America's Greatest Villain: I Defeat Magic with Magic

Chen Yuan carefully read the document entitled "Explanation of the Temporary Pilot Program for Off-Campus Community Observation and Service Learning (Trial Implementation)," and his eyebrows gradually furrowed.

To be fair, this document bearing the official seal of the USC Academic Affairs Office does indeed legally resolve the issue of Su Nian's "working illegally."

By signing the contract, Su Nian will not only be able to stay at the restaurant openly and legitimately, but she can even earn the corresponding academic credits.

But there's no such thing as a free lunch.

This document sets out several requirements for the pilot program, which Rongdingge must meet in order to potentially transition from a "temporary pilot" to a "long-term pilot."

The most prominent first rule states: All students who enter Rongdingge for social practice are strictly prohibited from participating in any actual operational aspects of the restaurant that directly generate commercial revenue.

In other words, if Su Nian stays at Rongdingge Restaurant, she can only be a "campus observer" and absolutely cannot perform any work as a waitress.

The change in her identity meant that Su Nian could no longer cook delicious fried chicken and grilled squid for customers at the snack window as she used to.

Even if Su Nian were willing to accept this request, Chen Yuan would definitely not agree.

If she does nothing at the restaurant but is only responsible for "social observation" and "public interest recording," then what is the point of Chen Yuan paying her to do? To be a mascot to be worshipped?

As for Su Nian herself, her initial motivation for taking this job was to earn her daily living expenses.

If Chen Yuan can't pay her a salary, then there's no point in her staying at Rongding Pavilion.

So Chen Yuan shook his head without hesitation and pointed to the clause in the document, saying:

"No serving food, no tips? What's the point of students coming here to practice? Just stand on the sidelines, watching others work up a sweat, and then go back to school and produce a cold, lifeless academic report?"

Before Vivian could respond, he pointed to the second clause and said:

"Students are generally advised against participating in on-site activities during peak business hours?"

"I wonder if the person who drafted this regulation has ever actually eaten at a regular restaurant?"

"A typical restaurant usually has no customers except during peak hours like lunch and dinner. Are you having students come to my restaurant specifically at this time to help catch flies?"

Seeing that Chen Yuan's emotions were gradually becoming agitated, Vivian simply stopped talking. She just smiled at Chen Yuan, with an expression that said, "Go on, I'm listening."

Chen Yuan didn't stand on ceremony with her and pointed to the third clause, continuing:

"All images, texts, and data materials produced by students must be reviewed by the school or project mentors before they can be released to the public."

"Are you using the guise of protecting students to exercise censorship and academic interference?"

"The reason we can't participate in the actual operation of the restaurant is because we're afraid of being held responsible for labor disputes."

"We do not recommend holding on-site activities during peak hours to prevent students from being involved in unknown risks."

"The reason why video content must be reviewed before it can be broadcast is to prevent public opinion from getting out of control and backfiring on the school."

Chen Yuan tossed the documents in his hand onto the table, returned to his seat, and crossed his legs.

"Vice President Sinclair, although you keep saying that you're doing this to prevent students from being exploited by capital, the real purpose is simply to prevent a group of sheltered elite students from seeing the real and cruel America!"

Under normal circumstances, seeing Chen Yuan so arrogantly criticizing the documents issued by the student council point by point, the student bureaucrats present would probably have already spoken up to stop him.

But at this very moment in the conference room, Chen Yuan had just thoroughly exposed the dirty secrets of the three student bureaucrats: the administrative secretary, the assistant for school discipline affairs, and the coordinator for the international student program. Even the vice president, Vivian, herself stated that she would conduct a thorough investigation.

Meanwhile, Olivia, who was originally vying with Chen Yuan, was lost in thought, seemingly preoccupied with something else entirely.

Therefore, the current vice president, Vivian, is essentially fighting alone, and the situation is quite dire!

"Chen, you're a real pain in the neck!"

