Lumi loved August because Shang Zhi Tao was back.

It made her very happy.

She woke Tu Ming up early in the morning, which was unusual, “Hurry, hurry, hurry, it’s time to go to work.”

Tu Ming opened his eyes and looked at the time, “Six o’clock.”

“You’ll be late if you don’t get up. I have to burn incense, bathe, change clothes, and put on makeup to welcome my Shang Zhi Tao back.” Lumi jumped out of bed, looking very anxious.

“You’ve never been this excited to see me.”

Tu Ming had never been in a relationship with Lumi before. He had never been jealous because of another man, but because of a woman. Listening to Lumi humming as she showered, Tu Ming felt a bit uncomfortable. Wow, Shang Zhi Tao was more important than him. Now he knew his place.

He got out of bed. Afraid that Lumi would be in a rush again, he knocked on the bathroom door to get his toiletries to use. Lumi, inside, said, “What are you doing? Morning sex in the bathroom?”

Tu Ming’s face flushed red, “I’m getting something.”

“Come in.”

The bathroom was steamy. Lumi stood under the water, looking a bit like a water lily. Tu Ming, half-closing his eyes, took his things out quickly and decisively. He closed the door quickly. It was as if Lumi was a fairy who had transformed into human form and would eat him.

Lumi was used to it and resigned to her fate. She thought she would never have the chance to unlock the bathroom experience with Tu Ming.

She giggled, looking at his embarrassed expression. He was a grown man! He was blushing because of this. When she came out wrapped in a towel, she heard a clanging sound from the kitchen. She went over and saw Tu Ming frying eggs and boiling noodles. That was easy. Lumi had made the braised sauce the night before. He just had to boil the noodles.

Lumi went over and slapped his butt, “Hey! You’re cooking?”

Tu Ming blushed when she hit him. He pretended to scold her, “Lumi!”

“What?” Lumi was smiling playfully. She tied her hair up with a rubber band and stood by the stove, directing him, “Those noodles are going to get mushy if you don’t scoop them out soon, I’m telling you! If you cook them for much longer, you can drink them like porridge.”

“Okay, okay, eggs, eggs. Flip them!”

“Add a little bit of seafood soy sauce. Otherwise, the color won’t look good, and it won’t taste as good.”

“Add a couple of drops of sesame oil and a little bit of vinegar to the noodles.”

“That’s right!”

Lumi was a real chatterbox, but Tu Ming liked listening to her. As Yao Luan said, “You two are a perfect match. You’re a perfect pair. You’re destined to be together.”

What Tu Ming liked most was that when you talked to Lumi, you always got a warm response. Even if she was angry, she wouldn’t give you the silent treatment. If she was angry, she would say it directly. She would talk like a string of beans, popping out words quickly and happily.

For example, if you asked her, “What were you doing just now?”

While others might say running, roads, or meals, what did Lumi say? “I went downstairs to throw out the trash, guess who I ran into? Uncle Er! The old man was carrying a birdcage, where he had his crosstalk bird out for a walk! Birds nowadays are so foul-mouthed, they almost talk dirtier than me.”

It was this kind of feedback that made Tu Ming feel that everything was lovely and lively. Her words were playful, and overall it was just great.

The two of them sat eating noodles and eggs. Lumi was in a thin robe, her hair casually tied up, legs propped up on another chair, not sitting properly.

“You wait for me.”

“Okay, I need to do my makeup! I’m planning to do a cat-eye look today.”

“What’s a cat-eye look?”

“It’s makeup that makes you look like a cat.”

Tu Ming couldn’t picture it, so he even took out his phone to search for a cat-eye makeup tutorial. He felt his curiosity was really strong. At this rate, he might become a makeup artist.

Lumi did her makeup seriously, then happily went to work. Shang Zhi Tao had indeed arrived early and was already at his desk, working on his computer.

When they saw each other, they were both so happy.

Lumi’s “cat-eye” makeup looked great, shining like a cat.

Shang Zhi Tao looked around, a bit surprised, “How did you do your makeup so well? I can’t do it. I’m clumsy, even drawing eyeliner comes out crooked.”

“You don’t need makeup, you look good without it. Why cover your flawless face?” They complimented each other, and Shang Zhi Tao handed Lumi a bag of jujubes, “These are jujubes from the northwest, very sweet. I brought them back for you to try.”

Tu Ming and Luke went to the meeting room and saw the two people appreciating each other. Luke wasn’t surprised, but Tu Ming seemed uncomfortable. He asked Luke, “Have Lumi and Flora always been like this?”

“It’s a rare reunion.”

Tu Ming noticed that Lumi’s relationship with Shang Zhi Tao seemed different from when he was with Shang Zhi Tao. How did she transform like a chameleon? When they entered the meeting room, Tu Ming saw Luke glance back at Shang Zhi Tao’s desk, and he seemed to suddenly understand something.

Tracy was leading the meeting this time, with the theme being a talent assessment at Ling Mei.

Tracy, the head of HR at the company, had quite a bit of authority. Behind her back, the employees called her the “demon,” but to her face, they called her the “Bodhisattva.” In any case, they were a bit afraid of her.

Her subordinate, Lucy, was setting up the presentation, and Tracy greeted everyone, “Dear bosses, thank you for taking the time to attend this talent assessment discussion. This meeting won’t take too long, about an hour. We’ll discuss three main topics.”

“Let’s discuss,” Luke said, sitting and playing on his phone. He rarely disagreed with Tracy, and he didn’t seem very engaged. Tracy always had her plans ready when she invited him, so the discussions were more about seeking opinions than actual debate. And her plans were always solid.

Tracy’s attitude towards Luke was usual, so she said directly, “I’ll lead the meeting today.”

