1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 365 How did this chair bloom?!
The next day, Ronan went to the Lourmaran government building early in the morning and found it deserted.

Every office door was locked, and there was no one in the meeting rooms or the tea room.

The fact that the government building was open meant there must be someone inside. Ronan searched and searched, and finally found Pire smoking in the toilet on the first floor.

"What are you doing here?" Ronan took a big step back, never expecting to see this old guy here.

Pires got angry when he saw Ronan and said sarcastically:

"Isn't I here because of you? Nobody's doing the embroidery business anymore, we'll starve if we don't find a new way out!"

Last December, as the women of Lourmaran were busy making flower wreath orders, Pire's heart was colder than a cold snap.

In January of this year, weaving orders decreased, and many women went back to sewing and embroidering quilts, bringing Pire back to life.

Everything was normal for the first half of February. Pires thought the craze for weaving had left Lourmarin and that women had returned to his embrace. Little did he know that in the second half of the month, he couldn't find anyone willing to embroider quilts again!

His mood was soaring; he felt like he was going to be hanged by Ronan and the women!

Pires didn't dare gamble that the women would be able to go back to sewing quilts in March, so he found a job—cleaning in the government building.

This job originally belonged to a woman from another village, but she went home to do knitting 'full-time'.

Ronan wasn't angry; he smiled and extended an olive branch to him again:

"Why don't you come with me to do some crafts? What time do you get off work? Let's go over to my place for a couple of drinks later?"

Pires angrily said to Ronan:

"I'm not going! You should get out of here too. There's no one in the government building today. If you wander around here and lose something, who will be responsible?"

"Where did everyone go?" Ronan asked, pointing to the stairs opposite the restroom. "Is Blanco upstairs?"

A few months ago, the government building was also deserted.

Blanco sent everyone out to learn about the history of rosé, but he himself didn't go.

As Pires shoved Ronan out, he said in a less-than-friendly tone:
"No, no, they're all gone! The tourism bureau of Vaucluse province is coming to Lourmaran next week for an inspection, and everyone is out making preparations to receive them."

Ronan had been wondering how the news of the officials from the province of Vaucluse coming to Lourmarin had spread so widely. Now he finally found the answer.

As he walked out, he asked Pires:

"Just to receive the tourism bureau? I heard other departments are coming too?"

Theo named five or six departments in a row.

"Can other departments be treated the same as the tourism bureau?" Pires, having overheard the news from someone, mimicked Blanco's tone and mannerisms. "The tourism bureau's inspection is extremely important to Lourmaran; it's related to the efforts of the entire government over the past six months!"

So, the tourism bureau's visit to Lourmaran is related to the budget, while other departments' visits are for other reasons, Ronan speculated.

But isn't it strange that they're all coming in such large groups?
Before parting ways with Pires, Ronan still tried to recruit him:

"Honestly, I'm going to be doing more and more different kinds of things in the future, and everyone can make money. Don't you want to consider it?"

Pires, that old fellow, is known for his skillful hands. His embroidery skills are second only to Cornell's mother, Aknina, in the village, so he must be quite good at weaving as well.

Pires flew into a rage and said:

"Embroidered quilts are a cultural tradition that has been passed down in Provence for hundreds of years. How could they be the same as those 'toys' you make out of vines? Don't blame me for being blunt, but to me, weaving art and weaving skills are just things for children. They're not even in the same league as embroidered quilts!"

Pires had a big mouth and a rather unpleasant temper and personality. It was said that he often withheld the hard-earned money from the women. Like Henry, he had a very bad reputation in the village.

However, Ronan was deeply moved and touched by Pirès's dedication to the embroidered quilt.

In this day and age, who would turn down money?
But Pires just didn't want to give up what he called something that had been passed down for hundreds of years, something from his ancestors.

But Provence isn't the birthplace of embroidered quilts.

It originated in Egypt and India, but arrived in France via the port of Marseille, making Provence the first region in France to discover and popularize this weaving technique.

Now is not a good time to talk about history, and Pires wouldn't listen to Ronan's history anyway.

Ronan sighed:

"Weaving has a short history in Provence, but it's quite long elsewhere. This afternoon I'm making woven furniture at home. If you have time, come and take a look. You're always welcome to join me."

“Woven furniture?” Pire scoffed, turning to leave. “You call wrapping a few tattered vines around a stool woven furniture? That’s like children playing house!”

Ronan shrugged, didn't argue with Pires, and smiled as he said goodbye.

"If only it were that simple. Goodbye."

Unable to find Blanco, and with no way to go into the mountains at this time, Ronan simply returned home and started making woven furniture.

Barty has made several new woven decorations, but there has been no progress on the furniture.

However, Cafu's shop in Apte is still under renovation and there is still some time to go.

Since the three of them met last time, Cafu has been updating everyone on his progress every day or two.

Everyone agreed to position the 'Lourmaran Handicraft Cooperative' as a high-end handicraft brand, so the location chosen by Kafu is in a relatively expensive area of ​​Apt, and therefore the shop is not very large, serving only as an emergency measure.

For Cafu, who was in the early stages of starting his business, this was the limit he could afford. Property prices in Provence continued to skyrocket, and as the capital of Luberon, rents in Apte were also breaking new records one after another. When looking for a shop, Cafu even started to back down.

If the 'Lourmaran Handicraft Cooperative' wants to grow bigger and stronger in the future, it needs to find a large store with enough prestige. But that store obviously cannot be in Apte, at least not in the short term, as Cafu cannot afford the tens of thousands of francs in rent every month.