Although she said that, there wasn't a trace of anger on Vivian's delicate face.

She even seemed to have been piqued, and slowly pulled out another document from beside her.

"I originally planned that having the student council policy affairs officer present would at least convince you to sign the first draft of the document."

As she said this, her gaze lightly swept across the faces of Olivia and the others.

Unfortunately, they were even less effective than I had anticipated.

Vivian pushed the second document in front of Chen Yuan, a meaningful smile appearing on her lips:

"So let's look at the second document. Although those old fogies on the board of trustees initially vehemently opposed relaxing the conditions, what can I do? I don't even have a single person to debate with. If the final version that's more lenient is signed, the responsibility naturally won't lie with me, but with these negligent officers who messed things up."

Chen Yuan took the second document from Vivian and glanced at it briefly, which stirred up a huge wave of emotions within him.

Because the three regulations he cared about most have all been compromised in this new document:

The original rule of "not being allowed to participate in restaurant operations" has been changed to "allowing students to appropriately participate in assisted experiential activities that are directly related to the course research objectives."

The interpretation of this "assisted experience" is extremely broad; if handled properly, it can include serving food, distributing food, and even collecting tips.

The second clause, "It is not recommended to conduct on-site activities during peak hours," has been amended to "Observational practice is not prohibited during peak hours, but it must be based on the complete voluntariness of students, and any student can withdraw at any time without affecting the final credit assessment."

The third rule, "Video content must be reviewed before broadcasting," has been changed to "After videos and texts are published, only compliance and privacy reviews will be conducted. If there are sensitive issues, appropriate modifications must be made in cooperation with the instructor."

With these three regulations revised, the entire document became much more flexible. It not only provided the school with a way to avoid liability, but also fundamentally removed the last obstacle to Su Nian continuing to work legally in the restaurant to earn a living.

However, what truly alarmed Chen Yuan was not these extremely generous terms.

Instead, the woman sitting opposite him—Vivian Sinclair—had prepared two different documents in advance!

And as she just said when shifting the blame, if Olivia and the other three student bureaucrats are innocent and firmly stand by Vivian to exert pressure through procedures.

In order to get rid of Su Nian's "illegal worker" label, Chen Yuan, after weighing the pros and cons, may very well reluctantly sign the first document with harsh conditions.

In this way, the so-called "cooperative pilot" would be unprofitable for Chen Yuan. He couldn't really invite a group of international students to his restaurant to conduct social observation for free, could he?

However, Vivian was a few minutes late. She waited until Chen Yuan clashed with Olivia and the others, and watched helplessly as he exposed the true colors of several student bureaucrats, before finally arriving at the conference room and naturally producing a second document that was more favorable to Chen Yuan.

And very elegantly, the responsibility for "relaxing restrictions" was placed entirely on Olivia and her political enemies!

Only at this moment did Chen Yuan belatedly realize—

From the moment she walked into the meeting room, to Olivia being forced to lose her composure, and then to the moment she tore the first draft of the document to shreds on the spot, Vivian was likely waiting for this outcome the whole time.

She didn't simply prepare two copies of the document.

She was waiting for the perfect moment to have Chen Yuan personally reject the first version for her, and then naturally take over the second version.

The scariest thing is that it all happened so naturally.

So natural that even Chen Yuan himself almost thought it was the result of his improvisation on the spot.

Most importantly, this outcome is also the most favorable for Chen Yuan, and he has absolutely no reason to object.

"You're the troublesome one!"

Holding the heavy document, Chen Yuan felt for the first time that this seemingly lazy, beautiful, and even somewhat nonchalant blonde woman was far more dangerous than Olivia, that self-righteous campus politician.

He really wanted to activate [Sin Scan] to see what this beautiful yet dangerous woman was thinking.

However, facing Chen Yuan's almost piercing gaze, Vivian simply curved her lips into a slight smile:

"Same to you!"