Chapter 270, troublesome people

"Why? It's not fun to go with a group." He personally didn't like to go on group tours. He knew it wouldn't be fun because there would be restrictions on their mobility.

Shuishui didn't say much. They ate and sat there, waiting for the boarding time.

Soon, they boarded the plane. In their seats, Qian Shuishui wore her eye mask and tried to sleep.

Qian Anzhi looked around. "Sis, being in the first-class cabin is quite expensive, right?"

"En, you can just go to sleep." Shuishui soon fell asleep.

Qian Anzhi wasn't feeling sleepy at all. He set all his electronic devices on flight mode. When the plane took off, he began to watch movies. Fortunately, they were in the first-class cabin, which was much more comfortable than the economy class cabin. It was his first time going abroad. Although he was excited, he felt anxious after getting on the plane because he couldn't understand the foreigners. 'I don't understand French at all,' he thought.

He turned his head and saw that his sister had already fallen asleep. Shuishui could really fall asleep easily. She slept as soon as they boarded the plane. He looked to the side in boredom. The other first-class seats were also full, and there were people all around them. He continued to watch videos out of boredom. The videos were quite limited, so he leaned to the side and fell asleep. It was a ten-hour flight, and when woke up, a few hours had passed. The crew served food and drinks, but they weren't very appetizing. However, he ate a little because he was quite hungry.

Qian Anzhi was already bored. He realized that there were still a few hours left. It was such a long flight that his butt was already aching and numb from sitting too long. "Sis, next time, let's travel to a closer place. I feel like France is too far. The flight is taking so long."

"En, we won't get this chance again, and France is also very beautiful." She smiled faintly. She was going to France for business. Although it wasn't a big deal, it was something she wanted to pursue. Whether or not it would be successful remained to be seen. She dared to say that her small design was unique. If she sold it to the businessman, they could have it patented. In the long run, the businessman would earn from her design.

It was already afternoon when they landed in Paris, the capital of France. They left the airport and hailed a taxi. Shuishui gave the driver the name of the hotel.

The driver nodded.

He smiled foolishly and continued to speak in French.

Shuishui knew basic French, so she also started to chat with the driver. "Recently, there are more tourists. Which place has the most people?" she asked in French.

"Ah? You speak French?" the driver asked in surprise.

"A little. I had a French friend who taught me the basics. I can only converse in basic French." Although she only knew a few basic French phrases, her accent was very pure.

The driver answered, "But I think you have a very good French accent. There have been a lot of tourists recently, but most of them came with a group. There are more tourists and more open businesses at night. In fact, it can still be a bit unsafe at night. It's best for girls to not go out alone. More crimes seem to happen during the night. I wish you a pleasant journey."

Shuishui nodded. "Thank you. We'll be mindful."

Qian Anzhi was dumbfounded. "Sis, you can speak French? Impressive."

"There's nothing impressive about it. I only know a little, so I can't really converse for a long time in French."

"Still, it's impressive." Qian Anzhi was shocked. His sister seemed to know a lot of things, and she spoke French so smoothly. He felt like their trip suddenly became more interesting. He was comforted by the thought that they wouldn't be easily fooled because his sister could somehow communicate in French.

The driver dropped them off at the hotel. At the front desk, Shuishui took out her ID card and conversed with the receptionist.

Qian Anzhi didn't understand a single word.

Shuishui was still discussing arrangements with the receptionist. Half an hour passed by before they were handed their room cards.

Shuishui had booked two single adjacent rooms for each of them. They were on the 17th floor.

Qian Anzhi looked around. "Staying in this hotel must be expensive. Sister, are we really staying here for six days?"

"Yeah. Let's go unpack first and then eat something." Shuishui was a little hungry. The long flight somehow exhausted her.

She studied the map on her phone and looked for nearby restaurants. She found that the hotel was near the city center. There would be a lot of delicious food around.

They left their luggage in the room and left the hotel together. Qian Anzhi pulled Shuishui and said, "Sis, it's French cuisine, right? I haven't had authentic French food before."

"French cuisine takes a long time to prepare, and they're usually light food," Shuishui told him. At restaurants, French people could order a lot of food, but they wouldn't feel full even after they finished eating.

It was a big city. Shuishui thought that if they were hungry again by nighttime, they could simply go to a restaurant. "Let's go search for a good one," she said.

