1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 518 Unexpected Problems

Ronan stopped Zoe from going to Mena Village.

The period before dinner is the peak time for tourists to return, and the road from Lourmaran to Mena village must be very difficult to travel.

Since none of the main dishes tonight needed to be baked and the oven was empty, Ronan decided to bake the bread himself.

He had participated in the Provence Bread Competition and was very skilled at making bread. He persuaded Zoe to pour out all the flour.

To avoid missing dinner, Ronan made "medium baguettes," which are shorter and thinner than baguettes and require less baking time. He successfully resolved the "bread shortage" crisis before Barty, Cafu, and Bruno's family arrived.

Around 4 p.m., Sandrine and the children knocked on Ronan's door, and then their friends arrived one after another.

The last person to arrive, Barty, went to smell the two pots of stewed beef on the stove as soon as he entered the house:

"You prepared the Camargue bull in two different ways?"

Barty has a very low appetite; he puts all his desire points into other attributes.

However, he still really wanted to try this expensive beef.

Eager to taste the flavor of this renowned Provençal beef, he reached for the lid of the 'Shepherd's Stew' pot:

"Is it almost ready? Let me taste it for you."

Ronan slapped Batistuta's hand away:

"It's not time yet, don't touch the lid."

Barty muttered a couple of things and left the cooking area dejectedly.

The children immediately started playing with Zoe, so Sandrine took over Zoe's position as kitchen helper. She jokingly said to Buddy:
“That’s not just any ordinary stewed beef. Ronan drove hundreds of kilometers to prepare it especially for Zoe. If you ruin his dish, he’ll definitely fight you to the death.”

Barty leaned against the bar and said sourly:

"I didn't go to dinner with a female student tonight, but I came to Ronan's house instead. I've missed out on so much, so what's wrong with letting me have a taste first?"

“You’ve missed more than just one female student—” Ronan put a stack of plates in Barty’s arms, gesturing for him to take them to the dining table outside. “I’ll tell you a secret when we eat later.”

This powerful alliance is truly remarkable.

The best beef from Provence, the finest tomatoes from Provence, the most authentic Provence recipe, all prepared by Provence's renowned chef Ronan. When the Provençal stew is served, the entire backyard is filled with the sounds of chewing.

“One more, the best bread.” Bruno reached for the baguette. “God, this bread with the gravy from the Provençal stew is absolutely amazing. I could eat three of them even without the beef.”

Sandrine agreed with her husband's assessment, and she asked Zoe:

"This bread wasn't bought in Lourmaran, was it? It doesn't taste like the bread from the shops in Mena village either. Where did you buy it?"

Zoe finished the last piece of beef on her plate and said contentedly:

"It wasn't bought; Ronan baked the bread himself."

The big guy Cafu's beard was covered in breadcrumbs from eating.
"The outer shell is as crisp as thin glass, yet the inside is so chewy, like eating a field of roasted wheat. I said, Ronan, you should consider opening a bakery."

Cafu said it as a joke, but Sandrine was serious; she raised her knife and fork.
"I agree!"

Ronan smiled and shook his head:

"No, no, I don't have the energy. If you want to eat it, come to my house and I'll bake it for you."

Sandrine looked expectantly at Barty:
"Barty, what do you think of this bread?"

Kafu lives in Apte and is unaware of the situation.

But Batty, you live in Lourmaran, haven't you noticed the bread crisis there?
Whether Lourmaran can have another bakery depends on us!
Sandrine's hopes were dashed; she still didn't know enough about Barty.
Barty wasn't very interested in food, and his habit of eating irregularly for years had dulled his sense of taste.

This can be seen from the fact that when he made Ronan's lager, he threw in leftover sausages, potatoes, lettuce leaves, and tomatoes like he was refining elixirs.

He thought it didn't matter what he ate, as long as it filled his stomach.

Barty stuck a piece of Kamalg bull into his mouth and chewed it with satisfaction.
"Why are you eating so much bread? Eat more beef! This stuff is so expensive, who knows when you'll be able to eat it again after this."

Ronan, suppressing a laugh, said to Batty:
"Eat more, eat more quickly, I'm afraid you won't be able to eat anymore later."

Barty said with his mouth bulging:

"How could I not be able to eat? I could eat as much beef as you wanted today! Oh, by the way, didn't you just say you were going to tell me a secret?"

