My absurd experiences in North America over the years

(The first three chapters are just a transition to introduce the main plot.)

……

During the few days he spent recuperating in his rented apartment, Li Fu was thinking about how to become a video blogger.

After much thought, he decided to make a video series about bodyguards, and he even had a title in mind—"Twenty Dollar Bodyguards."

The video content is also very simple. It mainly shows him randomly finding passersby on the streets of Los Angeles and offering to act as their private bodyguard for a day for the extremely low price of twenty dollars.

He would do whatever the other party asked him to do, as long as it didn't violate the law or public order and good morals.

But apart from that, everything is negotiable.

What can you do in Los Angeles right now with twenty dollars?

That's probably only enough to buy a Big Mac meal or park your car in a paid parking space for two hours. Hiring a bodyguard for that amount of money sounds like a joke.

But that's the selling point.

In addition, he also needs to establish a persona.

A mysterious kung fu master from China, handsome and taciturn, but capable of taking on ten men.

Now stranded in a foreign land, penniless, he's willing to sell his fighting skills for twenty dollars.

This contrast can attract traffic, and if it were to "piggyback" on the fame of Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan, the traffic might be even higher.

As for the subsequent editing and release, he was a programmer in his previous life, so basic video editing software was incredibly easy for him to learn.

Although there were no other similar programs like CapCut or Clip Studio in 2006, Adobe Premiere, with its simpler features, was sufficient.

The filming equipment was a second-hand Sony Handycam digital camcorder that he bought for $220. It was about the size of a palm and easy to fix to his body or a selfie stick.

This was considered a high-end configuration for civilian use at the end of 2005.

As New Year's Day approached, Li Fu had his stitches removed and stepped out of his community for the first time. After initial screening, he decided to try to find clients on the bustling streets of downtown Los Angeles.

That day he was wearing a black Henley shirt, which he had bought at a thrift store for fourteen dollars.

Henry shirts are the kind of collarless, three-buttoned bodysuits that accentuate his perfect physique.

He stood next to the railing of a skate park, with a very obvious wound on the left corner of his eye. The scab hadn't completely faded, but it only added to his convincing image of being willing to do anything to protect his employer.

Li Fu tried to imitate the video bloggers from his previous life.

"Need a bodyguard? Just twenty dollars, and I'll be your personal bodyguard today, protecting you 24/7. Twenty dollars won't break the bank..."

He spoke English with a slight accent, but it was understandable; that was just his English level. Fortunately, he spoke slowly and had a very enthusiastic expression, so communication wasn't a problem.

Things didn't go smoothly at first; many people looked at him with strange eyes.

In his previous life, he would never have been able to do such a thing, but now he feels no mental burden.

He repeated this opening line countless times, each time with the same lines, the same expression, and the same tone. He called this brand consistency.

Because of his outstanding appearance, some women gradually came up to him and asked him questions, but most of them just teased or even flirted with him.

In their view, twenty dollars seemed like a scam.

The first person to approach Li Fu was a fat white man with a big beard. He introduced himself as Bob, a welder on a construction site.

He was robbed in front of a bank last month and is still somewhat traumatized.

He heard Li Fu's "promotion" and saw that Li Fu was sturdy and strong, so he came over with a try-it-out mentality.

Li Fu readily agreed, as this was his first order.

He knew that many robberies in the United States occurred around banks. In fact, not only in the United States, but also in China in the past, many notorious criminals chose to stake out banks.

Overall, this is a very good customer.

Due to the need to shoot a video, Li Fu briefly explained the situation, stating that he needed the client's consent before he could release the edited video.

If the customer does not agree, he/she can choose to censor the image.

Bob looked surprised, but then agreed.

Thus, the first customer made a deal.

Li Fu fixed the camera to his shoulder, like a professional bodyguard, and followed behind Bob with a blank expression throughout, while surveying the surrounding environment to see if there were any potential criminals.

After entering the bank, he remained standing a meter behind Bob, scanning everyone who came in and out.

His eagle-like eyes and demeanor, honed from his military background, made even the bank tellers take a second look at him.

Of course, the camera is pointed at the employer.

The process of acting as a bodyguard this time was completely uneventful.

However, Bob seemed somewhat excited because the presence of a "bodyguard" made others look at him with more respect, something that would have been impossible for an ordinary worker in the past.

He gave a thumbs-up to the camera, "I only spent twenty dollars, and I feel like I went from being a nobody to a boss."

He edited the video to five minutes, uploaded it to YouTube, and titled it "Twenty Dollar Bodyguard Episode 1: Withdrawing Money from the Bank".

If such short videos without strong emotional conflict were released twenty years from now, they would most likely not cause much of a stir.

However, when the short video field was still a blue ocean, it still had some appeal; at least the title could attract some clicks.

People are always curious about what a 20-yuan bodyguard looks like. In addition, Li Fu has a pretty good figure and face. Within 24 hours of the short video being uploaded, more than 100 people subscribed to (similar to following) his channel.

With his first client and positive feedback, he once again ventured into the bustling streets of Los Angeles.

This time, the store opened relatively early. The customer was a white woman who was going to the farmers market to shop. She hired Li Fu for twenty dollars mainly because she had a lot of things to buy, and Li Fu could be considered free labor.

In addition, her husband had passed away, and her children were not around, so she wanted to find someone to talk to.

Before joining a major internet company in his previous life, Li Fu was a rather lively person. However, the heavy workload and various pressures gradually made him become taciturn.

Now that I'm living a second life, all my mental burdens and life pressures have been cast aside.

He quickly got into the zone, patiently responding to every detail of the conversation with the white woman. After learning about her situation, he would also take the initiative to show concern and ask about her well-being.

Throughout the shopping process, he even volunteered to be her free labor, and finally safely escorted her back to her residence.

After this episode was uploaded, the number of subscribers was almost the same as the previous episode, but the number of comments from viewers increased significantly, and the positive review rate was extremely high.

Some viewers in Los Angeles even wanted to try their luck on the streets where Li Fu usually appeared.

Anyway, the cost is only twenty dollars.

The protagonist of Li Fu's third episode was indeed one of his subscribers, an 18-year-old female college student named Odovia.

Odovia hired Li Fu with the intention of getting her kitten back from her ex-boyfriend Cook.

Her ex-boyfriend was a burly man who was 1.95 meters tall and had a serious tendency to violence. Even after they broke up, he continued to harass her and often used her cat to blackmail her.

Li Fu originally didn't want to take this job because it involved entering the client's ex-boyfriend's house. He wasn't afraid of the ex-boyfriend's violent tendencies, but he was worried that the ex-boyfriend might misunderstand him and pull out a gun.

This is all too common in North America.

However, he then realized that the person he had transmigrated into was a special forces soldier, so there shouldn't be any danger, especially since this episode would definitely be a hit.

In the end, he decided to take the order.

The saying goes that fortune favors the bold, and besides, perhaps the so-called danger is just his imagination.