Shuishui wasn't familiar with the place. They continued to look for a good restaurant as they walked along the streets.

On the way, they passed by several Chinese. France really was a famous tourist destination.

Shuishui saw a vintage-looking restaurant. She walked in and thought it was so elegant. The interior was designed in an ancient European style. Shuishui looked around and said, "How about this one?"

"Sure. Let's go." Qian Anzhi walked in eagerly.

A waiter with blonde hair and blue eyes walked up to them. The waiter noticed that they were Asian, so he spoke in English. "May I ask if we can serve you?"

"We would like to try authentic French cuisine. I don't know if you serve traditional cuisine." Shuishui also had to clarify because there were some restaurants that had French designs but didn't serve authentic French food.

"Of course, we serve authentic French cuisine. You can try it." The waiter smiled faintly. He was very amiable.

"Okay." Shuishui was excited to eat.

The waiter brought them to their table. Next to them was a large dining table for six people.

Qian Anzhi looked at the menu and his expression changed. "Sis, I don't understand anything."

"En, then can I help you order?" Shuishui asked back.

"Okay, you can help me order." Qian Anzhi was confused by the menu because the pictures did not seem to match the names of the dishes.

While they were looking at the menu, six people were seated on the table next to theirs. They were speaking in Chinese. Qian Anzhi leaned towards Shuishui to whisper. "Sis, they can't understand the menu either."

Shuishui pushed Qian Anzhi's head away. "If they can't understand it, it has nothing to do with us. Stop staring at them. It's not very polite."

"I know. I just glanced at them a few times," he said as he casually flipped through the menu.

The guests at the next table were very troubled. They couldn't understand anything on the menu. They couldn't speak English very well. They rarely dined out, so they braced themselves and ordered the dishes at random.

They picked out random items from the menu.

When they finished ordering, Shuishui was still looking at the menu. After she had decided what to order, she called the waiter over. Although she could not understand the names of thee dishes, she knew what to eat. She simply read the English text at the end of the menu. The restaurant was more than twenty years old. Also, many of the restaurant's dips and sauces were made by their own chefs and were secret recipes. Many of the texts in the menu were in French, and she couldn't understand everything.

She gave their orders to the waiter and placed the menu on the side of the table.

When the people seated at the other table heard Shuishui say the names of the dishes, they were a little surprised, but they managed to smile. "Smoked salmon—do you want pine nuts ti go with that?" the waiter asked.

"Yes," Shuishui answered.

Shuishui had ordered appetizer, main dish, and dessert. The waiter then went off to place her order.

"Sis, what did you order?'' Qian Anzhi asked. He thought for a while and said, "Forget it. Don't tell me. I think it's better to be surprised. I'll know when I see the dishes later."

"The dishes would take a long time to prepare. You have to be mentally prepared for it." Shuishui drank the water that was poured next to her.

"Let's have a drink." Qian Anzhi wanted to make it worthwhile. "Did you order juice?" he asked his sister.

"I ordered drinks for you, but it won't be served soon. Let me think. I ordered two types. One is blueberry milkshake and the other is watermelon juice. Which one do you want to drink?" she asked Anzhi.

Anzhi smiled. "I'll have milkshake please." Shuishui knew that Anzhi liked blueberries.

Ten minutes later, their drinks and seafood soup were served.

Shuishui and Anzhi stared at the beautiful food presentation.

The food at the next table was served fast, but they had ordered more appetizers, salads, and soups. They were served two servings of beef steak.

On the other hand, Shuishui ordered a few staple foods: smoked salmon, escargot, foie gras, as well as red wine lamb chops. Since they were siblings, they didn't mind sharing their food.

Qian Anzhi nodded. "It's delicious, but the servings are a little small."

Shuishui pointed at the food. "Indeed, one serving isn't much, but the food is delicious. French foods are works of art."

"It's very beautiful." Qian Anzhi finally tried the dessert and touched his stomach. "Even though it looks very beautiful, it's surprising how delicious it is."

"Okay. It's quite troublesome to eat here every day though." Shuishui felt that it was not bad to visit the restaurant occasionally. She personally felt that it was a bit time-consuming because the foods were meticulously prepared.

Qian Anzhi was already full. For him, the visit was enough. He didn't feel the need to go back to that restaurant.

