Chapter 68: A Misunderstanding? No, No, Not a Misunderstanding

Beneath her leather jacket, Zoe wore a form-fitting top that accentuated her figure to the absolute fullest.

Whether influenced by her physique or her commanding presence, Ronan self-consciously averted his gaze. "Aren't you a ceramic and glass artist?"

Last month, when Zoe’s new electric kiln had arrived, he had even helped her move it inside and taken a tour of her home studio.

Just how many studios do you actually have?

Zoe walked over to the stack of lumber piled against the wall and picked up a piece about a meter long. "This is where my journey in handcrafts began."

Ronan composed himself, reaching out to touch it here and there. "That's a rather high-end beginning."

Good grief, this place was practically his dream house.

Zoe placed the piece of wood onto the workbench, leaned her hips against the edge, crossed her arms, and said earnestly, "I’ve been doing woodworking for six years, and I still wouldn’t dare call myself a 'beginner.'"

The unspoken implication was—where on earth do you get the nerve to try making your own furniture when you've just stepped foot into the industry?

And complex pieces like beds and wardrobes at that!

Ronan brushed it off with a chuckle. "If I'd known you had such a fully equipped workshop here, I wouldn't have bothered buying so much stuff myself."

Zoe let out a long sigh, gesturing toward the wood with her chin. "Piece this together."

Edge-jointing was the most fundamental yet crucial technique in woodworking.

Without it, a woodworker could practically do nothing.

The purpose of edge-jointing was to join pieces of lumber together to create a width exceeding the natural growth of a tree.

Don't tell me your so-called 'little bit of experience' only amounts to knowing how to use a saw?

Ronan picked up the wooden board and inspected it.

It was prime material, free of knots and completely uncracked.

"Where did you even get these?" Ronan asked curiously.

"Illegal tree felling is prohibited in Provence, and hardwood is relatively hard to come by. I bought these from a lumber yard on the outskirts of Avignon."

Wood was classified into hardwoods and softwoods, though this distinction wasn't based on their actual physical hardness, but rather on botanical classification.

Hardwoods possessed a relatively complex cellular structure, with trunks comprising several distinct layers. They had high fiber density, making them hard in texture, with pronounced grain and darker colors, which made them much more suitable for furniture making.

Softwoods grew faster, had simpler cellular structures, lower density, softer textures, and smoother grains, making them ideal for fine woodworking, roofing, boats, and musical instruments.

Yet this wasn't absolute; some softwoods were actually harder than certain hardwoods, such as yew.

Choosing which wood to use for a project required simultaneous consideration of durability, patterns, grain, stability... it couldn't be generalized.

Zoe shifted her body weight back against the table behind her, which only made her curves even more prominent.

Ronan quickly looked away. "Avignon... that's quite far."

Zoe stared right at him without blinking.

What did you expect? Nothing is as simple as you think...

Ronan put down the board in his hand and looked at the other pieces of timber. "Do you have anything longer? I want to make a table."

This one is way too short.

Zoe’s eyes widened in disbelief. "Did you even hear a word I said?"

"I heard you, I heard you." Ronan walked toward the lumber pile. "But I really do want to make a table."

Zoe kept reassuring herself:

Stay calm! Calm down!!

Isn't it okay to indulge him just this once?

...

Shortly after.

Ronan looked like a seasoned pro as he used a handsaw to cut the long timber into several two-meter sections, and then set to work smoothing the joint faces with a hand plane.

Throughout the entire process, Zoe didn't offer a single word of instruction.

Every time she wanted to 'guide' Ronan on something, he would immediately move on to the exact corresponding step.

Ronan knew that when flattening the faces, he had to take off thin shavings and check repeatedly.

Ronan knew that after planing a few strokes, he needed to align the two boards to compare them, and mark any gaps with a pencil to show where excess material remained.

Ronan also knew to draw a 'V' across the fitted adjacent boards so that he could precisely realign their positions later.

She had learned these little details from the old carpenter in the village.

But who had Ronan learned them from?

Was he really from Paris at all?

...

On the other side.

A transparent object suddenly appeared right before Ronan's eyes.

"Huh?" He recoiled, bumping into a soft body.

Zoe 'forcefully' put safety goggles over Ronan's eyes, and handed him a pair of protective gloves and a brand-new dust mask. "Didn't your teacher teach you to always take proper safety precautions?"

The reason she had rushed out to drive back earlier was precisely because she was worried Ronan would get hurt.

Looking at how excited he was on the way there, he was bound to jump right into action... which was why Zoe had brought Ronan home—she only felt at ease if she could keep an eye on him herself.

Ronan shook his head and reached up to take off the glasses. "I don't need these for now."

"You must wear them," Zoe said in a warning tone.

Ronan: "..."

Ronan put on the protective gear and began looking around.

Zoe immediately handed over a pair of bar clamps—the exact ones Ronan had been searching for.

"Thanks." Ronan took them, thinking to himself that they were actually developing quite a tacit understanding.

Zoe walked over to the other side of the workbench, her legs slightly apart, and braced her elbows on the table. "Who on earth did you learn all this from?"

The level of skill Ronan had displayed simply could not have been self-taught.

"I did interior design in Paris, and by watching craftsmen work day in and day out, I picked some things up through sheer immersion. Sometimes I'd try my hand at it a few times too." Ronan found a very plausible excuse.

Zoe nodded silently.

So that was it.

"I overthought it..." she muttered softly, sounding somewhat disappointed.

"What did you overthought?" Ronan looked up.

Zoe straightened up. "I thought I could be your teacher, but you don't really need one."

Ronan stood up straight as well.

"No, no, no, I am very much in need of a teacher right now."

He pointed to the prepared lumber and said sheepishly, "That's all I know how to do. I don't know a thing beyond edge-jointing. I need a teacher to tell me how to turn these boards into an actual table."

Ronan’s head was filled with a lot of woodworking terminology, such as mortise and tenon, tongue and groove, half-lap joints, half-blind dovetails, and miter joints... but he had no idea how to apply them.

Zoe was more than happy to take on this 'new job.' She stepped to Ronan's side and began sketching on a piece of paper with a pencil. "First, you need to draw a blueprint."

Ronan immediately leaned in close.

"Draw out the joinery structure..." Zoe’s peripheral vision acutely caught the fact that the face hovering above wasn't looking at the paper on the table at all.

She snapped her head up, her gaze colliding with Ronan's at close range.

Ronan had held back for a long time, finally finding a chance to steal a glance at Zoe, never expecting to get caught in the act like this...

Both of them were clearly startled, yet neither looked away.

Zoe’s gaze drifted from Ronan's eyes down to his lips...

They looked rather appetizing, didn't they?

"Zoe, dinner is ready!"

The sight that greeted Leah as she pushed the door open was precisely this—her daughter staring at Ronan's lips with an expression of intense 'craving.'

"Oh... oh! Oh? Ronan is here too... well, come on out for dinner then." Leah was utterly dumbfounded, her pupils dilating in shock.

Ronan bolted from the scene instantly, offering Leah an awkward smile as he hurried past her.

Don't misunderstand, please don't misunderstand, it's not what you think!

Behind him, Zoe calmly followed suit, flashing her mother a smile as she walked by.

That's right, it was precisely what you think.