“I didn’t cause any trouble.” Ethan Franklin was truly impressed by his cheap old man’s wild imagination. Thinking about how disgraceful his former self had been, he also felt a bit ashamed. He explained to his father, “There was a meeting in the office today, and Director Lawson needed to find a blueprint. I helped him find it. It was actually a very minor thing, but it’s kind of Director Lawson to remember it.”

“It’s not a minor thing at all,” Samuel Lawson corrected him. “Just this one blueprint exposed a major flaw in our early work. At the very least, it can save the country more than 20 million in foreign exchange. How can you call this a small matter? If you ask me, it wouldn’t be too much to hold a commendation ceremony for Comrade Little Franklin with banners and awards.”

Ethan Franklin smiled and said, “Director Lawson, your words make me feel undeserving. Finding blueprints is my job, after all. The blueprint was there; as long as you’re willing to look, you’ll always find it.”

“That’s not the same,” Samuel Lawson said. “So many people have looked at these blueprints, but not a single one could find this particular one. Yet you, Little Franklin, managed to find it. Can you tell me why that is?”

Ethan Franklin gave a wry smile and said, “There’s really no special reason… just practice.”

This was a reference to the story of the oil seller: the oil seller covered the mouth of an oil jar with a copper coin and poured oil through the hole in the coin into the jar. The oil went through the hole without wetting the coin. When people praised his skill, he said: “No other reason, just practice.”

The conversation between Samuel Lawson and Ethan Franklin just now sounded quite ordinary to Gregory Grant. Although Gregory Grant hadn’t attended the meeting, he knew that Ethan Franklin was responsible for helping the engineers find blueprints, so he figured Samuel Lawson wanted a certain blueprint and Ethan Franklin quickly found it for him. This kind of thing could indeed be described as “just practice,” and really wasn’t worth Samuel Lawson bringing up specifically.

But Samuel Lawson and Ethan Franklin both understood very well what was really going on. Samuel Lawson praised Ethan Franklin not because he found a blueprint by its number, but because he wrote that number for Samuel Lawson on a sticky note. At first, Samuel Lawson was only somewhat suspicious that the number was written by Ethan Franklin, but after a few words with him, he was now certain: it was indeed Ethan Franklin who had found this blueprint among a vast number of documents and had reported it to him in a discreet way.

Samuel Lawson couldn’t figure out why Ethan Franklin didn’t just report this directly to James Quinn or John Lewis. If he had, he could have easily gained favor with the Metallurgical Department and changed the prejudices of people like Helen Lawson against him, maybe even transferred from logistics to some “office job” and enjoyed better treatment. Samuel Lawson guessed that maybe Ethan Franklin wasn’t sure what impact this would have on the provincial department and didn’t dare act rashly, so he kept it under wraps. And once Samuel Lawson revealed the blueprint, it would be even less appropriate for Ethan Franklin to admit his involvement—James Quinn and the others would definitely see him as a traitor and make it impossible for him to stay in the Metallurgical Department.

Thinking of all this, Samuel Lawson naturally wouldn’t point it out publicly, and could only exchange a few veiled remarks with Ethan Franklin. He took a sip of water, then asked Ethan Franklin, “Little Franklin, have you ever studied metallurgy before?”

“I’ve studied a bit,” Ethan Franklin replied shamelessly.

Liam Franklin and Gregory Grant, standing nearby, both curled their lips. Liam Franklin knew his own son’s situation—when had he ever studied metallurgy? As for Gregory Grant, he was even more prejudiced against Ethan Franklin, secretly cursing him for being shameless enough to tell such a blatant lie just to please the leaders of the Economic Commission.

“Where did you study it?” Samuel Lawson asked again.

“When I was sent down to the countryside,” Ethan Franklin said. “My grandfather taught me some things at home, then had me take some books to the educated youth camp to read. Whenever I didn’t understand something, I’d come home and ask my grandfather. I studied like that for four or five years, so I guess I have a bit of a foundation.”

“Is that so?” Liam Franklin couldn’t help but interject. William Franklin’s knowledge was, of course, very extensive. As his son, Liam Franklin had inherited less than a tenth of it, just enough to be a physics teacher at a middle school. As for Ethan Franklin, in Liam Franklin’s memory, he didn’t seem to have ever studied with William Franklin. Taking books to the educated youth camp to read… was this really his eldest son, who was always getting into trouble?

“Weren’t you teaching at a rural middle school at that time? Of course you wouldn’t know about me coming home to study with Grandpa,” Ethan Franklin retorted confidently.

Liam Franklin thought about it and realized there was indeed a period when his son was out of his sight. Could it be that during that time, his son had learned metallurgy from his own father? As for taking books to read, thinking carefully, maybe… perhaps… well, let’s just say it happened. In front of the Economic Commission leaders, he couldn’t very well say outright that his son was lying.

“That’s true,” Liam Franklin said. “啸辰’s grades at school weren’t particularly good, but he did like reading, especially technical books—he had some interest in them.”