared to be fine may develop yellowing leaves and wilting branches in June or July.

Therefore, the full impact of this cold wave can only be determined at that time.

However, that applies to ordinary people.
When the [Planting] skill is upgraded to level 3, Ronan gains the ability to determine the condition of crops by observing only a portion of their shape.

Once this cold wave has completely passed, he only needs to open a small area of ​​the root protective film to observe their condition and calculate the general situation.

"Alright, son, get up and eat something, then go back to sleep. You'll be staying up late tonight. The radio said this cold wave might last for a week." Feng Zhen hung up the phone with concern.

"A week?" Ronan's face instantly turned ugly.

After so many days of low temperatures, the crops in Luberon are really in grave danger.

The Provence Meteorological Bureau finally proved reliable for once.

They said the cold wave would last a week, and it really did last a week.

On Saturday, the lowest temperature in Luberon was -16 degrees Celsius. On Tuesday, the lowest temperature once reached -18 degrees Celsius. Although it only lasted for one day, the lowest temperature at night remained below -15 degrees Celsius for the next few days.

During this agonizing week, Ronan prayed more than once that the weather system in Provence would be as unreliable as before, and that the cold wave would only last for 3 or 4 days.

But as he waited and waited, until he could clearly feel the temperature rising and the thermometer reading at night was -7 or -8 degrees Celsius, his last glimmer of hope was extinguished.

The cold wave that struck Provence in January 1987 will undoubtedly be a classic case study of agricultural disasters in the Mediterranean climate zone in the 20th century.

Now the farmers no longer hope to save all the grapevines. They just hope that when they dig them up in the spring, more will have survived, even just one more vine would be enough.

During the cold wave, the farmers had too much to do and didn't have the chance to meet in person, but they didn't forget to keep in touch by phone.

Ronan had to contact those familiar farmers every day, otherwise he always felt like something was missing.

"How much do you think the losses are this time?" Theo asked Ronan this question every day after the temperature dropped to -18 degrees Celsius.

And Ronan always gave him the same answer:
"It certainly won't be worse than 1956. Everyone made it through that year, didn't they?"

Theo gritted his teeth and said:

"But 60% of the grapevines and olive trees froze to death that time. I asked the old farmers in the village, and they said that even the cold wave in 1976 killed 30% of them."

Ronan said in a comforting tone:
"The preparation time in 1976 was not as long as this time. Pierre notified us early on to bury the grapevines and to prepare the fuel for fumigation before the cold wave arrived. Karl said that in 1976, everyone only started looking for materials for fumigation after the cold wave arrived, so the situation this time is definitely better than in 1976."

"Yes, yes, you're right." Theo's tone improved considerably. "I'll go prepare some more fuel, just in case another cold wave comes."

Ronan would give Theo a similar reply every day, but Theo would call back the next day, and Ronan would continue to give him a satisfactory answer before he could go on to do other things.

The phone call came right after I finished comforting Theo Cornell.

Theo would come to Ronan every day for answers, and Cornell would come to Ronan every day to cry.

"What am I going to do, Ronan?" the chubby boy sobbed, breathless. "I don't own a single piece of land now. If the grapes, olives, oranges, and strawberries all die, I won't be able to sign any more land contracts. What... what am I going to do in the future?!"

Ronan softened his tone, showing no impatience at being Cornell's 'dumping ground'; Cornell needed encouragement now.
"First of all, no one knows the condition of the crops until April. How do you know they will die? Maybe they'll all be alive and well when you take them apart. Secondly, with so many skills, you could do something else even if you don't become a farmer."

Cornell said, sobbing:
"But my mother wants me to be a farmer, and I want her to be proud of me."

Ronan comforted Cornell in a tone like an older brother:
“I’ve met Aknina many times, and I don’t think she’s an unreasonable mother. She said she wants you to be a farmer, but that’s just because she wants the only boy in the family to have a stable and respectable job. But if you can find a more respectable, stable, and higher-paying job, she will definitely support you.”

"Really?" Cornell asked uncertainly.

“Of course!” Ronan said firmly and cheerfully. “Don’t forget your goal is to marry a city girl, Cornell. As long as you are hardworking and ambitious, you can attract outstanding women no matter what your profession is.”

"Great!" Cornell was excited by Ronan's enthusiasm. "I'm going to read some books. I want to learn more on my own!"

Ronan receives a dozen or twenty similar calls every day. The farmers all want to hear 'hope' for the future from Ronan.

Ronan is Lourmaran's most brilliant man. He said that if the future exists, it will definitely exist. Ronan has never been wrong!

