America's Greatest Villain: I Defeat Magic with Magic

Just as Chen Yuan was standing at the restaurant entrance, overwhelmed with emotion, he suddenly saw two familiar figures walking towards him from across the street.

It was Su Nian and Hu Dan!

The two girls were each carrying a cup of milk tea, clearly having just come from the nearby "Snow King" milk tea shop.

They had clearly noticed Chen Yuan as well. After exchanging a few words in hushed tones, the two crossed the street and walked over.

The three men were originally waiters at Rongding Pavilion. Now, standing at the restaurant entrance again, they had completely different mindsets.

"Brother Chen, are you still working here?"

Su Nian asked cautiously.

After all, Chen Yuan chose to stay even after discovering how shameless Boss Huang was, which was probably because he was extremely short of money.

Two days ago, she also heard from Hu Dan about the news that Chen Yuan's parents had died in a car accident.

Considering the exorbitant tuition fees at USC, Su Nian couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for Chen Yuan.

It seems that even locals have their own unspeakable grievances!

Chen Yuan looked at the two of them and laughed, "Drinking milk tea so late at night, be careful you won't be able to sleep tonight."

"What's the big deal?" Hu Dan smiled and took a sip of her milk tea. "Anyway, we don't have to get up early for work now."

Chen Yuan thought to himself that these two young girls were quite open-minded, but then he saw Hu Dan sigh and say:

"We just went to Xue Wang to apply for a waiter position. They were quite interested when they heard that Su Nian was the 'Fried Chicken Beauty' who's been all over the internet lately. But who knew..."

Su Nian, her eyes dim, continued, "We are international students on campus, and our F1 visas don't allow us to work off-campus. Xue Wang is a legitimate chain store, and the store manager is afraid of getting into trouble, so he refused to hire us."

Hu Dan sighed again, shook the milk tea in her hand, and said with a wry smile:

"As an apology, they gave each of us a cup of milk tea when we left. And it was fully sweet, cloyingly sweet!"

Hearing that neither of them had found new jobs yet, Chen Yuan laughed heartily:

"That's perfect. My new store is reopening soon, and I'm really worried about not having any reliable employees! If you're willing to come back and help, your base salary will be doubled!"

"You own a shop?!"

Hu Dan immediately looked suspicious. After all, she knew Chen Yuan's family situation very well; they were struggling to even pay for next semester's tuition, so where would they get the money to open a shop in Los Angeles?

But to everyone's surprise, Chen Yuan turned around and pointed to the neon sign above his head that flashed the three large characters "Rongding Pavilion," and laughed:

"This is the shop. What do you think?"

Hu Dan and Su Nian looked at each other, both wondering what Chen Yuan was up to.

……

Ten minutes later, most of the restaurant's remaining staff had arrived at the Rongding Pavilion's internal conference room.

Although Hu Dan and Su Nian didn't come to work today, Chen Yuan was the supervisor before, so he recorded their attendance as personal leave.

Therefore, strictly speaking, the two of them are still considered employees of this restaurant.

In addition, there is Chef Lao Cao, helper Lao Ma, and Sister Liu who is in charge of human resources and administration.

There was originally another accountant, but she was a relative of Huang Fugui. Therefore, after completing the company transfer procedures in the afternoon, Chen Yuan simply told her to settle the bill and leave.

After briefly recounting how Huang Fugui had to sell the restaurant at a low price due to legal troubles, Chen Yuan said loudly:

"In short, from today onwards, I am the new owner of this restaurant. I hope everyone can work together to make Rongding Pavilion a success, just like before."

However, Chen Yuan's bold words did not elicit enthusiastic responses from the employees.

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Even Hu Dan and Su Nian wore expressions of deep suspicion.

If it weren't for Ms. Liu, who was in charge of human resources, confirming that the legal representative of this restaurant had indeed been changed to Chen Yuan, everyone would have thought he was joking.

Finally, Old Ma, rubbing his hands together somewhat awkwardly, asked first:

"Mr. Chen... we certainly have no objection to you taking over this shop and becoming the boss. But will we still be able to get our wages on time this month?"

Chen Yuan smiled. That afternoon, he and Sister Liu had carefully checked the company's corporate account.

It was found that Rongdingge's overall business performance in recent years has been quite good.

Although dine-in revenue has slowed recently due to deteriorating public security, the restaurant's profit model itself is not in serious trouble.

However, while Huang Fugui was scrambling to raise money to deal with Walker's extortion these past two days, he had already withdrawn all the working capital from the company's account.

In other words, Chen Yuan would have to pay for the wages and procurement costs out of his own pocket.

The only good news is that there are still two weeks until payday this month.

