Chapter 3

Early the next morning, just as I got to the company, the conference room exploded.

My uncle was sitting opposite the head seat, one leg crossed arrogantly over the other.

Eric stood beside him, holding up his phone, livestream still on.

When he saw me walk in, my uncle smiled first.

“You came at the perfect time. Let’s clear this up in front of your boss today.”

He slapped a thick stack of papers onto the table.

“Evan worked in my factory for three years. He ate my food and lived under my roof.”

“I bought the machines and laid the lines myself.”

“Everything he knows was learned in my factory. Now that the factory is down, he has to go back and fix it.”

“Fix it for free, and keep fixing it until it’s done.”

Eric jumped in right away.

“If he won’t come back, fine. I’ve got the livestream on.”

“I’ll say right now that he stole the skills, forgot gratitude, and turned on the family.”

“Let your company see what kind of trash they hired.”

That father and son pair were singing in perfect harmony.

They were here to shake me down and force me to bow my head.

When my uncle saw that I still wasn’t saying anything, he got even bolder.

“Without my factory, you couldn’t even touch a machine.”

“Now you’ve learned a few things and suddenly grown a spine? Dream on.”

“Today, you either come back with me.”

“Or I’ll make sure your name gets dragged through the mud.”

I set my bag down and pulled out a file. It contained three patent acceptance notices.

I pushed them onto the table. My uncle looked down and froze first.

Eric leaned in too.

Inventor: Evan. Filing dates: all during those three years I’d worked at the factory.

My uncle stared at the papers, his lips twitching.

“What… what kind of crap is this?”

I smiled.

“Didn’t you keep saying the machines were yours and the technology was yours too?”

“Then take a look. Why is my name on these?”

Eric panicked.

“So what if your name is on them?”

“You made them while working in my family’s factory!”

“That makes them ours!”

The legal guy finally looked up.

He adjusted his glasses and said only one sentence.

“No agreement, no transfer, no confirmation of compensation.”

“The patents and the process default to the inventor.”

One sentence, and my uncle’s face changed completely.

“He worked in my factory. Anything he made should belong to me!”

I looked at him and spoke slowly.

“Didn’t you keep saying I was just an employee? You didn’t even sign a full labor contract with me.”

“And now you want to say these things are yours?”

My uncle opened his mouth but couldn’t say a word. Eric still tried to hold the line.

“Even if they’re yours, so what? The factory has been using them all these years!”

I nodded.

“You finally got to the point.”

I pushed the last document over to them.

It wasn’t a patent. It was a legal opinion on infringement from the legal department.

It spelled it out clearly:

Unauthorized, continuous use of patented processes and control programs. Injunction, preservation, and compensation claims may be filed.

My uncle’s hand started shaking.

Eric snatched the file and his face went white too.

Today, they hadn’t come to corner me.

They had walked straight into a knife.

Yesterday they were still forcing me to come back and fix the machines for free.

Today they finally learned that even how that line worked belonged to me.

The more they used it, the bigger the problem got. My uncle was completely panicking.

“Evan, don’t go crazy. We’re family.”

“Your uncle was just anxious earlier and said the wrong thing.”

The legal guy turned the laptop around and pushed it toward me.

On the screen were two drafted documents.

One was a lawyer’s infringement notice.

The other was an application for asset preservation.

“Engineer Evan, it’s your call.”

“Do we send the notice first, or go straight for the preservation order and lock down his line?”