Chapter 172: Jazz Festival
Located in south-central France, Clermont-Ferrand is the capital of the Auvergne region and the capital of the Mont Domme department, the political, economic, cultural and educational center and the largest city in the region. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biqugeγ INFO The world-renowned tire manufacturer Michelin was founded in this city, and its manufacturing center still stands here. In addition to this, its garment industry and agricultural machinery manufacturing industry are also very competitive in the market.
The Mont Dom on the west side of Clermont-Ferrand is a volcano that has erupted many times throughout its history, and many of the buildings here are made of nearby volcanic stones, making the city known as the "volcanic city" of France. It is a place of great natural beauty, and there is an open science theme park near the Domme volcano, the Clermont-Ferrand Volcanic Geopark. The volcano is surrounded by European farms and villages, skiing, skydiving, hot air ballooning and other playgrounds, and the per capita income and per capita consumption level are lower than the average for Mont Domme, Auvergne and the whole of France, making it a great place to spend a holiday in central France.
Coming out of the passenger passage of Auvergne International Airport, Xiao Yao saw a large card with his name written in Chinese and English in the crowd of pick-up people, so he gestured to Fang Yi and Pei Minyi, and walked in the direction of the big card together.
Walking closer, Xiao Yao was slightly surprised. The pick-up sign was a young white girl with brown hair, and her beautiful facial features looked a little like Clara Lago, a Spanish actress Xiao Yao knew in her previous life.
"Hello, I'm Xiao Yao!" Xiao Yao pushed the luggage cart and walked up to the girl and greeted in English.
"Hello, I'm a staff member sent by Yago to pick you up. My name is Clara..."The girl put down the cards, shook Xiao Yao's hand with a smile, and introduced herself, also in English.
"Lago?" Xiao Yao said with a glare.
"Huh?" the girl looked behind her for a moment, and then turned her head and continued, "Did you see an acquaintance? Oh, by the way, my name is Clara Vera." β
"No, I read it wrong. Xiao Yao smiled awkwardly, and then introduced Fang Yi and Pei Minyi to Clara Vera, "These two are my assistants, this is Fang Yi, and this is Pei Minyi." β
"Hello," Clara Vera greeted the two with a smile, and then said to Xiao Yao with some confusion, "You said that both of them are your assistants?"
"Yes, can't I bring two assistants?" Xiao Yao said with a smile, "I remember that we told the Shencheng branch of the Yago Company in advance that this time three people came. β
"No, no, the number of people is not an issue. Clara Vera smiled and pointed to the luggage lane in Xiao Yao's hand, "I just didn't expect that these two are your assistants, but the luggage of the three of you is in your luggage cart alone." What a gentleman you are!"
"Thank you," Xiao Yao understood what Clara meant, and said with a smile, "It's not just French men and English men who are gentlemen, but also Chinese men." β
"Did you say that he knew that Yago Company would send a local beauty to pick up the plane, so he put all our luggage in his car and helped us carry out Li's?" Fang still couldn't help but whisper in Chinese in Pei Minyi's ear.
"Hey, you have to speak with your conscience. Xiao Yao, who had good ears, glared back at Fang still and said, "Even if it's at the airport in China, don't I help you with your luggage?"
"Ah, I forgot that he has a very good hearing. Fang still stuck out his tongue.
Xiao Yao and Fang still spoke Chinese, and Clara Vera didn't understand, but looking at the situation, she guessed that they were just joking, and there was no real contradiction, so she called Xiao Yao and said, "Mr. Xiao, I'll send you to the hotel first." β
"Okay. Xiao Yao no longer cared about Fang Yi, and followed Clara Vera to the parking lot outside the airport.
The four of them went to the parking lot and got into Vera's car.
Vera drove to the hotel she had booked, and on the way, she began to introduce to Xiao Yao the arrangements made by Yago Company: "Mr. Xiao, I will send you to the hotel now, and I will take you to the office of the film festival organizing committee tomorrow morning to go through the formalities and collect your personal documents." The festival lasted for five days, with the first four days of screenings of the participating short films, except for the announcement of the results on the last day. With the certificate issued to you by the festival, you can enter any of the exhibition halls at any time to watch the short films being shown. β
"Thank you. Xiao Yao, who was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, nodded politely and thanked him.
