Lu Junchi looked at the time and saw that it was already past 4 pm: “The defense has been going on for two hours?”

“Yeah, Brother. The performance review ends at 5 pm. You must make sure that Professor Su comes quickly, otherwise…” Lu Haochu looked at Secretary Lin jumping in the distance and the several serious teachers giving presentations over there, and whispered, “Otherwise, I think he won’t be able to stay in the school…”

Lu Junchi hung up the phone, but he was thinking that if Su Hui couldn’t stay in the school, he could just be a consultant for the Major Crimes Unit…

Su Hui looked at his phone, which was full of various calls and messages. He sorted them out before understanding that the defense conference invited experts to come over, and to coordinate with their schedule, it was changed to today at the last minute. The notice was posted on the school’s official website last night, and the message was only sent in the group this morning.

But from yesterday to today, Su Hui hadn’t checked his phone at all.

Su Hui turned around and felt dizzy. When he turned back, he had a momentary feeling of blacking out, almost falling to the ground.

Lu Junchi supported him. Su Hui had been running a fever since yesterday and had not yet recovered. Lu Junchi frowned and asked, “Are you okay? Can you take a leave for this performance review?”

Su Hui coughed a few times and said, “I’m fine… I can make it there in time. I’ll go change my clothes now.”

He just wanted to hurry over to the school and handle the performance review as soon as possible. Su Hui sent a few WeChat messages to the group on the school side while hurrying to change his clothes.

After the explosion last night, his chest had been aching. It seemed as if his old injury had been shaken open again. His lungs had already been seriously injured two years ago, and he had also undergone surgery to remove a small piece of lung lobe due to a fractured rib.

Su Hui coughed several times and wiped his lips with a tissue. He found that the white tissue had turned blood red, indicating that he had coughed up blood. He finally realized that he was not just suffering from a cold, but was likely suffering from a lung infection.

However, it was an old injury and not immediately life-threatening, and he felt a bit relieved after coughing it out. He didn’t even furrow his brows, crumpling the tissue and throwing it away.

He needed to dress formally for the performance review, so he wore a white shirt with a tie and a thin suit over it.

“I’ll accompany you there. I know Director Wang and Director Liao, and I can explain things to them for you later,” said Lu Junchi, who had been waiting for him in the living room, handing him a cup of hot water.

Su Hui had been working with them on the recent murder case, which had been stressful and fast-paced. Although Director Tan had helped him with most of the work, there was still a lot of school-related work to be done, such as grading papers, recording grades, and writing student evaluations. The sudden change in the job presentation time had not been properly communicated to him.

Yesterday, Su Hui had worked overnight on the case and had developed a fever. Lu Junchi felt that his lateness was understandable under the circumstances.

Su Hui sighed, “No matter what, being late is being late.”

Lu Junchi finished getting ready, changed his shoes, and turned to see Su Hui in his formal attire. He was momentarily stunned.

At first glance, Su Hui looked very formal, with a well-fitting suit that complemented his refined temperament. With his slender fingers quickly tying his tie, he exuded a sense of formality and became instantly more presentable.

He quickly finished getting ready, changed into a pair of leather shoes, picked up his briefcase, and headed towards the door.

Lu Junchi went downstairs to get the car, and they arrived at the presentation venue in just three minutes instead of the usual five.

Su Hui had originally planned to prepare in a few days and had not yet had time to make a PPT presentation. During the ride, he could only make some last-minute preparations, jotting down some key points on his phone.

The car had the logo of the General Bureau, so they drove straight into the Huajing Police Academy. As a teacher at the school, Su Hui was not yet familiar with the geography of the area, so Lu Jun Chi parked the car and led Su Hui to the lobby of the briefing hall.

Lu Haochu had been anxiously waiting there for a long time. When he saw Lu Junchi bringing Su Hui over, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and called out to his brother.

Lu Junchi introduced Su Hui, saying, “This is my younger brother, who is studying video surveillance at the Huajing Academy.”

Lu Haochu furrowed his brow and said, “Brother, can you not use the abbreviation? It’s considered a derogatory term at our college!”

*华(Hua) – means flower. 警(Jing) means police. So Hua Jing(华警) is referring to them as flower police.