Ronan shrugged:

"I'm just afraid that if I tell you the secret, you'll regret it and won't be able to eat."

Barty, with a smug look on his face as if to say, "That's impossible," pointed to himself and said:
"I, Bati, have never known what regret is in my life."

Ronan put down his fork, chuckled, and said:
“Alright, then I’ll tell you. One of the two ‘gentlemen’ I took to the weaving courtyard a few days ago was Charlotte Virginia.”

Upon hearing the secret, Barty seemed possessed, pacing around the dining table in circles while muttering incomprehensible words.

One minute he says he's a complete idiot, the next he says he's crazy.

After a while, he started wondering if he had shaved or washed his hair that day.

The adults knew that Barty was under Charlotte Virginia's spell, but the two children didn't.

They hid behind Zoe and timidly asked what was wrong with the uncle, why he looked a little scary.

Zoe told them:

"Uncle Barty ate too much beef and turned into a cow. Cows love to go in circles. You must not follow his example and eat too much at once, or you will end up like him."

"What if I eat lots and lots of fish?" Bruno's youngest daughter was holding a short-haired black doll in her arms today.

In order to see her favorite sister Zoe, she put makeup on the doll, making the doll's entire face blood red.

The little girl holding the doll looked even scarier than a possessed Batty.

Zoe patiently took the two little girls' hands:

"I happen to know a story about a little girl who ate too much fish. Shall I take you inside and tell you the story?"

"Great!"

“Zoe is so patient with kids,” Sandrine praised for the umpteenth time. “She seems to really like children.”

Bruno said to Ronan with great enthusiasm:

"Hurry up." Ronan scratched his head sheepishly.

Children are money-devouring monsters; I need to make a lot of money before they're born.

Since the topic of Charlotte Virginia had just come up, Ronan formally explained to Sandrine and Cafu the situation of the Thorn Sun Certification and its importance in Provence.

Upon hearing that Charlotte Virginia had pledged to spend 50 francs on furniture for this certification, Cafu pointed at Barty and said:
"How about we talk about this again when Batistuta is feeling better? This certification looks really impressive."

Ronan smiled and shook his head:

"It's alright, this won't affect Batista much, it's mainly the two of you."

He looked at Cafu:
"You should know what the Thorns and Blazing Sun certification is, right? We need to upgrade our sales scripts and promotional methods, and we also need to come up with a process and method to notify our existing customers. This task is assigned to you."

Cafu nodded solemnly:
"I'll start preparing tomorrow and try to get everything ready before you go to Avignon next week."

Then Ronan looked at Sandrine:
"We also need to upgrade our marketing and promotion methods. The Provence Art Guide will be published at the end of the month, which may attract a large number of enthusiastic customers. We also need to revise the VIP system."

Sandrine crossed her arms and nodded seriously a few times:

"I will also have the plan finalized by next Wednesday so that you can contact Charlotte as soon as you receive the certification."

Ronan raised his glass:

"Keep it up, guys. Hopefully, the next time we get together, it will be to celebrate the first success of the Lourmaran Handicraft Cooperative."

Batty squeezed in and clinked glasses with them.

"Hey, are you done?" Bruno asked, looking a bit silly.

Badi's face was beaming like a chrysanthemum:
“I heard that Charlotte will be coming to the Weaving Courtyard again, and this time I must receive her in person!”

After returning from Marseille, Ronan's days became much more relaxed.

There was Vieri at the market, a young man full of energy who had just entered society, especially since he was competing with Isabel. Ronan wanted to help but wouldn't let him.

However, Vieri had a habit of 'reporting' to Ronan every day, so Ronan was fully aware of the market's recruitment process.

Reality dealt Vieri a small 'blow'.

Although he quickly assembled the first batch of market staff, his classmates were not very enthusiastic about the market work. Although he sent out many invitations, less than a third of them accepted. They did not want to settle on a job so quickly and wanted to wait and see if there were any better options.

Vieri was not discouraged and said he would find another way, and the small goals he had promised remained unchanged.

Ronan didn't need to worry too much about the weaving business. Barty, Sandrine, and Cafort were all doing very well in their respective positions. Although the Thorn Sun certification didn't have much of an impact on Barty's place, the women could continue working at their usual pace. However, in order to accommodate Charlotte, Barty upgraded the weaving courtyard, making everything more 'high-end'.

