In the proposal put forward by Sanli Steel, the equipment for the rolling mill workshop was included—both James Quinn and Samuel Lawson were aware of this. The reasons provided by Sanli were also very thorough: the workshop’s power supply system, cranes, workstation arrangements, and so on, all had professional requirements. If the Japanese side did not provide the complete set of workshop equipment and the Chinese side had to build it themselves, how could it possibly be perfectly compatible with the rolling mill?

John Lewis had once negotiated with Sanli’s technical staff, but he quickly found himself at a loss. The Sanli technicians casually brought up an issue regarding steel structure resonance, and John Lewis was stumped. The hot rolling mill has its own operating frequency; if the vibration frequency of the workshop’s steel structure matches that of the hot rolling mill, then when the mill is running, the workshop will vibrate, and it could even lead to collapse. The Chinese side did not possess this kind of technology—how could they possibly complete the construction of the steel structure?

However, John Lewis never imagined that behind such a dignified excuse from the Japanese side was a series of commercial frauds. In the complete set of workshop blueprints provided by the Japanese, aside from the parts that the Chinese side could not build, there were also luxurious changing rooms and restrooms—even the toilets were electronically controlled. The computer responsible for controlling the toilet’s flushing volume was also quoted at nearly ten thousand US dollars.

In another timeline, it was precisely because Samuel Lawson saw that precious foreign exchange had actually been spent on toilets after the equipment was put into operation that he felt pain and anger. He had someone confront the Japanese side, and their response was arrogantly dismissive:

“All the blueprints were reviewed by you; this was your voluntary import. Also, our Japanese workers use these kinds of toilets to take care of their physiological needs. Their behinds receive meticulous care, so they can work in a good mood and ensure the quality of the steel... On this point, do you want me to recommend a few Japanese industrial psychology experts to give you a little science lesson?”

Humiliation—what Samuel Lawson felt was endless humiliation. Backwardness means being bullied; this is an eternal truth. If your skills are inferior, you can only let someone slap you in the face with a toilet.

“Notify the Japanese side: in view of the information they previously concealed, all the principle agreements that have been reached are hereby voided. They must redesign everything to meet our requirements, or else... we would rather not import at all!”

Samuel Lawson slammed his palm heavily on the conference table and declared resolutely to the roomful of people.

James Quinn and Helen Lawson exchanged a glance, then nodded firmly. After negotiating for so long, of course they were reluctant to start over. With the arrogance of the Japanese, if their side proposed starting from scratch, the other party might just walk out, and the equipment import for Nanjiang Steel Plant would be delayed by at least a year.

However, the reason given by Samuel Lawson was so compelling that even James Quinn and the others wholeheartedly agreed. Importing a rolling mill and having to import the workshop as well was something everyone could just about accept. But installing a super-luxurious restroom in the workshop—what was that about? Indeed, they hadn’t seen the other blueprints yet and didn’t know the specifications of this restroom, but you could tell a lot just from the toilet. Chinese workers’ behinds aren’t that precious; no matter how much we talk about humane management, it’s still too extravagant to equip a rolling mill workshop with a set of flush toilets.

“That’s the only way.” James Quinn turned to John Lewis and said, “Old Lewis, I’ll have to trouble you to lead a team to carefully review the blueprints and pick out all these flashy things as a basis for negotiations with the Japanese. Make it clear to them that China is still very poor right now—we can’t just copy their capitalist ways wholesale.”

“When negotiating, we must stick to our principles. If the Japanese side insists on maintaining their erroneous position, we can consider importing technology from elsewhere. We absolutely will not accept any form of extortion!” Samuel Lawson said solemnly.

There was no need to continue the meeting. John Lewis called in his subordinates and, together with several engineers from Beijing brought by Patrick Howard, began to go through the blueprint catalog, preparing to sort out any potentially problematic parts to confront the Japanese side with.

James Quinn and the others accompanied Samuel Lawson out of the conference room, flattering him as they walked: “Director Lawson, you really haven’t lost your touch. Engineer Lewis and the others looked at the blueprints for so long and didn’t spot the flaw, but you just picked up a drawing and saw it right away. By the way, Director Lawson, when did you discover this problem? Why didn’t you mention it this morning?”

“I guess it was just a coincidence.” Samuel Lawson replied perfunctorily. He turned to Helen Lawson, who was in charge of reception, and asked as if unintentionally, “By the way, Old Lawson, when we went out for lunch, did anyone else stay in the conference room?”

“Stay in the conference room?” Helen Lawson was taken aback, thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, “No one. Why, Director Lawson, did you lose something?”

“No, no.” Samuel Lawson quickly replied, “It’s just that my notebook on the table was moved to a different spot. There’s nothing secret in it anyway.”