Su Hui felt like he had met Lu Haochu before, but his eyesight was poor and he couldn’t remember students’ faces. He only recognized his voice and nodded, saying, “Thank you.”

If it weren’t for Lu Haochu’s quick thinking in calling Lu Junchi, Su Hui would have missed the appointment.

When Su Hui spoke to him, Lu Haochu’s eyes sparkled. He urged them to go inside, saying, “Professor Su, we worked so hard to get you the first spot in the presentation. Everyone else at the Criminal Investigation Department has already presented, and it’s just you left… hurry, there’s still time. By the way, Professor Su, can I add you on WeChat?”

TN: tsk tsk shooting your shot at your brother’s man! Not cool Lulu. Not cool.

Su Hui: ”…” 

Lu Junchi interjected, “We’ll talk about it later!”

As they approached the door, they saw the school secretary, Lin, anxiously rubbing her hands. “Ai ya, Professor Su, ancestor you finally arrived. Dean Wang asked about you earlier, and no one dared to speak up.”

Su Hui repeatedly apologized, Secretary Lin recognized Lu Junchi and asked, “Captain Lu is also here today?”

Lu Junchi said, ‘’I happen to be on vacation today… Can I listen in on your performance review?’’

Secretary Lin, ‘’Of course, it’s not that strict of a review. It’s just a self-reflection and summary that the academy holds every two years. But because it’s linked to teacher evaluations and promotions, the academy’s teachers take it very seriously. The academy’s leaders have invited experts and several editors-in-chief from academic journals to provide academic evaluations of the teachers’ self-reflections. That’s why the time was changed. But Professor Su, don’t you check the department’s chat group?’’

“What about the phone call I made to you at noon?”

“My phone was on silent, so I didn’t hear it…”

Secretary Lin furrowed her brow. How could someone be so disconnected from the world that they hadn’t checked their phone in so long?

In the academic setting of the university, performance evaluations and promotion are linked to salary increases, so the teachers naturally take them seriously. They start preparing early, and their presentation slides are even more elaborate than their class materials.

Today, with the presence of university leaders, experts, and chief editors from core journals, this is a great opportunity to gain exposure. The teachers are all nervous, except for Su, who not only arrived late, but also delayed for so long. This was a bit too arrogant.

Lu Junchi quickly explained for him, “Professor Su has not been feeling well lately, and he also had a special operation for the heavy crime task force last night, so he came in late today.”

Secretary Lin finally understood and responded with an ‘Oh’

Su Hui hurriedly walked in and, as instructed by Secretary Lin, sat in the backstage corner. At this time, the teachers on stage were giving their speeches, and he would be up next after they finished.

Lu Junchi sat beside him, one seat apart.

He looked up and saw that there were forty to fifty people in the small briefing room. The young teachers were all sitting in the back rows, while the leaders of the institute and the editors of the journals were in the front rows.

Since Su Hui entered, everyone’s attention had been focused on him. People were whispering and their gazes were not friendly.

Lu Junchi guessed that the teachers were probably going to say that he was cold and arrogant, and looked down on others.

Fortunately, Su Hui had poor eyesight and hearing. He kept his head down and continued preparing his report without looking around.

Lu Junchi thought that perhaps Su Hui didn’t even care about all this attention. Even if he saw and heard everything, he acted as if he didn’t.

He looked carefully around the room again and remembered what Lu Haochu had said earlier. Finally, he understood why Su Hui’s lateness had caused such envy.

On a small screen on the left side of the room, the teachers’ evaluations of their students were displayed. Su Hui had scored 98 points and ranked first.

The second place was a distant 87 points. Su Hui was supposed to be the first to go on stage. Being the top-rated student was enough to draw attention, but he had arrived at the very last minute.

Director Liao Chang’en in the front row turned around and gestured with a sheet of paper in his hand to Su Hui, who had finally arrived.

Secretary Lin reminded him, “Before each teacher’s report, they have to submit a pre-filled form to my email. You still haven’t submitted your form yet…”

Last night…he was still playing the role of a hostage in a crime scene.

Su Hui had almost missed the briefing. How could he have filled out the form? He looked up and asked, “Is it still possible for me to fill it out now?”