The only slightly troublesome thing is the truffle experimental forest.

During this period, Ronan and Professor Fernand were in frequent contact. He had bought the forest, but the research institute still needed to go through some procedures, and the experiment still required a lot of preparation. The professor would be able to bring his students to Lourmaran to conduct the first round of experiments in two to three weeks.

During the waiting period, Ronan had to do preparatory work for the experiment, such as transplanting the original trees and cleaning the soil. He spent over 100,000 francs, completely depleting his last savings.

"Money is spent like water."

In just over a week, Ronan's savings plummeted from six or seven hundred thousand to only six or seven thousand, giving him a real sense of heart-pounding excitement.

Whenever he felt tense or anxious, he would check the accounts of the restaurant and the knitting.

Thank goodness, seeing the daily sales figures quickly eases my mind, making me feel that nothing is insurmountable.

However, one day, Ronan suddenly discovered a problem while looking at the restaurant's accounts.

"Why is our turnover not as high as before?" Ronan asked his mother, Feng Zhen, holding the ledger. "This month's turnover is less than last month's."

A few days ago, Ronan came to see this month's bill, and he was overjoyed to see the beautiful numbers on it.

With nothing much going on today, he took out his account books from the past few months and flipped through them, hoping to feel 'happier'. But instead, he ended up feeling anxious again.

The average daily turnover this month is actually less than last month!

Although it's not a huge amount, it's still unreasonable.

Summer vacation has begun, so the number of people should be even greater.

And the lines outside the restaurant are still so long, the diners are still so enthusiastic, and we haven't received any complaints. So why is the money we're making less every day?

Feng Zhen pressed the calculator button and said:

“Your father and I also noticed it. We studied it for a few days and found that it was caused by the decrease in the average order value.”

"The average order value has decreased?" Ronan blurted out.

Feng Zhen showed Ronan several customer orders:

“In the past, most customers came to eat, but after you participated in the dessert competition, many people came specifically to eat desserts, so the average order value has dropped.”

After reviewing the forms in Feng Zhen's hand, Ronan discovered that the problems his mother had mentioned were indeed present.

Their performance in the dessert competition did indeed promote the restaurant, letting more people know that there was such a restaurant in Lourmaran. However, it also attracted many customers who only wanted to eat desserts. Since the desserts were not as expensive as the meals, the average order value decreased as the daily capacity remained the same.

In fact, Ronan had worried about this issue a long time ago. After the Gold series of art events, he also attracted a group of customers with desserts. However, after observing for a while, Ronan found that the average order value did not change much. Therefore, he naturally assumed that the customers attracted by desserts this time would not have a significant impact on the average order value.

However, he overlooked the fact that art is ultimately a niche art form. Gold's influence only reached a small group of people, while Ax's activities were aimed at the general public, with a completely different audience. This was also reflected in the fact that Leah's dessert team had been extremely busy recently, and they had to add two more people to barely keep up.

Seeing Ronan's serious expression, Feng Zhen pointed to the customers waiting for seats outside and comforted him:
“Your strategy is absolutely right. Don’t doubt yourself. This is just a temporary problem. See how the lines outside are getting longer and longer? Once our new store opens, all these problems will be solved. Don’t worry, son.”

Ronan stopped thinking, came to his senses, and nodded:

"You're right, this is only a temporary problem."

Time flies.

The appointed day to collect the certification in Avignon soon arrived.

Ronan did not go alone; Ellian said that the foundation's people would be there to give a lot of advice, and he thought the F4 should all go and listen.

In addition to the three key members, Barty, Cafu, and Sandrine, Ronan also brought Aknina and Josephine along.

Josephine had never left Lourmaran alone, and rarely even saw strangers. Henry, worried that his wife might say or do something wrong, took the initiative to visit Ronan.
“Mr. Ronan, don’t take Josephine with you. She can’t help you at all, and might even cause you trouble! You two can go to Avignon yourselves!”

Ronan explained this to Henry, and at the same time, he was comforting Josephine behind him:
"The foundation is recognizing women, not me, Barty, Cafor, or Sandrine. As a representative of women, Josephine should be there, and this is not about helping. It is an honor they deserve."

(End of this chapter)