"You're welcome, it's my job. Clara Vera smiled and continued, "If you are interested, you can also visit Clermont-Ferrand and the surrounding attractions, including tonight, if you want to go out for a tour, you can contact me at any time, in addition to the reception work, I am also in charge of your part-time tour guide during this time." β
"Got it," Xiao Yao said with a smile, "Actually, my two assistants are here to play in France, and they will definitely trouble you these days." β
"Look, the free guides are available, and you two are really here this time. Xiao Yao turned back to the two people in the back seat and said, "You two don't have to worry about anything, just go and play." β
"What about you?" Clara Vera asked, turning her head to Xiao Yao, "aren't you going to visit Clermont Ferrand as well? I would of course recommend staying in the screening room when your short film is screened, so that some of the studios who are interested in you and your short film after watching the short film will not find you, but each short film in the festival will only be shown three times, and there will not be much time in total, so you still have a lot of time to hang out. β
"Thank you for the reminder," Xiao Yao shook his head with a smile, "but Clermont Ferrand, I've been here before, and I've been to the crater on the Domme mountain to take pictures, and I've already seen the places I should see, and I'm here to attend the film festival this time, or do I plan to watch a few more short films." You can just take my two assistants to play. β
"You really don't need us to do anything, just let us play?" Fang still leaned forward and asked Xiao Yao.
"Of course not. Xiao Yao smiled, "Didn't you hear what Clara said? What if a filmmaker takes a fancy to my short film during the screening? When you talk about copyright with people, you, the agent, have to be present." So the time of my short film screening includes the next half hour, and you have to stay with me in the exhibition hall where my short film is shown. After that, I'll look for short films to watch at the film festival myself, and you'll be free to play with Minyi. Minyi really didn't have anything to do, except for putting on makeup for me on the last day of the awards ceremony, and she was free to move for the first four days. β
"That's good. Hearing Xiao Yao say this, Fang and Pei Minyi breathed a sigh of relief at the same time. Although Xiao Yao said that he took advantage of the opportunity of work to take them out to play, if they really didn't do anything in France this time, just play for a few days and then follow Xiao Yao back like this, they would still be a little embarrassed.
"You've got a good boss!" Clara Vera said with a smile as she glanced in the rearview mirror, "I envy you." β
"Is your boss bad for you?" Fang still smiled at Clara Vera, "You're so beautiful, no boss will treat you too badly, right?" unless your boss is a woman and jealous of your beauty. β
"Strictly speaking, I don't have a boss yet. "I'm just working part-time at Jago. β
"Just part-time?" Fang still repeated, "I see that you are very talkative, and I feel very professional and sophisticated, and I thought you were an old employee." β
"Actually, I'm still a student. Studied acting at the Γcole SupΓ©rieure des Beaux-Arts in Clermont. "Because of the film festival, at this time of year, many cultural agencies, film companies, film companies, and so on need to temporarily add some staff. Since I studied acting, I know a lot about film, and I have a good level of English, so I have a part-time job as a host for filmmakers who come to the festival at this time of year. β
The four of them chatted all the way, and soon arrived at the hotel where Yago Company helped Xiao Yao book a room.
After dropping the three off at the hotel's front desk and watching them check in, Clara Vera left them her contact information and left.
Xiao Yao, Fang Yiyi, and Pei Minyi are together, and there is not a lot of luggage, a waiter can load a hotel luggage cart, and Xiao Yao has no trouble with one more person. The two girls were sent to the room together with the waiter, and then they returned to their room with the waiter. When the waiter unloaded his luggage, Xiao Yao paid a tip and began to organize his luggage.
As soon as the luggage was packed, the doorbell rang.
Xiao Yao walked over to open the door and took a look, and found that it was Fang Yi and Pei Minyi who came over.
"What's the matter?" Xiao Yao let the two into the room and closed the door.
"I just came to you when I was fine. Fang still said, "The film festival will officially start tomorrow, how do we arrange it tonight?"
