, the sister's chapter, is here!

Chapter 52 My sister is back!

Although Ethan Jones complained a lot, he actually already had a somewhat immature idea in his mind.

As for what it is?

Just like Daddy said—"You have to beat magic with magic."

Legal issues should, of course, be resolved by a Buddhist monk.

Even if Ethan Jones had a target, he didn't want to bother Barbara for the time being.

The reason is simple: if capitalists in modern industry exploit the surplus value of workers, then financial capital absorbs the huge profits of these capitalists, aiming to gain without labor.

If MOS Corporation promises that once Ethan Jones resolves their patent issues, they will grant him a protective license for the 6502 product—for example, granting him exclusive production rights for 6502 for the next year—then Ethan Jones will certainly be more proactive than anyone else in protecting his own interests.

But according to those people's shared thinking, this kind of thing shouldn't be possible at all, right?

Ethan Jones decided to wait and see, letting MOS resolve the issue on its own, and then everyone could eat together once things were settled.

He admitted that he was just an ordinary person.

He is willing to contribute to changing the world, but before that—

"Shouldn't I at least be allowed to be the first to try it?"

…………

Since Wozniacki had nothing much to do and Steve Jobs' grand vision hadn't made much progress, Ethan Jones decided to leave first. He didn't want to be a third wheel in front of Wozniacki, who was already in a relationship, nor did he want to stand there staring at the perpetually sullen Joe.

When he sat in his Chevrolet again, Ethan felt as if the past month had been a dream.

On the surface, he met Wozniak, got his hands on Apple, and found a gold mine, seemingly poised to achieve financial freedom within five years.

But what's the reality? Wozniak is a nice guy, apples smell good, gold mines seem close, but financial freedom is just so far away!

He worked hard for a month and felt he had gained a lot, but not a single project was actually finalized.

Although this fact was quite frustrating, Ethan only agonized over it for a moment before stopping thinking about it.

There's always a way out!

Why torture yourself when you should be happy?

Even if he can't accomplish anything above, he can still make games, right?

"Hey! That's the advantage of being prescient!"

"There are many ways to escape!"

…………

This thought led Ethan to decide to go home and copy the next game.

Oh no, I mean designing the next game.

When he returned home with a smile on his face, he was overwhelmed with surprise as soon as he stepped inside.

"Wow! When did you get back?"

In my line of sight, Evelyn, wearing a white dress, is nestled on the sofa watching TV, her chin resting on her hand, exuding a languid air.

The unexpected shout made the girl turn around. Seeing the travel-worn figure in the entryway, she exclaimed in surprise, "Oh~ Ethan~ you're finally back!"

Before she could finish speaking, Evelyn jumped up and ran over.

She was all smiles and about to give Ethan a hug when the pungent, sour smell made her take two steps back.

Covering his nose with one hand and fanning himself with the other, he exclaimed in surprise, "Oh! Sxxt! Ethan, did you go to MXG on business? You look like a refugee!"

When Evelyn mentioned doing business in MXG, she was actually referring to the border industrial plan that the United States and MXG had devised to stop illegal immigration.

During World War II, the United States faced a severe shortage of agricultural labor due to the enlistment of millions of young men. To address this issue, the US President introduced the MXG Agricultural Labor Program, which allowed MXG agricultural workers to work in the southwestern United States.

The MXG readily accepted the plan because they believed it was a perfect "labor for dollars" scheme. The MXG could both profit from the workers and solve the explosive unemployment problem. As a result, after the plan was signed, millions of temporary immigrants flooded into the southwestern states of the United States.

However, after WWII, the return of the workforce made native residents very dissatisfied with temporary immigrants. Native Americans believed that temporary immigrants had taken their jobs, so under pressure from anti-immigrant groups, the MXG Agricultural Labor Program was finally terminated after 2 years of implementation.

Although many temporary immigrants were cleared out, the market environment brought about by cheap labor made the local workforce very dissatisfied. American workers could not accept the unethical jobs offered by capitalists, and capitalists did not want to provide better, higher-paying jobs. Therefore, in order to ensure the normal circulation of low-end production industries, MXG and the United States came up with a border industrialization plan.

MXG allows the United States to invest in building low-wage assembly plants on its side of the border. In return, the United States needs to employ a large number of workers in MXG to solve MXG's employment problem.

Since then, images of half heaven and half hell have appeared in photographs taken by major media outlets in later generations.

Evelyn's suggestion of going to MXG to do business was actually because she felt that Ethan had a certain smell that outsiders often have.

This is indeed discrimination, but... who cares?

These words made Ethan lower his head and look down.

Although he has been showering and changing clothes every day for the past month, many problems are unavoidable in the hot summer.

In addition, this body is white, and the sweat glands on the skin are naturally more developed, so—

"Oh Evelyn! Although I understand what you mean, I still have to correct you! Please watch your word choice!"

"Get lost!" Evelyn wasn't going to tolerate him. She glared at him and then shooed him upstairs. "Go take a shower!"

"I don't..." Ethan wanted to say something more.