When they finished eating, they heard the guests in the next table complaining about how unreasonably priced the food was. Their bill had been handed to them, and they were annoyed that they needed to pay a few hundred euros. Shuishui knew that the dishes they had ordered were quite expensive, so she did not expect their bill to be cheap.

However, the other guests in the next table were already arguing.

"We didn't even eat much. We only ate salad and soup, and it now we have to pay around four hundred euros? This is too much!" They were grumbling, but the waiter didn't understand a single word they said. The guests were able to mumble a few sentences in English, saying that everything was too expensive and that the whole thing was a lie.

The waiter tried to explain the breakdown of their bill, but they didn't understand.

The waiter looked at Shuishui and quickly approached her. She asked, "Do you understand what they are saying?"

"Yes."

"Then can you translate for us?" The restaurant staff members were also conflicted about what to do. It was the first time they had encountered such difficult customers.

Shuishui approached the Chinese guests and said, "Can you show me the list of your food?"

"Okay, okay. You can also judge. Why is it so expensive?" They gave the list to Shuishui and waited for her explanation.

Shuishui studied the list. They had ordered high-value red wine. The bottle of red wine was the most expensive item in their bill. "You ordered a bottle of red wine, which was very expensive because it is high-quality red wine. The other food items are very reasonably priced."

The group found something to complain about again. "We had no idea that the bottle of red wine was so expensive, and they didn't even bother telling us."

Shuishui recalled that the prices were clearly stated in the menu. She said, "There were prices on the menu. When you ordered, you should have looked at the prices of the items you ordered. I'll remind you in a friendly manner. If you don't want to pay, the restaurant management might sue you on the accusation that you intended to eat here for free. Moreover, these Western countries are serious in handling such matters. They clearly stated the prices in the menu. You're in the wrong. If you insist on not paying, not only will you have to pay for this meal, but you might also have to pay extra money for other charges."

She felt that there was no need to report the matter to the police station. It was a shameful but petty matter.

The Chinese guests looked at each other and hesitantly paid their bill.

The waiter turned to Shuishui and said, "Thank you very much. Otherwise, the matter wouldn't have been settled."

"It's okay. We enjoyed our meal today." She pulled Qian Anzhi away and quickly walked out of the restaurant. When they got out, Shuishui said, "Let's go. I don't want to get involved. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have done anything. If the waiter hadn't asked me to step in, I wouldn't have interfered."

All the food prices were clearly stated in the menu. The restaurant was clearly quite famous and had already established itself as a restaurant that served authentic French foods. If it had been lying to its customers, it wouldn't have lasted that long in the food industry. The Chinese guests were simply trying to wriggle their way out of the situation by making false accusations.

"I think so too. I couldn't even understand the menu, but I saw the prices of the dishes. If they thought it was too expensive, they could have chosen not to order it." Qian Anzhi felt relieved that they were out of the restaurant after that chaotic encounter.

Not long after, they saw an ice cream truck. Qian Anzhi stopped to buy ice cream. Around that time, the six Chinese guests whom they met at the French restaurant also walked out and walked towards them when they saw Shuishui. "Thank you for helping us earlier."

"You're welcome," Shuishui said calmly.

They began to gossip. "Are you here on travel with your parents, or are you studying here?"

Qian Anzhi was walking back towards Shuishui and heard their questions. "We're here to travel," Shuishui answered.

The group of people were only in their thirties, but they were very gossipy.

Shuishui found an excuse. "It's getting late. We should go. You guys have fun."

The group was asking all sorts of questions and wanted to hang out with them the next day. Shuishui quickly changed the topic.

They continued to pester Shuishui. "Which hotel are you guys staying at?"

"It's nearby. I forgot what it's called. We'll take our leave first," Shuishui answered as she and Anzhi walked away.

The two of them walked away quickly. They didn't want to be bothered by that particular group of people. They didn't know what their motives were, but she didn't like people who acted like they were familiar with her, especially in foreign places where they were generally unfamiliar with people.

Qian Anzhi also felt annoyed. "Why were they asking so many questions? Besides, we don't even know them."

"There are many kinds of people. It's better not to be entangled with them." She thought they were strange, and she tried her best to stay away from them. She was wary of other people because she had no idea what their real intentions were.