America's Greatest Villain: I Defeat Magic with Magic

Meanwhile, directly opposite Rongding Pavilion is a light meal restaurant called "Greenbit".

Compared to the simple and ordinary decor of Rongding Pavilion, the style here is like being in a completely different world.

Huge floor-to-ceiling windows, walls covered in hydroponic greenery, and soothing folk music playing in the background.

Everything reflected the owner's sophisticated taste, and most of the customers were middle-class people who happened to be passing by or wealthy white students.

Two women sat facing each other in a booth by the window. One of them, with a ponytail, was Olivia, the initiator of the USC "Blue Lung Project".

The other woman, who looked to be in her early 30s and was wearing linen yoga clothes, was the store manager, Natalie Burns.

Holding a cup of oat milk cold brew, she watched as two inspectors across the street pointed and gestured at the snack window of Rongding Pavilion, a smug smile appearing on her lips.

"Looks like my six tickets weren't a waste." She gently swirled her glass. "At least today, they finally know they can't just sell whatever they want."

Natalie was once an executive at a tech company in Silicon Valley. Yearning for a free life, she resigned and brought her savings to the South District to open this store.

She originally thought that by providing healthy light meals, she could change the "bad habit" of eating junk food among the lower classes, become a business pioneer in saving community health, and obtain venture capital based on this concept.

However, contrary to expectations, since its opening, this light meal restaurant has had a lukewarm business, which can even be described as dismal.

If she continues to lose money like this, Natalie's already meager savings will soon be completely gone.

Not long ago, she heard that her alma mater, the University of Southern California, was promoting a "Blue Lung Project," which aims to fight for the most basic rights to clean air and organic food for low-income minority communities that have been exploited by capital for a long time.

This project was tailor-made for Greenbit Light Meal Restaurant, so she didn't hesitate to contribute $1 to become one of the sponsors of the "Blue Lung Project".

Natalie firmly believes that if the plan succeeds, minority groups in the South will understand that organic vegetarian food, such as vegetable salads, is the healthiest choice compared to junk food like fried chicken, hamburgers, and fries.

But before that, we first need to deal with that dirty Chinese restaurant across the street.

It was their cheap fried food that stole customers that should have belonged to Greenbit.

This is why Olivia's environmental group appeared at Rongding Pavilion.

After being rebuffed by Chen Yuan, Olivia acted as a go-between, helping Natalie to secretly meet with Commissioner Carl Smith of the Health and Food Administration and giving him six Lakers tickets.

As a seasoned veteran, Karl was well aware of Natalie's purpose, but the deal wasn't too hot to handle, since Natalie only asked for the inspection of Rongding Pavilion to be a little "stricter".

Olivia followed Natalie's gaze and looked outside. The two health inspectors had already driven away. However, she wasn't blindly optimistic; instead, she shook her head slightly.

"I'm afraid your six tickets will hardly achieve the desired effect; the owner of Rongding Pavilion is not easy to deal with."

"Difficult to deal with? If it were the old Boss Huang, he would indeed be a bit troublesome. But the new boss is just a college student; how much ability can he possibly have..."

Realizing that Olivia was also a college student, Natalie quickly stopped talking and smiled apologetically at her.

Olivia continued her analysis, unperturbed:

"He took over this fairly successful restaurant from that Mr. Huang, and his methods are probably even more ruthless than Mr. Huang's. Moreover, rather than using ordinary public power, what I care more about is whether we can put it into a discussion framework that the school, the community, and the media cannot ignore."

Natalie raised an eyebrow. She hadn't actually understood what the other person meant, so she asked directly:

"So what should we do next?"

Olivia glanced at the long queue that had already formed at the Rongding Pavilion restaurant across the street and said calmly:

"We need to add another spark, you'll find out soon enough."

A few minutes later, two or three young people who looked like college students stood at the entrance of Rongding Pavilion and took a series of photos of the snack window where Su Nian was.

These people came and went quickly. In addition, with the sudden popularity of the food stalls, there have been quite a few tourists checking in at the entrance recently, so Chen Yuan didn't pay much attention at first.

But when he returned to the store, he saw Hu Dan walking over with a serious expression.