But Evelyn was faster, flashing her gleaming fist. "Want to get a beating? Huh?"

"...Okay, I'll wash."

Ethan, adhering to the principle of family harmony, went straight upstairs.

About twenty minutes later, when he reappeared looking refreshed, Evelyn's smile returned.

"That's more like it!"

The girl shifted her position, making room for herself on the sofa.

Although Ethan sat down, he had a poker face, practically as if there was a sign saying "Keep Out."

In this situation, Evelyn grabbed the Lay's chips and soda from the table and handed them over.

Seeing that Ethan wouldn't take it, she simply shoved the snacks into his hand and said, "What's wrong? Are you angry?"

Ethan still ignored her.

Evelyn smiled and shook her head at his silence, then ran upstairs and came running back down the stairs.

During this process, she also acquired a gift box.

"Here, this is for you."

"I found this while traveling; I think you'll like it."

Although it's customary in the United States to bring back gifts for those around you when you go out, Ethan was still surprised and screamed when he opened the gift box and saw the clothes inside.

It was a very ordinary T-shirt, with the promotional text for the 1975 Seattle Music Festival printed on the chest. However, next to the logo was an extremely illegible signature—Ray Charles.

"Oh! Sxxt! Is this Ray Charles's autographed T-shirt?"

"Yeah~"

"How did you get it?"

"He got it at the music festival. Although he has mobility issues, he's still very enthusiastic. I think he signed over a thousand autographs there?"

Ray Charles is a national treasure of the United States, a multiple Grammy winner, and ranked in the top ten of Rolling Stone magazine's "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".

Although Ethan hadn't heard his songs much in his previous life, he had seen the movie "Ray," which was based on him.

Jamie Foxx did a good job; Ethan really liked it.

And this autographed T-shirt—

"Oh, thank you." Ethan smiled and accepted the gift. "This is quite a surprise!"

"Not angry anymore?" Evelyn hummed twice.

"Have I ever been angry?" Ethan asked in confusion, blinking his big eyes and trying his best to appear sincere.

Evelyn wanted to curse at this shameless behavior.

Before she could even start criticizing, Ethan, sensing something was amiss, quickly changed the subject.

"Evelyn, can you tell me where you went this time? The gift you gave me has made me very curious about your trip."

Evelyn rolled her eyes at the abrupt question.

She kicked Ethan in annoyance, then got up again and searched the display cabinet in the living room.

Then, a photo album appeared in front of Ethan.

A smile appeared on Evelyn's face as she stroked the album cover.

It seems to be a recollection of the wonderful past month, but also a joyful expression of inner happiness.

"Oh, Ethan~ Let me tell you, our trip this time was absolutely amazing!"

"We went to Seattle first and attended a music festival there. Besides Ray and his brother, there were many other singers performing!"

"Look! These are photos from the scene! It's the Hearts band!"

"Seriously! The atmosphere there is amazing! Much better than in San Francisco!"

"After the show, we drove south along the Colorado River. Look how beautiful the scenery is here!"

"Look, this photo was taken at the Rock Arch Park!"

"How is it? Does it look good?"

The photo Evelyn was referring to was a picture taken in front of a sandstone arch.

Those deep orange rocks, formed 300 million years ago, are a magnificent feature of the American landscape.

Although photos from this era simply cannot capture its fine texture and true charm, that doesn't matter, right?

Because Evelyn wasn't asking whether the archway was pretty, but rather—

"Mmm-hmm-hmm."

After glancing at the photos, Ethan nodded decisively and said, "Beautiful, especially this floral maxi dress, it suits you perfectly."

"Oh! I like this dress too!"

Evelyn smiled and her eyes narrowed.

"I bought this at Gap for only $9.9."

Ethan smiled and nodded, relieved by his sister's joy.

As Evelyn recounted her story, Ethan also began to envision her travel route.

Starting from San Francisco, head north, then diagonally south, eventually returning along the Arizona coastline.

He truly envied the ease with which the person could travel across half of the United States.

After Evelyn excitedly shared her joy with Ethan, she also curiously asked about Ethan's escape route.

She wanted to know if Ethan had really gone to MXG.

Ethan vehemently denied these speculations, and feeling there was nothing to hide, he also directly explained his daily routine.

When Evelyn learned that Ethan had gone to Hawaii after the revenue sharing for "Snake Game" was finalized, she exclaimed in surprise, saying that no matter how nice the inland areas were, nothing beats an island vacation.

But when Ethan revealed that he had only played with it for half a month, and spent the rest of the time working on computers with friends, and that they had also discovered a CPU that seemed usable but had patent issues…

The girl, who had been listening with a smile, suddenly frowned.

"What did you say? A forty-two-dollar CPU?"

The girl stared wide-eyed at Ethan.

"Yeah, so what?" Ethan asked back.

"What's wrong?" Ethan's words startled the girl for a moment.

Then, raising his voice, he said, "Ethan, you're asking me what's wrong? I'd like to ask you what's wrong too!"

Why are you only telling me about this now?

"Why didn't you tell me about something this important sooner?"

(End of this chapter)