America's Greatest Villain: I Defeat Magic with Magic

The next day at noon, there were no customers in Rongding Pavilion since it was not lunchtime yet.

Chen Yuan stood listlessly next to the wine cabinet. Since Boss Huang stipulated that he could not play games during work hours, the only entertainment he could do while slacking off was the LCD TV hanging on the wall.

The screen was displaying a local Los Angeles midday news report.

The east gate of MacArthur Park was in complete disarray in the footage.

Several ICE riot control vehicles, dented and battered, were parked on the side of the road. Various environmental slogans, trampled lunch boxes, and a few tattered clothes belonging to homeless people were scattered on the ground.

At the bottom of the screen is a prominent, bolded title:

Violent clashes erupt at MacArthur Park! Environmental protest turns into violent riot; ICE intervention sparks controversy.

"A serious mass conflict occurred near MacArthur Park last night in the early evening."

A blonde, blue-eyed news anchor sat upright in the studio, delivering the news in a standard American accent:

According to eyewitnesses, the conflict stemmed from a protest by a radical environmental group against a local Asian restaurant that was providing charity meals. The situation quickly spiraled out of control.

Following the female anchor's voice, the screen quickly switched to a video of the chaotic scene from yesterday evening, which was a recording taken from Ding Wei's live stream.

Although the camera was from a distance, it was still clear that fully armed ICE agents were pinning a young man to the ground; it was none other than environmental leader Juan.

They were surrounded by angry environmentalists shouting and cursing, and undocumented immigrants fleeing in all directions.

At this point, the female anchor's voice gradually became serious:

"It is worth noting that ICE's sudden intervention in this incident has drawn strong protests from the mayor of Los Angeles and several human rights organizations."

The mayor's office subsequently issued a statement saying: "Los Angeles is an inclusive city. It is unacceptable for ICE to make biased arrests at public charity events without police coordination."

This not only eroded trust within the community but also turned what was initially a peaceful environmental appeal into a riot.

Upon hearing the female anchor's words, Chen Yuan couldn't help but laugh out loud.

What is meant by peaceful environmental protection demands?

Overturning a homeless man's lunchbox and ganging up on Ding Wei, a fake lecturer—is this considered peace?

At this point, the television screen switched to a live commentator, who was said to be a veteran conservative media professional.

"I must correct the mayor's wording. According to some of the case files released by ICE this morning, Juan, the Mexican suspect arrested in the video, is not an environmental activist at all!"

At this point, the conservative media figures' expressions grew increasingly serious:

"He was not only an undocumented immigrant whose visa had expired three years ago, but he is also suspected of using the organization's cover to conduct long-term transnational smuggling and money laundering activities! Agents also found a large number of counterfeit Social Security cards and thousands of dollars in illicit funds in the safe in the RV they seized on the spot!"

Then, he said with even greater excitement:

"To package someone like this as an environmental champion is the biggest irony for California taxpayers! If it weren't for ICE's decisive action, how many more well-meaning people would this hypocrite, cloaked in environmentalism, have swindled from their donations?"

Upon hearing this, the female anchor was visibly taken aback, but her reaction was equally swift; she immediately and abruptly changed the subject:

"The specific charges against Mr. Juan are still under further review in federal court. However, it is undeniable that last night's riots resulted in the looting of three nearby convenience stores, minor injuries to two ICE agents during the retreat, and several members of the public being affected by pepper spray and smoke generators and rushed to the hospital."

"In addition, an Asian influencer who was live-streaming the event has also been taken away by the police for investigation on suspicion of visa fraud and disturbing public order. Their social media accounts have been permanently banned from the platforms..."

What followed was a typical American blame game: Los Angeles City Hall, ICE, and human rights organizations all shifted blame, each believing the other was the culprit behind the incident.

Chen Yuan shook his head helplessly.

Fortunately, after this incident, Mr. Huang became somewhat afraid and immediately canceled the subsequent street charity events.

However, cost reduction and efficiency improvement must continue, so Mr. Huang quickly launched a new initiative: to use the restaurant's street-facing windows to sell some fried foods.

It mainly consists of various foods that Americans enjoy, including fried chicken, fried cod nuggets, French fries, as well as donuts and coffee.

Of course, the ingredients for these snacks are all leftovers from the restaurant. Although they are still within their shelf life, they are not suitable for use as dishes, which is to highlight the use of waste.

The fried chicken, priced at just $1, is considered by owner Huang to be the flagship product of this new initiative.

This $1 certainly doesn't represent the price of a whole fried chicken, but rather a small portion of chicken strips, which wouldn't be enough to fill you up under normal circumstances.

If you want to order a set meal, it will cost at least $15.

The person in charge of selling these snacks is a new employee who just joined the company this morning, named Su Nian.

Like Lin Xiaoxiao and Hu Dan, Su Nian is also an international student, but she is only a freshman and 19 years old.

Su Nian seemed to be somewhat introverted. Apart from a brief self-introduction when she first joined the company, she only said one or two sentences all morning.

However, her outstanding appearance and tall stature led to her being entrusted with an important task by Boss Huang as soon as she arrived: standing in front of the window to attract customers.

Looking at Su Nian's expressionless, even somewhat tense, profile, Chen Yuan felt that Boss Huang was really making things too difficult for this young girl.

Although Ding Wei, the fake lecturer invited by Boss Huang, really became a hit yesterday, with the number of viewers watching the live stream at the same time once exceeding 10.

However, Ding Wei had already been detained by the immigration authorities, and his cell phone had been left at the scene of the riot by Chen Yuan and had not been brought back.

Therefore, Ding Wei's account was banned before he could release the promotional video he had filmed in advance.

The charity event that Mr. Huang painstakingly organized ultimately failed to achieve any results.

Fortunately, with the arrival of noon, coupled with the tempting aroma of various fried foods, it still attracted many passersby.

Of course, the biggest credit goes to the words on the blackboard at the entrance: $1 Fried Chicken, New Product Promotion, Limited Quantity, Buy Now!

Although, there was a line of very inconspicuous small print below the blackboard: $1 fried chicken refers to one serving of chicken strips (small portion, weighing 100 grams).

However, most diners can't help but want to try it when they see the words "$1 fried chicken".

As a result, the sentence that Su Nian, the young girl, said most often since starting work was:

"Sir/Madam, $1 fried chicken refers to one small portion of chicken strips..."

Although most diners would turn around and leave immediately after hearing this.

A small number of short-tempered diners may even curse out loud on the spot.

However, a very small number of people still choose to buy after inquiring about the price.

And they often don't just order one serving of fried chicken strips; they also order chicken legs, fries, cola, and other similar items.

According to Chen Yuan's observation, almost all of these diners were of Chinese descent, and they were mainly young men.

Average spending is over $20.

Some diners would even order a work meal and eat it slowly inside the restaurant, but their eyes would occasionally glance at Su Nian at the window.

Chen Yuan couldn't help but marvel at Boss Huang's grasp of human nature; it was simply terrifying!

Su Nian's expression grew increasingly stiff from the constant scolding, but to Chen Yuan's surprise, the girl actually persevered.

In two whole hours, Su Nian sold a total of 27 servings of fried snacks, achieving a great start for Rongdingge's new business.

However, just when Chen Yuan thought the busy lunch break was about to end...

Several unexpected guests arrived at the snack window outside the restaurant.

They were three black men dressed in baggy hip-hop clothes and wearing hoodies.

"Give me all the fried chicken and fries in your shop, little girl!"

The leader leaned over the window ledge, greedily eyeing the golden fried chicken in front of him, then glared at Su Nian and said menacingly:

"Hurry up, I'm starving!"