“Today, we’ll discuss three main topics. The first is the current employee talent assessment. This is mainly to confirm high-potential employees, key employees, and employees who may need replacing, as this is directly related to their compensation.”

“Lucy will share the results of the 360-degree evaluation for the first half of the year, and we will discuss the core personnel on the spot.”

As each department discussed their evaluations, the 360-degree results were basically aligned with the managers’ opinions. The attrition rate this year was 10%, so it was just a matter of deciding on the names to be removed. Tu Ming was very attentive throughout the entire process. He wanted to understand the logic and principles behind the discussions and standards.

When it was the Marketing Department’s turn, Tu Ming saw that Lumi still had the lowest score in the 360-degree evaluation.

“Can I take a look at the report?”

Lumi’s report was pulled up. The 360-degree anonymous survey involved collaborating departments, random colleagues, and direct supervisors. In the open-ended questions of the anonymous reports, employees tried to be vague in their descriptions, not letting you guess who they were, for fear of offending anyone. But Tu Ming could immediately tell who Lumi’s random colleagues were.

He took five minutes to read the report, but he didn’t say anything.

“What’s your opinion? Do you think we should send someone to talk to her?” Tracy asked Tu Ming. She had her own opinion, but she wasn’t saying it. That was also one of the topics she wanted to discuss today. Whether to rely solely on the 360-degree evaluation and performance to decide whether to remove an employee, what the weightings should be, and how to make the process more scientific.

The current assessment system favored agreeable employees. These agreeable employees are all about “you’re good, I’m good, we’re all good.” They never offend anyone. People who are honest and have strong opinions are often on the verge of being eliminated because their directness offends others.

“My opinion is that this is not scientific.” Tu Ming said directly, “When I first joined Ling Mei, I agreed with this model, but now I don’t.”

“Why?”

“Because when we judge whether an employee is good or not, we should consider both execution and delivery. This report only reflects a communication style issue. Her communication style is not accepted by others, but it doesn’t affect her impressive project delivery. The selection criteria are not based on subjective questions, and there is no actual evidence in the subjective parts. It doesn’t hold up.”

Luke suddenly started laughing.

Tracy looked at him, “Luke, what do you suggest?”

“My suggestion is to maintain the status quo. Let’s just get rid of her.” Luke started to smooth things over, passing the ball back to Tracy and seeing what everyone else thought.

“I agree with Will.” Josh spoke up, “For example, Lumi. To be honest, I’m very comfortable with her as a partner for projects with the Marketing Department. And I want her to be our partner. Why? Because she has high standards, she’s willing to offer suggestions, she’s smart, and she can help everyone avoid pitfalls. If you’re going to fire her because she’s blunt, then no one will tell the truth anymore. We’ll just all be sucking up to each other. But is that the kind of work environment we want?”

“What do you think, Will?” Luke asked Tu Ming.

“I agree with that opinion. A healthy workplace should encourage employees to speak their minds and be bold. It’s not just Lumi who has this problem. Tracy’s department also has this issue.”

“Don’t just agree. What’s the plan?” Tracy asked.

“Don’t you have a plan?” Luke asked Tracy, “Come on, Tracy, just reveal the plan. Don’t keep us in suspense. We all know you.”

Tracy laughed, “Actually, there’s no specific plan. We can just give managers a certain percentage for appeals and control. But this needs to be supervised by the entire management team. It can’t be abused.”

Tu Ming nodded, “Reasonable. Agreed. But maybe we can combine it with other plans. For example, during the 360-degree survey, in addition to random questionnaires, we can also let the employees being evaluated choose who to rate them.”

“That’s a good idea.” Luke nodded, “The combined opinions of those who say good things and those who say bad things. This 360-degree survey is basically useless. We should just get rid of it.”

“…” “Not exactly. We can add some hidden factors to the questionnaire design. Employees won’t notice, and it will be more scientific.”

“I have no problem with that.” Luke raised his hand to vote, “I approve this adjustment plan.”

“I approve it too.” Josh raised his hand.

“I approve it.” Tu Ming said.

The others also agreed.

“Let’s move on to the second topic, discussing this year’s expert employee selection.” Tracy said, “Since we have an additional special approval quota, the scoring criteria need to be adjusted.” Tracy said directly, “To ensure fairness in the selection process, we will slightly lower the weighting for special performance contributions (meaning large-scale introductions).”

Everyone understood what she meant. Yilia had a 250 million yuan investment, so the weighting for performance contributions was high. There was no point in comparing. The competition was over.

“What do you all think?”

“I have no problem with that.” Luke stated directly, “What about you, Josh? The pressure is on you.”

“I suggest slightly increasing the weightings for years of service and project management scores. This will reflect the employee’s overall contributions.” Josh said, “I’m not under any pressure. Anyone can get the promotion. But I want it to be fair.”

Tu Ming noticed that Luke looked at Josh.

This was interesting.

“Okay, we’ll come up with the criteria and weightings for the plan. We’ll discuss it at the next meeting. The third topic is the year-end bonus package that has been given to everyone. It is expected to be completed by September 30th. Please allocate it according to your own circumstances and remember to submit it for review. If there are no further questions, you’re dismissed.”

Tracy finished packing up her laptop. For the first time, her gaze swept over Tu Ming and Luke. There was a faint smile on her lips, and it was hard to say why, but it felt meaningful.

Tracy left the meeting room and happened to run into Lumi and Shang Zhi Tao going to the bathroom together. She put her laptop on the negotiation table in the hallway, “Go ahead!” She asked them, “Flora is back. Aren’t you two going to celebrate?”

“Of course, we are.”

“What are you going to eat?” Tracy asked again.

“Iron pot stew.”

“I’ll join you.”