I am a master in India

Chapter 10: The First Lesson of Being Tricked

The patrolman in the distance seemed to be in a bad mood. At this moment, he was staring at a foreign couple with a gloomy face.

The couple had an argument with a street vendor a few steps away. If nothing unexpected happened, the situation would escalate in a few minutes and the patrol officer would be waiting for an opportunity to intervene.

"Don't Indian police usually give foreigners trouble?" Ron, who was watching the fun, couldn't help but gossip.

After hanging out in Mumbai for so many days, Ron now has a vague understanding of some of the unspoken rules.

For example, Indian police can beat or scold local people depending on their mood. I don’t know how many heads have been hit by that one-meter-long stick.

It can be said that they have no scruples at all, but they basically won't take the initiative to find trouble with foreign tourists.

"Rajesh has encountered a bad thing recently." Anand showed a lewd smile on his face.

"what's up?"

"Ron, you may not know this, but Rajesh is quite powerful in this area. He locked up a ghost a while ago.

But the ghost persuaded Rajesh to release him by telling him that he had gold and jewellery. Not only that, he actually gave Rajesh some gold and jewellery after he was released.

But those things were not real gold, they were fake, very cheap things. The funniest thing was that the clever guy lived in Rajesh's house for a week before selling fake jewelry.

Rumor has it that the witty guy slept with Rajesh's wife, and now Rajesh is furious. Everyone who sees him runs away quickly to avoid getting in the way.

"Does this mean Rajesh is now penniless?"

"Haha, yes, so someone is going to be in trouble."

Ron's gaze shifted back to the foreign couple. "I wonder where they live?"

"Who? Ron, are you talking about Rajesh's wife?"

"Fuck off!"

There was a low laugh all around.

Ron, who was caught off guard, turned around and saw that a group of people had gathered behind them without him noticing.

The dark-skinned man, the skinny old man, and the naked boy all stared at them and laughed happily.

Damn, Indians have no sense of boundaries. When did they gather here?
"Anand, what's going on?" Ron was a little worried that the melon would not be eaten by himself.

Anand proved with his actions the reason why everyone gathered. He put away the half-opened bottle of whiskey and glared back warily.

The people who were gathered nearby swallowed a few times and then dispersed reluctantly.

"These drunks have better noses than dogs."

"I shouldn't have been drinking the celebratory drink here." Ron stood up and walked towards Rajesh.

"Wait, Ron, what are you going to do?"

While Anand was busy packing his things, Ron had already seen the opportunity and stood in front of Rajesh.

The foreign couple seemed unwilling to compromise, and the vendor refused to give in either. This was when Rajesh should have stepped in.

But now there is an uninvited guest in front of him, "Get out of the way! Don't interfere with the police in performing their duties."

"Is that Officer Rajesh?" Ron switched to Marathi, a dialect favored by local police officers.

Sure enough, Rajesh stopped and looked Ron up and down. "What's your caste?"

Sur

"Well, what do you want?"

Ron didn't say anything, he just raised his finger and picked up a 50-rupee note and passed it over.

When the money touched Rajesh's palm, it disappeared without a trace. His technique was so skillful that it was unparalleled in the Mumbai police force, even veteran street stuntmen would be outshone.

"Mr. Soul, how can I help you?"

"The two over there are my French friends. There might be some misunderstandings between them and the locals due to language barriers. I can handle it." Rajesh stared at him for a few seconds, then nodded. "Okay, I can stay out of it for now."

"Thank you. Please wait a moment."

Ron turned around and walked up to the foreign couple and started talking a lot.

They were a little wary at first, but soon their faces turned happy, then they looked thoughtful, and finally nodded.

No one could understand what was being said. It was neither English, Hindi, nor Marathi.

After dealing with the foreign couple, Ron turned around and whispered a few words to the vendor, who reluctantly agreed.

"My dear friends, beware of offers of kindness in India. It is obvious that they will not relent unless you pay a cent. I think one-third of the price is acceptable to both of us."

"Thank you, Ron. Without you, we don't know what would have happened next. God, we practiced English, but we couldn't understand the English he spoke. Luckily, you can speak French."

The dispute finally ended after his foreign wife Anna thanked Ron and counted out a few rupees to the pestering vendor.

The story was simple: the couple were from France. English wasn't their strong point, and the vendor's curry-flavored English was about the same.

As soon as the two got off the train, they encountered an overly enthusiastic vendor. After a few words, he took out an exquisite bracelet in the name of blessing. Then, taking advantage of Anna's unpreparedness, he put it directly on her wrist.

It's easy to put it on, but hard to take it off. I paid $500, no bargaining.

They won’t let you leave unless you pay. It’s a very old trick.

But it is only 92 years now, and people outside the Indian subcontinent are clear and stupid.

Fortunately, they met Ron, who not only reduced the selling price from US dollars to rupees, but also cut the price by two-thirds.

It is less than 100 rupees, an amount that is acceptable to both the scammer and the scammed.

After settling this little dispute, Ron smiled and shook hands with them.

"You two, is this your first time in Mumbai? Have you found a place to stay? I can recommend some affordable and clean hotels for you."

“That’s great.”

"No, no thanks. We booked the hotel in advance."

Just as Anna was about to agree, her husband Henry suddenly interrupted her.

Ron glanced at them, then smiled nonchalantly, "It's okay. If you need anything in Mumbai, you can always contact me."

He handed them a note with his phone number on it and left without any further ado.

"Hey, Henry. Ron obviously means well. He just helped us, and he speaks French."

"It's precisely because we haven't forgotten the lesson we just learned that we need to be more careful. I suspect he's in cahoots with that greedy vendor. He first gained our trust and then slowly swindled us out of our money."

"Henry, are you being too sensitive?"

"It's always better to be cautious. Besides, let's not forget our mission in Mumbai this time, which is to update the travel guide for Lonely Planet magazine. We have to go on our own and can't rely on others."

Ron, who had already left, didn't care about this little thing. He had a more important task at hand than attracting customers.

"Officer Rajesh, thank you for your patience."

Rajesh, who had been watching the fun from the sidelines, shook his head left and right. "Hey, you handled it very well."

He wasn't waiting here out of a sense of responsibility. He was simply bored and wanted to take a few more glances at the French woman's towering breasts.

"So do you have time to find a place to chat now?" Ron gave Anand a look.

The latter immediately followed up, "I know a great restaurant nearby. The food is so delicious that I guarantee you will eat yourself to death."

Rajesh looked up at the clock at the train station. "Noon is only an hour away. I think I can start my lunch break early."

"Of course," Ron smiled and let Anand lead the way.

(End of this chapter)