But is there really still hope?
On the afternoon of the third day after the cold wave had completely passed.

Ronan entered the vineyard quietly without telling anyone.

The grapevines were bent into the soil, but the roots were still exposed. This part was treated by wrapping it with insulating material and then covering it with soil, so it was not difficult to remove.

Ronan kept squatting down, digging, removing insulation material, wrapping insulation material, covering it with soil, squatting down, digging, removing insulation material, wrapping insulation material, covering it with soil. After inspecting dozens of grapevines in various areas in this way, he sat down on the ground of the vineyard and covered his face in anguish.

The disaster situation is more serious than expected.

30% of the grapevines died. Even those that survived suffered severe frost damage and required extensive pruning.

The losses this time are destined to be greater than those of the cold wave in 1976.

In fact, before coming to collect samples, Ronan had guessed that this situation might occur and had made ample mental preparations.

He kept telling himself that he could give others hope, but he himself had to be rational and imagine the worst-case scenario.

But when he actually saw the result, his psychological defenses crumbled instantly, probably because his 'hope' was shattered.

Along with hope, emotions and resilience also crumbled.
Should we continue farming?
Is this kind of job, which depends on the weather, really suitable for me?

He has many other things to do, but what about his brothers who rely on the weather for their livelihood?

Ronan was pulled out of his despair by the shouts.

He stood up, looked in the direction of the sound, and saw that it was Pierre.

"Why are you squatting in there?" Pierre shouted from afar.

"The soil was a bit loose, so I covered it with some soil." Ronan walked over dejectedly and was shocked to find that Pierre's beard had grown so long that he almost didn't recognize him; he looked like a wild man who had run out of the mountains.

Moreover, Pierre had lost a lot of weight, and his face was covered in chilblains.

"Your face?" Ronan immediately guessed the reason and asked with concern, "Have you been out too long at night?"

Pierre touched his face and forced a dry smile:

"That's why I grew a beard."

Two weeks ago, the prankster Pierre would have come up with many outlandish reasons for the bearded man's beard and made bets with the farmers on how many he could fool. But now he had no mood for jokes at all.

Ronan quickly composed himself, not wanting his breakdown to be noticed:
"You must be exhausted these past few days. Stop running around and get some rest."

Pierre casually waved his hand and said with concern:
"The pile of smoke needs to be dealt with quickly. We can't rest now. That's why I'm here to tell you this."

Ronan nodded:

"I know, it's already started to be processed, but you can just make a phone call, why bother coming all the way?"

Pierre sighed:
"I mainly wanted to see how everyone was doing. You know, you can't fully capture emotions over the phone."

Ronan patted him on the shoulder:

"Relax, everyone is fine."

Pierre suddenly lowered his head dejectedly and said with self-reproach:

"How can this be good? This time there will definitely be huge losses. Actually, I made a mistake this time. I made several huge mistakes. When I asked everyone to cover the grapevines, I should have notified them to start preparing the fumigation materials at the same time. That way, the fumigation could have started on Friday. Maybe if we had acted a day earlier, we could have saved more seedlings. I misjudged the situation."

Ronan squeezed his shoulders a few times:

“You’ve done a great job. Without you, the losses would have been even greater. Carl said that you weren’t even part of the team in 1956 and 1976. If someone as experienced as you had been leading the team through the cold back then, the outcome would have been completely different.”

Pierre kept shaking his head:

"But it's no use! This year's losses will definitely be greater than in 1976, and it might even be like 1956. I failed to protect everyone!"

Ronan held his shoulders to calm him down.
"It hasn't been unearthed yet, so maybe the outcome won't be so bad?"

Pierre suddenly became agitated:
"Ronan, this time the losses will be devastating, I swear, really."

He suddenly raised his head high, covering his eyes with his right thumb and forefinger:
“In 1976, I was a young man. When the grapevines sprouted that year, the fields were full of farmers with their heads down and tears streaming down their faces. Their wives held their children and cried their hearts out. The whole of Lourmaran was shrouded in gloom for four or five years until new branches grew out and smiles appeared in the fields again.”

"After that, I vowed to leave smiles in the skies above Lourmaran! I told jokes, learned pranks, and never wanted to see farmers and their families crying in the fields again, but... but I still couldn't keep it up, I—"

Ronan suddenly hugged Pierre and patted him hard on the back several times:
“I swear to you, no one in Lourmaran will cry when the vines are unearthed this year.”

Farmland is the hope of farmers, but Ronan is the hope of Lourmaran.

With him around, hope will never be extinguished.

(End of this chapter)