America's Greatest Villain: I Defeat Magic with Magic

Half an hour later, Chen Yuan and Martin arrived at Rongdingge Restaurant together.

Standing at the door, Martin still looked puzzled and asked:

"I don't understand. Since this restaurant has already run into the Stephen Walker vampire, why would you still want to take it over? Even if you get the property rights without spending a penny, legally you'll still have to pay millions in settlement fees. This isn't a worthwhile deal."

"You don't need to worry about that. Once I see Attorney Walker, I'll have a way to shut him up."

Chen Yuan's idea was naturally to use the system's [Sin Scan] to seize leverage against Attorney Walker when they met again.

However, to Martin, this confident demeanor resembled that of a wild beast eyeing its prey.

Martin subconsciously believed that Chen Yuan was likely planning to use Ivanov's violent methods to exert physical pressure on lawyer Walker.

But the other party is a former prosecutor with countless connections in the Los Angeles judicial system! Trying to use gangsters to deal with a top-notch lawyer is simply too naive.

However, Martin had no intention of stopping Chen Yuan's reckless behavior. He came here to help simply to retrieve the memory card containing countless confidential videos.

It was almost noon. Hu Dan and Su Nian were supposed to be on the early shift today, but they had already resigned and left.

Therefore, the restaurant was lifeless and deserted.

However, the two soon noticed that the door to the boss's office was ajar. Pushing the door open, they saw their boss, Huang Fugui, slumped behind his desk in the center of the room.

Compared to yesterday, Boss Huang looked much more haggard, with sunken eyes, as if he had aged ten years overnight.

He heard someone enter the room, and looked up at them, his forehead covered in wrinkles.

Upon recognizing Chen Yuan, he said weakly yet stubbornly:

"Get out! Even if I lose everything and go to jail, I will never transfer this restaurant to an ingrate like you!"

Martin could tell from Huang Fugui's appearance that he was a typical old-fashioned Chinese boss.

He worked hard all his life and built up a business that he would rather die than hand over to someone else.

However, he had seen many bosses who wouldn't admit their mistakes until they were faced with dire consequences. As long as he reasoned with them and used force, he could always find a way to strip them of their last shred of skin.

So he swaggered over, plopped down on the chair in front of Huang Fugui's door, put his legs up on the desk, and said while chewing gum:

"Boss Huang, my client told me that you're planning to use your hard-earned retirement savings to fill that vampire Stephen Walker's bottomless pit?"

Martin scoffed, "Believe me, this is the stupidest decision you've ever made."

Huang Fugui stared intently at the white man in the mustard-yellow suit and pink tie, knowing he was most likely the lawyer Chen Yuan had hired, and angrily said:

"As long as we can reach a settlement, at least we can save this restaurant! I can earn it back no matter what it costs later!"

"Save the restaurant?"

Martin spread his hands out dramatically, his tone full of mockery.

"Please, Mr. Huang. Dealing with that hyena Walker will cost at least a million dollars. I heard you're already 58. You smuggled yourself into America when you were young, and finally managed to save up a little money, which you're going to lose all of this time. Do you even have time to earn another million dollars?"

As he spoke, he glanced back at the empty restaurant behind him and said bluntly:

"And without that beautiful waitress named Su Nian, your run-down shop, which can't even sell fried chicken, is about to face serious losses. That's a bottomless pit too!"

Seeing that Huang Fugui was about to argue, Martin turned to look at Chen Yuan. The latter pressed the play button on the recorder without expression.

Hearing his own shameless threat to Su Nian to take the blame in the recording, Huang Fugui's face grew even paler, but he still stubbornly insisted:

"What's a single recording? If Su Nian dares to testify, I'll file a complaint with the immigration authorities accusing her of working illegally and have ICE deport her back to China! No one will get away with this!"

At this moment, Martin, who had been acting nonchalantly, suddenly pulled his legs back.