"You can arrange it however you want," Xiao Yao said with a smile, "You can find a place to play by yourself." β
"We don't know each other well, and it's the first time we're going abroad, so how can we find a place to play. Didn't you say you've been here before? Of course we're going to ask you. Fang still said as a matter of course.
"Looking for Vera," Xiao Yao said, "Didn't she say part-time tour guide? We paid Yago, and since they arranged someone for us, we don't have to use it in vain." As he spoke, Xiao Yao picked up an empty glass on the table, took it and took it to the faucet to take a glass of water and drank it. Chatting with Clara Vera along the way, talking a lot, and sorting out some luggage, Xiao Yao was already thirsty.
"You're just drinking raw water?" Pei Minyi looked at Xiao Yao's movements and exclaimed in surprise.
"It's okay, the water here is drinkable. Xiao Yao waved his hand and said, "Do you want to try it too, there are empty cups on the table, if you want to drink it, you can pick it up yourself." β
"Did you switch to the European way of life when you came to Europe?" Fang still shook his head, "No matter how hygienic the water in France is, it is also water in the faucet, and we can't stand it." She knows that some people in Europe and the United States drink water directly from the faucet with a cup, but in terms of behavior and habits, she can't do anything.
"You don't know that. If it were other places in Europe and the United States, I wouldn't let you drink like this, but it's different here. Xiao Yao said to the two of them, "Clermont Ferrand is next to the volcano, and the magma accumulated near the crater in the early years to form different types of magmatic rocks, which are rich in minerals, so the groundwater in this area dissolves a large number of minerals that are beneficial to human health." The water here is very good, and the tap water is almost the same as mineral water, so that's why I let you drink it like that. By the way, there is an added benefit of staying here, which is the possibility of bathing in mineral water, which is a luxury that cannot be enjoyed anywhere else. If you don't have anything to do at night, just take a bath in the hotel. β
"Cut~ We didn't come here specifically to enjoy a bath with mineral water. Fang still rolled his eyes and said, "Then we'll ask Vera to take us out to play at night, will you go with you?"
"I'm still sleeping in the hotel. Xiao Yao shook his head and said.
"Don't be so upset. Fang still said, "Let's finally come to France, and you stay in the hotel to sleep? β
"How finally did you come to France? That's you. Xiao Yao smiled, "I've been to France several times. I've been here once before, and I've been to the crater to take pictures. Otherwise, how could I know so much about this place, and know that the water here can be drunk as mineral water. Actually, there are a lot of places to play here, but there are really not many good activities at night. β
"Okay, let's sleep in the hotel. Fang still flipped out his phone and said, "I'll first ask Vera if there are any fun shows here at night." β
"Hello Vera, I'm Fang Yi. Calling Clara Vera, Fang still said hello first, and then said straight to the point, "I want to ask, is there any fun place to go here at night?"
"Tonight?" asked Vera in affirmation, "don't you need jet lag?"
"No, you don't. Fang still said, "It's because of the time difference, I guess I won't be able to sleep tonight, so I want to go out to play." β
"Well, the International Jazz Festival happened to be performing in Clermont recently, and tonight is the last one, I was going to go with my friends, and if you're interested, I can take you with me. β
"International Jazz Festival?" Fang still glanced at Pei Minyi, saw her nodding again and again, and immediately replied, "Okay, we're very interested, then please take us with you at night." β
"International Jazz Festival?" Xiao Yao was also stunned when he heard it.
"No problem!" Vera said on the other end of the line, "are you all three going? I have two friends with me, and I need to think about what to drive at night." β
"There were two of us. Fang still said deliberately.
"Three!" Xiao Yao immediately shouted into the phone.
"OK, three!" Vera laughed on the phone, "I'll pick you up at the hotel at seven o'clock in the evening." β
"Thank you!" Fang still thanked him, hung up the phone, raised his eyes and said to Xiao Yao, "Aren't you going to sleep in the hotel?"
"I didn't know there was a jazz festival tonight. Xiao Yao smiled a little embarrassedly.
"You don't know that much about this place. Fang still said with a smile.