There was another reason why Cafu and Ronan were in frequent contact. His colleagues were adept at decorating the shop, but he worried that he hadn't done a grand enough job, especially not enough to satisfy high-end customers. So he asked Ronan for his opinion.

Ronan gave Cafu a lot of design advice, but just to be on the safe side, he also consulted Bruno's wife, Amanda.

Amanda works as a sales clerk at Galeries Lafayette in Paris, one of the most upscale department stores in the city. She knows all too well what a high-end store should be like.

Amanda enthusiastically offered Ronan many decorating suggestions, and even said that she would visit Apte's shop when she moved to Provence at the end of the month.

Ronan, of course, welcomed this.

This is equivalent to hiring a professional consultant for their knitting business—Bruno once said that Amanda sells luxury goods at Galeries Lafayette.

"I wonder if Amanda would be willing to continue doing similar work?" Ronan muttered to himself.

Bruno asked Ronan to find a job for his wife.

Ronan did ask around for him, but he didn't find anything particularly good.

It wasn't easy for Bruno's family to move to Provence, especially since they had two children. Ronan was worried about Amanda working in a place he didn't trust. He wanted to find Amanda a boss he knew.

"There's still quite a bit of time until the end of the month, let's see how things develop before making a decision."

Ronan hasn't done any housework at home for six months.

There were many things to worry about in the early stages of opening the restaurant. Anything that needed to be done was moved to the restaurant. Moreover, the weather got cooler soon after opening, making it unsuitable for outdoor work. The donkey shed in the backyard was first filled with grapevines, and then it was demolished, leaving no place to work.

With the arrival of March, daytime temperatures, especially around noon, have warmed up considerably. Yesterday, while strolling through the gardens of Grasse and Ines, I saw some tender new buds.

In short, with signs of the earth turning green every day, it's time to go back to working outdoors.

Back home, Ronan first went to the backyard studio to check on the progress, as he does almost every day.

At this point, the studio was more than 80% complete. The exterior walls were finished, and the workers were working on the interior walls and floors.

"Is everything going smoothly?" Ronan asked Grondin.

The last few times I met Grondin, this shy young man was always wearing a suit.

Ronan was a little taken aback when he suddenly saw him wearing jeans today.

Grondin stood on the ladder and said:
"Very smooth."

Several young men working nearby looked at Ronan with wicked grins.
"Relax, buddy, your girlfriend will definitely see this gift by mid-March!"

Ronan rarely has a chance to stay at home during the day, and Zoe hasn't come over in a long time. The young couple usually meet at restaurants or Louis's house.

In Zoe's concept, Ronan's backyard was to be a slightly larger woodworking workshop that could store a large number of dried grapevines, rather than a two-story mega-workshop that combined glass burning, ceramics, woodworking, kitchen, and lounge.

To save Ronan money, Cafu turned the workshop into a stable. Throughout the winter, many nice houses appeared in Lourmaran, but the villagers and farmers paid no attention to this 'stable'.

Ronan took some tools that were temporarily stored there and happily told his men:
"Thank you for your hard work. Please make sure my workshop is repaired. This place is extremely important to me."

Ronan moved the vines and tools to the large table in the outdoor kitchen area of ​​the backyard. His task for the day was to 'replicate' a lounge chair that was very popular in his previous life.

The craftsmanship of this chair is not complicated; the difficulty lies in its 'shape'. Ronan estimates that it should be able to be completed in one day.

Pires was a temporary government worker who only needed to work a few hours each day before he could go home.

In the past, many women would come to our house every day, making it very lively with their chatter.

Now no one makes embroidered quilts anymore, the house is so deserted, the cold wave has affected everyone's income, and there are no more people making modified cars, so there's no one to talk to Pire the loudspeaker.

The liveliest place in the village was Ronan's restaurant, but Pires was holding a grudge and didn't want to give Ronan any money, so he could only wander around the village every day.

But what's infuriating is that no matter who he meets, he can always steer the conversation back to Ronan.

"What? The cold wave has affected no one to have you modify their cars? Go ask Ronan. He made a lot of money digging for truffles, and the cold wave didn't affect him at all. Maybe he's planning to buy a new car?"

"Oh dear, don't even mention embroidered quilts. Let whoever wants to sew them do it. I'm not talking to you anymore. I came out to move grapevines. Ronan has placed another order with us."

“Drinking? Sure, but I’m not going to the old tavern. Como’s not doing his job properly anymore; he’s always secretly making flower wreaths. If we’re going to drink, let’s go to Ronan’s restaurant. I’m craving his food.”

"That little brat Ronan!" Pires stormed off to Ronan's house in a rage.

Didn't you tell me to go and take a look?
Okay, okay, I'll go right now.

Anyway, nobody in the village can talk to me properly anymore. Just wait and see how I critique your shabby woven furniture!

I've been so bored these past few months!!

Pires found Ronan's house without any trouble. When he arrived, Ronan was wandering around the house with a strange object in his arms.

When Pires arrived, Ronan placed the object in front of a wall and said to him with a smile:
"You've come at the right time. I'd like to take a picture of this chair. Could you take a look and tell me if it looks good against this wall?"

Only after Ronan pointed it out did Pires realize that what Ronan was holding was actually a chair.

Pires took a deep breath, filling his chest with enough air to speak continuously for a minute:

"You lousy chair—"

Once he saw the chair clearly, all his pent-up words and anger poured out:
"Why is it blooming?"

(End of this chapter)