“You see Chief Parker’s hair? Just in these past two days, half of it has turned white.” James Harris pointed to a man beside him and said. Henry Foster recognized him; this man was the technical section chief at the Hongxing Ceramics Factory.

“What’s the use of my hair turning white? It’s only useful if our porcelain turns white.” Chief Parker sighed, took a big gulp of liquor, and indeed looked utterly distressed.

“Director Harris, I didn’t quite catch that. Did you say your porcelain is turning red?” David Clark, who had been quietly chatting with Laura Foster, suddenly interjected.

“Yeah, it was supposed to be white porcelain, but it’s coming out a bit red.” James Harris replied casually. Earlier, when everyone was discussing technical issues, they had basically treated David Clark as invisible. Henry Foster had mentioned beforehand that David Clark was just a barely graduated junior high school veteran, and such high-level topics weren’t really suitable for him.

“Start with the color.” David Clark said nonchalantly.

“What do you mean?” Henry Foster asked. He didn’t really expect David Clark to offer any useful advice, but since he spoke up, it wouldn’t be polite to ignore him.

David Clark looked at everyone and smiled, “I don’t really know much either, but I remember from chemistry that if something appears red, it’s probably because it contains iron. I’m guessing our raw materials might have been contaminated by iron-containing minerals. You could try adding an electromagnetic filter during the powder preparation process to remove the iron-containing powder. I think that should solve the problem.”

“You…” James Harris pointed at David Clark, completely stunned.

“That’s right!” Chief Parker slapped the table. “I’ve been racking my brains over temperature and sintering time, but never thought about the raw materials. Director Harris, don’t you remember? This time, our raw materials included a batch of stone from another place. Maybe the problem is with that batch.”

“Then what are you waiting for? Get to the workshop!” James Harris shouted excitedly at Chief Parker. Having been the factory director for so many years, he’d picked up quite a bit about production processes. What David Clark said sounded simple, but it hit the nail on the head. James Harris could almost immediately confirm that this was where the problem lay.

Chief Parker put down his glass, nodded to Henry Foster, and dashed off. The issue with the export porcelain had troubled them for almost a month. If David Clark’s suggestion worked, it would truly be a pleasant surprise.

James Harris no longer felt like drinking. He exchanged a few perfunctory words with Henry Foster, who understood his meaning and smiled, saying, “Let’s call it a day. Little David has worked hard too; it’s time to rest.”

“That’s right, that’s right, Little David has worked hard. I’ll take you to the guesthouse.” James Harris said repeatedly.

Henry Foster, together with Laura Foster, took the little jeep sent by Hongxing Ceramics Factory and went home. David Clark, accompanied by James Harris, arrived at the factory guesthouse. James Harris specially instructed the front desk to give David Clark a single room. He was so attentive that the young receptionist thought someone from the central government had arrived, or perhaps Director Harris’s relative. After settling David Clark in, James Harris hurried off to the workshop, eager to see the results of the new trial.

David Clark slept soundly in the guesthouse. Early the next morning, he was awakened by a loud knocking at the door. He got out of bed and opened the door to find James Harris and Chief Parker standing there, both looking excited. Chief Parker was holding a porcelain plate that was still steaming. David Clark looked closely—the plate was pure white, flawless, like a piece of white jade.

“Did it work?” David Clark asked with a smile.

“It worked!” James Harris exclaimed loudly. “Little David, you’re amazing!”

“Well…” David Clark felt a bit embarrassed. As a graduate student in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Hua Qing University, he had some general knowledge of materials science. He’d read about technical problems like the one at Hongxing Ceramics Factory in the literature before, so he immediately grasped the key point. What he didn’t realize was that the technical level thirty years ago was nothing like in later times. Most of the engineers at Hongxing Ceramics Factory only had technical school diplomas. Although everyone knew that iron could cause a reddish tint, there was simply no one who could immediately figure it out.

“Little David, you’ve saved my life.” Chief Parker said dramatically. “These days, I haven’t had a single good night’s sleep. Even when I finally close my eyes, all I see in my dreams are red porcelain pieces.”

“Oh, I was just seeing things more clearly as an outsider.” David Clark said modestly. “Actually, if you weren’t so caught up in it, you would have thought of it too.”

“Expert Clark, you’re too modest. As an outsider, you saw things even more clearly than us old porcelain hands.” Chief Parker exclaimed repeatedly. As a technical person, he naturally admired those with greater expertise.

“Come on, let’s have breakfast. You’re our hero, I have to treat you to a drink—no stopping until we’re drunk!” James Harris said.

“Drinking in the morning?” David Clark was dumbfounded.

“Not in the morning, at noon. We’ll have breakfast now, then I’ll arrange for someone to show you around Tanzhou. I heard from Old Foster that you’ve never been here. Then, at noon, we’ll drink.” James Harris said enthusiastically.

“Director Harris, I have to catch the 10 a.m. train.”