Chapter 49: Done For, I'm on the News

"Excuse me? May I ask if you're Mr. Chen?"

A voice came from far behind him; Chen Yaozu turned and saw a blonde woman in a plaid shirt holding a small device hurrying down from the driver's seat of an SUV that had just pulled to a stop.

As if afraid he would simply leave, she called out a greeting from far away.

Immediately afterward, a Black man carrying camera equipment climbed out of the front passenger seat; one look at the pair's combination and they seemed to be reporters or the like.

Seeing him look over, the male-and-female reporter duo hurried over at a quick trot, terrified he would leave.

"Hello, Mr. Chen!"

The blonde beauty jogged over, slightly breathless, and made a self-introduction: "I'm Casey, this is my colleague, cameraman Baker."

"We're reporters from Fox Television; acting on a tip, a racially discriminatory attack targeting Eastern people occurred here, but with a bizarre outcome.

So we'd like to find out what happened at the time — as the party involved, would you mind granting an interview?"

The moment Chen Yaozu saw the two of them, he had already guessed their purpose, but he was unwilling to cooperate, even if the other party was a blonde beauty.

"Sorry, I have something I need to leave for!"

Having said that, he turned and walked away.

Watching this Eastern man's retreating figure, the blonde beauty turned to her companion and shrugged: "All right! Wasted trip again!"

Her partner Baker looked at this work partner who hadn't had her press license for long and sighed:

"Casey, didn't you learn any interviewing tricks and scripts in journalism school? When you went on field assignments with Julia, didn't you pick up her tricks either?

We need scripts or some methods to get people to cooperate with our interviews.

Now, since the other party is unwilling to be interviewed, we can interview the surrounding eyewitnesses instead.

After all, according to the tip this is the very place where the conflict originally occurred; the bloodstains under the streetlight pole haven't even been cleaned up.

That's also our material for this trip!

And these shops — they all have surveillance cameras at their entrances; perhaps we can shell out some money to buy valuable leads from these people.

And these eyewitnesses can be interviewed too!"

The blonde beauty Casey suddenly realized: "Oh, that works too, thanks Baker, afternoon coffee's on me later!"

With that, she eagerly rushed toward the nearest shop entrance with a camera.

Left behind, the helpless cameraman seriously filmed the pool of blood under the streetlight pole from several angles before following after her.

……

Back home, Chen Yaozu didn't immediately ponder whether to go to the Los Angeles Taoist Association for a purple robe; after all, those were all impossible things.

Which Taoist Association would sell purple robes? So he didn't even think about it.

Instead, he took out his phone and dialed a number.

Chen Yaozu saying he would sue that internet celebrity named Jennifer wasn't just talk — he really intended to do it.

He had been in Los Angeles for a while now, and had gained some understanding of the local customs and conditions in America.

Here, as long as you're in the right, you mustn't go soft; otherwise people will think you're weak and turn around to bully you.

Especially since the other party is an internet celebrity now; he just checked her account — she has hundreds of thousands of followers.

If he doesn't strike first, she'll stir up public opinion online later, and that'll be trouble; back home, little fairies casually snap your photo and post it on Xiaohongshu, ruining innocent people's reputations — there are countless such cases.

The wrongly accused have committed suicide; others have died of depression.

Not to mention here in America, with all kinds of groups and all kinds of laws — offend someone, and the slightest carelessness lets them catch you on something and haul you into court.

Moreover, domestic little fairies already have such formidable combat power; if you let the American little fairies have free rein, who knows how bad it'll get?

So, since both sides are playing chess, I'll take the first move.

As long as I pin the other party down and seize the initiative, I won't fear them stirring up more waves.

"Good evening, Henry!"

Sure enough, Chen Yaozu contacted an old acquaintance directly. "Yaozu, you haven't called me in ages; suddenly calling at this hour, I'm sure it's good news!"

Henry answered the phone happily — after all, a call means a high probability of business! Chen Yaozu cut straight to the chase: "Good news! I've got a commission!

I want to sue someone — sue her for racial discrimination and for intentional harm or attempted murder against me, and demand compensation."

Chen Yaozu explained the whole matter and also sent over that little internet celebrity's livestream screen recording, plus copies of several shops' surveillance footage.

After receiving the materials, Lawyer Henry hung up, carefully organized the data, and only called back after he'd showered.

"Hahaha, Yaozu, this case is no problem.

Your materials are very complete.

Additionally, this person has prior convictions for the same kind of discrimination and harm against specific groups.

We can nail down her intentional harm or intentional murder conduct — very easy to handle!

Guaranteed win! Since it's a guaranteed win, I don't need a fixed retainer fee; but from the compensation obtained after winning, I need a 35% contingency commission."

This is truly a lion's big mouth!

Chen Yaozu had looked into it — most lawyers in LA handling this type of case take a 20%~30% contingency, but still require a base retainer fee.

This guy Henry actually asked for 35% from him — that's a bit excessive.

"Henry, I can switch lawyers!"

The moment Chen Yaozu said that, Henry folded.

"Fine! 30%, can't go lower; I can get you 100,000-plus! If it's under 100,000, I'll only take 20%!"

That figure directly stunned Chen Yaozu.

100,000 — this number doesn't look like much, but that was his perception before going abroad.

Logically, Americans are so rich; a mere 100,000 should be easy for plenty of people to cough up, right? But after coming here he discovered Americans are actually all poor! Some may have high salaries — five or six thousand dollars a month — but after taxes and insurance, 6,000 dollars nets barely over 4,000.

After paying rent or mortgage of two to three thousand, then deducting gas and car insurance, what's left in hand isn't much.

You could say over 95% of Americans would find it difficult to suddenly produce 10,000 dollars in cash.

Now Lawyer Henry actually says he wants to claim over one hundred thousand dollars from that little internet celebrity, which is a bit hard to believe.

"Don't be surprised, Zu. We're friends. Since she offended you and discriminated against you, she naturally has to pay a price.

I just had someone urgently investigate this Jennifer's information. She has a property inherited from her parents, worth roughly 360 to 400 thousand at current market prices.

If sold urgently, it could probably fetch 250 to 300 thousand.

She has two cars, total value around 60 thousand dollars! The charge of racial discrimination in America can be big or small. If you add intentional injury, or even attempted murder, one hundred thousand is just my bottom line.

My thinking is compensation above one hundred thousand.

Alright!

Since you've entrusted the matter to me, leave the rest to me. Just wait for the good news!"

Henry's words made Chen Yaozu feel the hairs on his back stand on end.

This Henry is merely a mid-level lawyer, yet he already has the ability to investigate someone's background and assets.

And he even plans to decide to what extent to prosecute the other party based on their assets.

So it's said, in America lawyers are one of the professions you most cannot afford to offend.

Don't doubt their capabilities, because even if they lack capability, alumni from excellent law schools will help them become capable.

Hanging up the phone, he turned on the television.

"This is Fox Television, now broadcasting a piece of news: A racial discriminator premeditated a sneak attack on the Eastern Kung Fu Master, was knocked flying by a shoulder slam, bleeding profusely and unconscious, then sent to the hospital……"

Seeing on TV his own heroic bearing of sending the other party flying with a single turn, Chen Yaozu's mind at this moment held only one sentence: "It's over, I'm on the news!"

(Chapter End)