She took out her phone and whispered to Chen Yuan:

"Just now, someone posted some photos of Su Nian in the local student community, saying she might be a student at USC!"

Chen Yuan frowned and quickly looked at Hu Dan's phone.

The screen displayed several high-resolution photos of Su Nian busily frying chicken legs at the window. Judging from the angle and lighting, it was obvious that these were taken by those people who had been staking out the door earlier.

The popular comments below the photo were even more malicious:

"Exclusive scoop! This is a really popular Chinese restaurant in the South District lately, and the waitress in charge of frying the chicken looks really cute. I heard she's an international student from a top university nearby. Everyone should check it out if you have time."

The person who posted these photos clearly wanted to use the contrast between "beautiful woman + prestigious university + low-class restaurant" to deliberately attract the attention of the entire student community.

To Chen Yuan's slight relief, Su Nian was wearing a mask today, so it was difficult to directly confirm her facial features based on this photo alone.

But the comments from netizens that quickly filled the comments section made his heart sink again:

"She has such a great presence even with a mask on, she might actually be a stunning beauty."

"I remember she wasn't wearing a mask before, has anyone taken any photos of her from that time? I'll pay a lot for a clear photo of her face!"

When Su Nian was dubbed the "Fried Chicken Beauty" and became a sensation at Rongding Pavilion, it did attract many internet celebrities and bloggers to join in the fun. Some even did live streams at the entrance, and perhaps they really did leave behind some clear video recordings.

If someone finds out what she really looks like and confirms that she is an international student at USC, that would be terrible!

Chen Yuan quickly took out his phone and searched for keywords such as "Los Angeles fried chicken beauty" on TT and X platforms.

The results showed that although most posts pointed to Rongdingge Restaurant, fortunately, due to shooting angles and lighting issues, no one has yet taken a clear photo of Su Nian's face.

After all, it's quite offensive to hold your phone right up to a waiter's face and take a picture on the streets of America.

However, he was well aware of the terror of doxing, and he absolutely could not let his guard down before completely dealing with Olivia, this big problem.

If Su Nian's status as an international student is exposed, not only will Rongding Pavilion be subject to a hefty penalty from the Labor Bureau, but Su Nian herself may even be deported directly by the Immigration Bureau!

Although it could also allow Su Nian to rest for a few days and avoid the limelight.

But he knew even better that since someone had already set their sights on Su Nian, if she suddenly disappeared from the restaurant, it would only encourage busybodies to further investigate her identity.

So it's better to let her continue to appear at the food stall openly. As long as she wears a mask, no one will know who she is.

That evening, the industrial-grade fume purification system, ordered at a high price and with expedited processing, finally arrived. Several workers worked overtime through the night to complete the installation and debugging.

The entire system, including the exorbitant expedited labor costs, cost over $20,000 in total.

Although the cost was somewhat painful for Chen Yuan, the effects after the installation were immediate. The problem of cooking fumes in the kitchen and snack window was greatly improved.

This purification device doesn't simply change the direction of oil fume emission; instead, it uses high-voltage electrostatic discharge to directly adsorb and collect pollutant particles and grease, then discharges the odorless gas separately. The effect is much stronger than that of ordinary commercial range hoods.

Furthermore, Chen Yuan had the workers widen the front of the snack window, just enough to fit two large electric grills side by side. This significantly increased the speed at which grilled squid and fried chicken could be served.

With faster food service, diners' waiting time is naturally shortened significantly, and the length of the queues is effectively controlled.

But Chen Yuan knew very well that if he wanted the health bureau to stop coming to cause trouble, he had to take the initiative to address the root cause.

The reason why those official agencies were so critical of Rongding Pavilion was the joint complaint letter signed by nearby residents and businesses under Olivia's influence.

In reality, issues such as cooking fumes and odors, and excessively long queues only truly affect a few physical businesses in the surrounding area.

Therefore, once a few ringleaders are dealt with, the power of the so-called "joint complaint letter" will be greatly reduced!

As for the light meal restaurant across the street that bribed the health bureau inspector with 6 Lakers tickets, Chen Yuan already had a plan to make them pay a heavy price!