Chen Yuan had just looked at the financial statements. They included all the employees' monthly salaries, plus the shop's rent, utilities, commercial insurance, and garbage disposal fees.

All things considered, the fixed monthly expenses alone exceed $30,000!

This doesn't even include the working capital needed to purchase fresh ingredients every day.

Chen Yuan currently has 530 villain points. If he were to convert them all into US dollars, it would barely be enough to cover the restaurant's expenses for a month.

However, it would be putting the cart before the horse to use the villain points he had worked so hard to accumulate to subsidize the restaurant, since he still needed to save money to pay his tuition.

He went to great lengths to take over the restaurant from Huang Fugui, ultimately hoping to secure a stable source of cash flow, rather than creating a bottomless pit.

Therefore, the most urgent task at present is to get this restaurant back on track.

So Chen Yuan nodded and said to Old Ma with a firm tone:

"Don't worry about the wages. You should know I have an apartment nearby. If the restaurant really has difficulties running, I can mortgage the property to the bank, but I won't shortchange anyone on their wages!"

Chen Yuan's words immediately put everyone present at ease. Los Angeles is incredibly expensive; even in the relatively safe South Side, an apartment building is absolutely worth a fortune.

Seeing that everyone had no more doubts, Chen Yuan continued:

"Of course, I definitely don't want to end up mortgaging the house. So our most important task now is to get back to profitability as soon as possible."

As he spoke, he turned his gaze to Su Nian, who was standing to the side:

"Our previous $1 fried chicken promotion was very popular with nearby diners, so Su Nian will have a lot of work to do at the snack window from now on. As compensation, all tips received at the window from now on will be yours to keep, and the restaurant will not take a cut."

Su Nian nodded silently. Although she never knew exactly how much the daily tips amounted to, judging from the expression on Boss Huang's face every time he came to collect the tip box, the amount inside was definitely considerable.

Then Chen Yuan's expression turned serious, and he said in a deep voice:

"But one thing must be made clear. From now on, all ingredients used in our store must be strictly controlled! Absolutely no scraps or even near-expiry ingredients will be allowed. If I find anyone tampering with these ingredients, they'll be fired immediately."

After saying that, he turned to look at Chef Cao: "In addition, in order to cope with the upcoming customer flow, I plan to develop several new snack categories to attract a more diverse range of diners."

"Developing new snack categories?"

Old Cao immediately frowned. He thought to himself that this young new boss had just taken over the shop and knew nothing about anything, yet he was already giving orders and assigning tasks blindly. He couldn't help but feel a little dissatisfied.

At this moment, Chen Yuan continued, "How about this, Lao Cao, think about what special skills you have. Let's go to the kitchen now and everyone can observe and taste them together."

When Chen Yuan actually suggested that he demonstrate his "special skills" in the kitchen in front of everyone, Lao Cao felt even more displeased.

Unfortunately, Rongding Pavilion has been plagued by problems recently, and even the boss has changed.

Considering the current economic climate and the difficulty of finding a high-paying job, Lao Cao could only reluctantly nod.

"Alright. I've just figured out a new dish these past couple of days, so I'd like to share it with everyone."

As he spoke, he led everyone to the back kitchen and took out a few marinated chicken legs from the refrigerator.

After a short preparation, Lao Cao first put the wrapped chicken legs into the oil and fried them until the outer shell was golden brown and crispy before taking them out.

Then he started another pot and quickly sautéed a large amount of special golden garlic paste, dried red chili peppers and breadcrumbs in hot oil until fragrant.

Instantly, a wonderfully fragrant aroma filled the entire kitchen.

Old Cao quickly poured the fried chicken legs into the wok and tossed them vigorously in the wok, coating the chicken legs with a golden-sand-like garlic paste.

In a short while, a tempting "Typhoon Shelter Fried Chicken Leg" was freshly made!

Everyone was given a chicken leg, and smelling its unique aroma, Hu Dan couldn't wait to take a bite.

First comes the ultimate crunchy sensation, followed by an explosion of intense garlic aroma, mild spiciness, and abundant chicken juices in your mouth.

Even Chen Yuan had to admit that Lao Cao's solid culinary skills were absolutely crucial to Rongding Pavilion's success today, given its simple yet distinct flavor profile.

However, his purpose in having Lao Cao demonstrate today was not entirely for the purpose of tasting the dishes.

Chen Yuan slowly wiped his mouth with a tissue, and commented with a hint of criticism:

"The taste is acceptable. But if you think this dish can revive our restaurant, then it's probably a little lacking in the cooking process."

Upon hearing this, Lao Cao tightened his grip on the spatula, and his gaze instantly turned cold.

Then, Chen Yuan saw a red information panel pop up above Lao Cao's head—