Chapter 29: Making a Garden of the Forest

[Waking up at home increases happiness by 2 points]

Since Ronan arrived in Provence, every morning the notification he heard was:

[Waking up in an empty house increases happiness by 1 point]

The “empty house” part was gone?

And it even gave an extra point?

If he decorated this house like a palace, how much happiness would he gain upon waking up?

Five? Ten? A hundred?

Ronan suppressed the overwhelming urge to immediately replace all the windows with new ones or rush out to buy furniture.

“Focus on earning money first; without money, nothing can change... Have you forgotten the hardships endured because of poverty?”

With that thought, he sprang up like a carp flipping, and went back to the mountains to dig for truffles.

...

Today, Ronan returned home a little earlier than usual; tonight, he was attending a gathering at Lucas’s house.

It had been a month since arriving in Provence, and this was the first time he would leave the familiar homes of Louis, Alain, Freddy, or Carl to visit another family.

Influenced by his parents, he always brought a gift to gatherings. This time, he brought ‘Tuopai Qujiu’—a type of Chinese baijiu he had unexpectedly found at the market.

Some villagers had somehow procured two bottles of this Chinese liquor and displayed them as antiques.

Ronan figured that wealthy people like Lucas wouldn’t appreciate ordinary gifts; a specialty liquor would be more meaningful and also reflect his Chinese heritage. So he bought the bottles for 85 francs each.

In winter, farmers in Provence had a standard outfit—jeans, leather jackets, and leather boots.

Ronan rarely dressed like that; he prioritized comfort and practicality for work, not style. But today, he deliberately donned the farmer’s attire.

Though he didn’t know who else would attend or their occupations, since the gathering was at Lucas’s home, dressing this way was a form of respect for the host.

Lucas’s house wasn’t in the village center either. It was on the side near the forest, at the boundary between farmland and woods.

There were no fences around the house, giving the impression that the entire forest behind it was part of the backyard.

And indeed, that was exactly the case...

“This whole piece of land was bought by Lucas,” Theo said proudly as he came out to meet Ronan.

“The entire forest?” Ronan asked, stunned.

“Oh no, no, no,” Theo said with a look that said, “What a funny joke.” “He doesn’t have that kind of money to buy the whole forest!”

“I thought so,” Ronan muttered silently.

“He bought over a hundred acres,” Theo said as he opened the door for Ronan.

Even without looking up land prices in Lurmaran village, Ronan knew this was no small sum.

Lucas really was rich...

...

Upon entering, Ronan was immediately met with a wave of warmth.

From what he had learned from Simon, Ronan guessed that Lucas must have installed the finest cast-iron heating system invented by Germans or Belgians.

Lucas’s house was very large. When Ronan entered, he didn’t hear any conversation.

But as Theo led him through the foyer, the parlor, the enormous kitchen, and the dining room already set with tableware, finally arriving at the extended leisure area, Ronan was surprised to find nearly twenty people gathered.

Lucas was playing a local card game with two others. Seeing Ronan arrive, he pushed his cards onto the table and opened his arms wide to welcome him.

“You’re finally here!” He embraced Ronan tightly.

Lucas’s enthusiasm was like greeting a brother who’d grown up wearing the same pants. And this was only their second meeting!

If Lucas didn’t deal in truffles, Ronan thought to himself, maybe he could try his luck in Cannes...

Ronan returned the hug with acting skills that matched Lucas’s perfectly.

“The snow hadn’t fully melted, which slowed me down. Here, a little gift for you—Chinese baijiu.”

Ronan handed over the gift.

Lucas, holding Ronan with one arm and the bottle in the other, declared to the other guests passionately:

“Tonight, we will taste baijiu from China, and I will also introduce you to this man with Eastern features!”

...

Lucas seated Ronan beside him, which infuriated Elena, who had maintained her demure persona for a long time and hadn’t dared greet Ronan.

That guy Lucas... he only had eyes for Ronan!

Move me over there too!

What does it mean to seat me in a corner?

She glanced around at the other guests...

Even though Elena was a pampered heiress, she understood that the corner seat was truly meant only for her; it would be inappropriate for anyone else to take it.

Theo quietly sat next to Elena and whispered, so only she could hear:

“Lucas told me to say that everyone here tonight is no ordinary person. If you cause a scene at the table, he won’t hesitate to throw you out.”

The latter half was Theo’s own addition, as he often used Lucas’s “messages” to reprimand Elena for her usual disrespect toward him.

“Mind your own business,” Elena snapped and turned her full attention to the conversation between Lucas and Ronan.

...

“This is Olivier. He owns restaurants in Marseille, Nice, Cannes, and Avignon. His wife loves the environment in Lurmaran village and moved here from Marseille three years ago. By the way, Mrs. Charles runs a restaurant in the village. You must try it sometime; her cooking is superb.”

Lucas pointed to a portly middle-aged man at the table with a small mustache above his lip and a belly nearly touching the table.

Ronan was taken aback.

Owning multiple restaurants in 1986 was no small feat.

And he was Mrs. Charles’s husband?

Lucas then introduced another unremarkable-looking man:

“This is the son of Albert Camus, the Nobel Prize-winning author. After Camus passed away in Lurmaran village, his son, mother, and sister have lived quietly here.”

Camus was a renowned French writer and philosopher, known for works like The Stranger and The Plague. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957.

Ronan knew Camus had lived in Lurmaran village because there was a street named after him, but he hadn’t known Camus’s wife and children still lived there.

Before Ronan’s shock could subside, Lucas continued introducing another guest:

“This is Chevil. His father once served as the French Minister of Transport. To honor his father Raoul’s contributions to the French railway, the square in front of Paris’s train station is named after him. You must have been to that train station, right?”

Ronan took a sip of wine to steady his nerves.

This table was filled with either the rich or the noble...

Sitting in the seat next to Lucas, the place of honor, was truly overwhelming.

Why was he given this position?