Congratulations to the goddess Yudong.

Before the meeting began early the next morning, the three group leaders and Qin Yong were nowhere to be seen.

It was said that after everything concluded the previous night, Qin Yong had taken all the assessment team members out for a meal, spent quite a bit, and then gave the three group leaders two days off.

People in the back rows of the meeting room whispered among themselves.

“Principal Qin is actually a conductor, and from Germany?”

Ma Tao, still reluctant to believe it, asked again.

“If you don’t believe it, ask him yourself,” Wang Panpan replied, although she herself didn’t know why Qin Yong had specifically told her not to let anything slip before she came.

Now the whole campus seemed to know. She scrolled through her phone photos and posted a video in the group chat—Qin Yong giving a masterclass in conducting in Germany.

“Your cousin really knows how to keep a secret,” Xu Hongxin clicked his tongue. Until now, he’d thought Qin Yong was just another administrator from somewhere.

Li An opened the video and watched. On stage, a youthful Qin Yong was conducting a student orchestra, while an older man in a polo shirt stood nearby, arms akimbo, giving him occasional prompts.

It felt quite impressive. Conducting was an elite field, and not just anyone could learn it.

Qin Yong was remarkable, Li An thought with admiration, though he wondered why someone trained in conducting would end up here as a principal.

He suddenly turned to Lin Pengfei beside him. “Have you ever been to Berlin Arts University?”

In an instant, Lin Pengfei became the focus of the back row.

Lin Pengfei forced a smile. “Yeah, I’ve been.”

Li An waited for more, but surprisingly, Lin Pengfei stopped there. Normally, this would be the moment for Pengfei to start one of his tall tales.

What they didn’t know was that after learning of Qin Yong’s background, Lin Pengfei had decided he’d better restrain himself a bit in the future.

But he hadn’t lied—he really had once passed by the university gates.

At that moment, Old Dong returned to the meeting room, his face aglow, and the room gradually quieted down.

“Let’s begin the meeting.”

Today’s meeting focused mainly on two topics.

The first was the stage assessment results, which everyone cared about.

The second concerned wrapping up the summer grading preparation.

Old Dong pulled out the final rankings that had been agreed upon the previous night. There were no major changes, only minor adjustments.

“Let’s congratulate Ms. Chen Xuan from the wind instrument group for taking first place in the stage performance with a score of 23.8. Let’s give her a round of applause.”

A wave of applause followed.

Everyone, whether present last night or watching the video, had witnessed Chen Xuan’s brilliant performance on stage.

Goddess of Yudong, without a doubt.

No one objected.

Li An quietly gave a thumbs-up from below and whispered, “You’ve brought glory to our office.”

Chen Xuan was of course delighted to win first place, though the high score took her by surprise.

“Second place goes to Mr. Tian Yu, 22.7.”

“Third place, Mr. Li An, 22.1.”

“Fourth, Xu Nana, 21.”

“Fifth, Lin Pengfei, 19.6.”

“Sixth, Jia Lu, 19.3.”

“Seventh, Ni Hongjie, 18.5.”

“Eighth, Zhang Youwei, 17.3.”

Li An wasn’t surprised by Tian Yu’s score, but hearing Xu Nana’s result, he felt a twinge of dissatisfaction.

He thought Xu Nana played well, but he hadn’t expected their scores this round to be so close; he’d hoped to widen the gap in the stage assessment.

Still, he quickly adjusted his mindset. The results had been announced publicly—there was no point in resisting.

Then Old Dong announced the overall professional assessment scores (including attendance and work performance):

First place: Tian Yu, 44.3.

Second: Li An, 42.9.

Third: Xu Nana, 41.5.

Fourth: Chen Xuan, 41.

Fifth: Jia Lu, 39.04.

Sixth: Lin Pengfei, 37.94.

Seventh: Ni Hongjie, 34.9.

At the bottom, poor Youwei once again, 33.7.

With the stage assessment, new rankings had emerged. Though advancement among the upper group was still uncertain, the gap with the lower group was widening.

In theory, everyone still had a chance to advance, provided they could secure enough business before September 6th.

Five weeks remained—there was still time.

“Keep up the good work, everyone,” Old Dong encouraged, before briefly outlining the tasks for wrapping up the grading.

There were eleven days left until the exams. As per tradition, each campus would conduct mock grading activities next Monday and Tuesday.

Old Dong instructed everyone to communicate with parents after the meeting and confirm participation numbers by Thursday.

“Meeting adjourned.”

With that, the new week’s work officially began.

Back at the office, the team divided up the tasks Old Dong had assigned.

In principle, all communication with parents should have been handled by Wang Panpan, but after an unpleasant dispute with one of Xu Hongxin’s students’ parents last time, the group decided to split the work: some students for Panpan, some handled personally.

This not only lightened Panpan’s load but also gave her more experience.

After tallying up the numbers, Wang Panpan looked at Li An. “Senior, what about your students?”

Li An was editing messages. Hearing her, he looked up. “I have only a few; I’ll handle them myself.”

Given the uncertainties with Yu Xiaobei’s mother and the fact that he hadn’t yet contacted Wang Xiaohu’s mother, he decided to reach out to all three families himself.

Panpan nodded—less work for her. She returned to her own tasks.

Li An had intended to remind Panpan to be tactful when dealing with Yu Xiaobei’s mother in the future, but considering how she’d already gone to Chen Xuan to “report” him, he worried Panpan might deliberately stir up trouble for him with the parent.

After some thought, he decided to let it go.

He sent messages to Yu Xiaobei’s mother, Wang Xiaohu’s grandmother, and Liu Fengrui’s father. Then he opened the app to check on used air conditioners in Rong City.

After some inquiries and comparisons, he saved two phone numbers and left the office.

Not long after, Chen Xuan also left, flute case in hand.

“Xuan, did you always practice flute every day?” Panpan asked, puzzled. She’d thought Chen Xuan was only practicing daily for the stage assessment, but now that it was over…

Xu Hongxin thought for a moment. “I think it started after An moved house.”

Ma Tao suddenly asked, “Hey, don’t you think An and Xuan look like a good match?”

Xu Hongxin grinned slyly. “You’re only realizing this now?”

Panpan was speechless. Impossible.

Ma Tao: “Hey Panpan, do you have a boyfriend?”

Panpan: “We broke up.”

At that moment, Lin Pengfei entered. “Who’d you break up with, Ms. Panpan?”

As soon as she saw him, Panpan’s head ached. After several encounters, she’d added Lin Pengfei to her blacklist.

She replied coldly, “What’s it to you?”

That was just her nature—if she didn’t like you, she wouldn’t bother. If you insisted on being annoying, she wouldn’t hesitate to snap back.

She couldn’t understand why, even after leaving university, there were still people so aggravating.

All young piano teachers, but compared to Li An, there was simply no contest.

“Just concerned, don’t be mad,” Lin Pengfei said with a smile, handing Panpan a list. “Here’s my list of students to contact. Thanks.”

Panpan wanted to lash out, but his last words stopped her. She took the list and set it aside. “Anything else?”

“Nope.”

Once Lin Pengfei left, the office quieted down. Soon, the sounds of piano and flute drifted in from the hallway.