Secretary Lin hesitated for a moment and said, “Let’s forget about it. Each person will only speak for a few minutes when they go up, and the leaders may not have time to watch. Just come back and register with me later.”

When Secretary Lin finally arranged everything and went to the front, Lu Junchi took a glance at Su Hui’s still pale face and handed him the thermos quietly, saying, “Have some water.”

Su Hui pushed it away and said, “Thanks, but I don’t want to drink now. It’ll make me more nervous.”

At this moment, Lu Junchi remembered something and asked, “By the way…has your paper been published?” He couldn’t help but feel anxious for Su Hui, as if he would fail if his paper wasn’t published in a core journal.

Su Hui turned his head to look at him.

At this point, the teacher on stage had finally finished reporting his work.

Secretary Lin went up to the stage and announced, “Now, we invite Professor Su Hui from the Criminology department to give his work report.”

Hearing this, there was sparse applause from the audience. Lu Junchi could tell from the applause that Su Hui wasn’t very popular among the teachers at the school.

Dean Wang in the front row saw this and said while clapping, “This Professor Su finally made it here.”

Director Liao next to him said, “Professor Su has recently become a consultant for the Major Crimes Unit of the General Bureau. I guess he’s been too busy to give his work report.”

The other teachers could hear the sourness in Director Liao’s words. At this point, someone took the opportunity to throw shade and said, “Did you guys see Professor Su’s form? I wanted to see how many academic achievements he has published.”

“I didn’t see his form. Did he not even turn it in?”

“He didn’t turn it in? I bet he just didn’t write it.”

Someone snickered, “I heard he was transferred by the General Bureau. He probably has connections, or how else could he come back and be a consultant? Those police stations treat our school like their own backyard, and they cram anyone they can find in there.”

“Shh, my student evaluation score is not low at all.”

“Evaluation scores? They’re just based on looks. Those little girls in the class would give handsome male teachers like him 120 points if they could. The academic atmosphere of our school has been ruined like this.”

“He’s quite handsome. He wore a suit today, and those girls in the student council couldn’t take their eyes off him.”

Ever since Su Hui took the stage, the pH level in the air has dropped rapidly, and the prevalence of jealousy has exceeded the standard.

Teacher performance evaluation is nothing more than evaluating one’s morality, ability, diligence, teaching and work, and then mainly focuses on personal achievements, such as being named an excellent teacher, making outstanding contributions in relevant fields, and publishing how many papers in core journals.

Su Hui took the stage without even preparing a PPT. He straightforwardly started, “Hello, everyone. I’m Su Hui. I came to teach at the Criminal Investigation Department of Huajing University two years ago, and during these two years, I have…”

The school leaders and editors had been sitting here since two o’clock, and they’d been listening to the same set of words for over two hours. They were starting to get impatient and whispered to each other.

The editors come from all over the country and haven’t seen each other in two years. They’re taking advantage of this business trip to catch up, and now that the meeting is almost over, they’re thinking about where to go and hang out. There’s no one left who is willing to listen to him talk.

Su Hui didn’t mind, he just kept talking while the audience buzzed. He talked about how he guided students in earnest study, exchanged ideas with other teachers, and never retreated in the face of difficulties.

He was clear and concise in his speech, and he was skilled at improvisation. In any case, they were all flattering words, and there was no way to go wrong. In fact, he, the one giving the report, was more eager to end it than those sitting below the stage. He was just waiting for the meeting to be over and done with.”

Lu Junchi sat in the back row, listening to Su Hui’s pleasantries and sighed while rubbing his forehead. This performance evaluation seemed to be in trouble.”

Seeing that the whispers were almost louder than Su Hui’s voice, Dean Wang couldn’t bear it and interjected, “Um, Professor Su, we’re running out of time, so let’s just focus on the key points. Please tell us about your personal achievements in the past two years.”

Su Hui responded with a sigh of relief and skipped over those irrelevant parts, “In the past two years, I have published a total of six papers in core journals.”

As soon as this sentence was uttered, the entire venue fell silent.

TN:

FACE SLAP INCOMING B*TCHESSSS. Honestly what a bunch of ssssnakess.