He placed his hands on the table, leaned closer to Huang Fugui, and whispered:

"Mr. Huang. In California, obstruction of justice combined with witness intimidation carries a minimum sentence of eight years. Besides, Su Nian and my client are just former colleagues. Do you think he would care whether an undocumented international student can stay in the United States?"

At this point, he took out his phone and showed Huang Fugui a photo that Chen Yuan had taken in the back alley the night before.

Huang Fugui's eyes widened instantly, because the photo clearly showed the missing old Ford refrigerated truck!

Sure enough, Chen Yuan intercepted that truckload of dangerous, near-expiry frozen goods!

Huang Fugui stared intently at Chen Yuan, his eyes blazing with anger.

He was about to unleash a torrent of abuse when Martin continued:

"Guess what. If this refrigerated truck loaded with their secret-recipe chicken accidentally stopped right in front of the FDA headquarters in Los Angeles tonight, would you, an old man, even walk out of the federal prison alive?"

Seeing Huang Fugui on the verge of a mental breakdown, Martin elegantly pulled a document and a Montblanc pen from his briefcase and shoved them in front of him.

"Take a deep breath, Mr. Huang. Now, my client has proposed a redemption plan that is extremely beneficial to you."

Martin then spoke in a seductive tone:

"I signed this 'Legal Representative Change and Asset Transfer Agreement.' For a symbolic price of $1, I transferred the ownership of this restaurant to my agent."

"Listen, once you sign, you'll be completely cut off legally from Rongdingge! Mr. Chen will handle Walker's exorbitant claim, the investigations by the Health Bureau and the FDA! He'll even take care of that truckload of nearly rotten frozen meat, eliminating any future problems!"

Martin stood up and patted Huang Fugui's stiff shoulder forcefully:

"Think about it carefully. All you're giving up is a mess that's about to go bankrupt and land you in jail."

"And what you get is a clean million dollars in savings! You can immediately buy a plane ticket to Hawaii, buy a sunny farm, and live out your retirement! No jail time, no lawsuits, just coconut water every day. Man, you've made enough in your life!"

Although Chen Yuan had made similar analyses of Huang Fugui before, the same words coming from Martin, a professional lawyer, were much more convincing.

Martin had long since dropped his nonchalant expression and was now looking at Huang Fugui with a serious face:

"Listen, Mr. Huang. We're not trying to scam you, we're trying to save you!"

Ten minutes later.

Chen Yuan, beaming with joy, lawyer Martin, and Huang Fugui, whose face was ashen yet relieved, walked out of the office together.

Just now, they signed a formal transfer agreement: Chen Yuan will acquire Rongdingge Chinese Restaurant for $1.

Although the acquisition price was ridiculously low, this kind of divestiture of distressed assets is quite normal in the United States when dealing with companies that are insolvent or facing huge lawsuits.

Because after Chen Yuan acquired Rongdingge, he had to legally assume all of its debts, including the huge compensation of $300 million demanded by Walker's lawyer.

Although Huang Fugui lost a restaurant, he can take the cash wealth he has accumulated over the years and live a carefree retirement life.

The efficiency of business administration in the United States can sometimes be astonishingly fast. That afternoon, with Martin's help, Chen Yuan completed all the company transfer procedures with Huang Fugui.

From this moment on, Chen Yuan officially became the owner of Rongdingge Chinese Restaurant.

[Ding! Detected that the host has used coercion and bribery to seize a well-run restaurant.]

[Bonus Villain Points: 100]

As evening fell, when Chen Yuan stood outside Rongding Pavilion again, looking at the signboard that belonged to him, he felt a pang of emotion.

He never imagined that he, a low-level worker whose livelihood depended on others, would transform into a restaurant owner in just a few days.

All of this stemmed from Huang Fugui's inexplicable deduction of $1 from his hourly wage in an effort to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

Therefore, it is perfectly fair for Chen Yuan to use this $1 to buy Huang Fugui's restaurant.