The previous second, Teacher Xiao Zhao was still receiving a knowledge infusion of [Existentialism].
She hadn’t even had time to absorb all of it.
The next second, Teacher Xiao Zhao was already standing at the door of Vice Principal Ma’s office.
After receiving the call, Teacher Xiao Zhao efficiently dropped everything she was doing, a level of efficiency that even surprised Chonghui.
Because Teacher Xiao Zhao could tell that Vice Principal Ma was in a bad mood in the phone call.
Now she was even slightly out of breath from running.
"Come in!" An impatient voice.
Vice Principal Ma’s desk was a bit messy, with a soaked newspaper lying carelessly at his side.
However, from Teacher Xiao Zhao’s professional perspective, Vice Principal Ma’s emotions were much more chaotic than his desk at the moment.
"You’re here? Have a seat first."
He went through the motions, then immediately asked, "Xiao Zhao, tell me carefully, what on earth have Nan Zhubin and Chonghui been up to recently?"
"Especially today, what plans do they have?"
Unconsciously, Vice Principal Ma changed the way he referred to Nan Zhubin and Chonghui in his speech.
Teacher Xiao Zhao noticed this and couldn’t help but be stunned.
It was at this moment that she realized what role she was playing in this project.
It seemed she wasn’t aligned with Nan Zhubin and the others.
Nan Zhubin and the others, who came as government-affiliated consultants, always needed someone from the school itself to join in the activities.
First, as an assistant, to work together; secondly, as a shield, to prevent some internal things that are hard to discuss from being seen and spread out.
And finally, the role Vice Principal Ma wanted Teacher Xiao Zhao to play at the moment—essentially, an ’informant.’
[Right, I’m the only person from the school in our project group.]
[I’m Vice Principal Ma’s informant.]
Teacher Xiao Zhao suddenly understood.
Adjusting her stance, Teacher Xiao Zhao subconsciously began to recall the actions of Nan Zhubin and others over the past few days.
They did experiments with students, they consulted with her, they taught classes, they consulted with students...
Teacher Xiao Zhao momentarily felt dazed in every sense of the word.
She blinked, still replying to Vice Principal Ma: "They... are doing a project? Previously, it was recording videos for students and conducting [Emotion Induction Experiments], the goal being to perfect that [Psychological Monitoring and Identification System]; later, they were commissioned to a new project and started consulting for Li Mingchen..."
"Exactly!" Vice Principal Ma slammed his hand on the table, "About Li Mingchen, did Nan Zhubin and the others do anything related to that student today?"
Teacher Xiao Zhao was a bit confused.
"No consultation today..."
"I’m not talking about consultation!" Vice Principal Ma suddenly stood up, staring intently into Teacher Xiao Zhao’s eyes, "What else do they usually do aside from consultations?"
"—Nothing?" Teacher Xiao Zhao remained confused.
But Vice Principal Ma immediately sneered.
"Xiao Zhao, what’s going on here? Just a few days ago—I heard you took those two to snatch the evening self-study time for class 3 (1), right?"
Teacher Xiao Zhao instinctively panicked and explained, "It was because Li Mingchen was initially unwilling to undergo consultation, so Mr. Nan thought of a way..."
"Look at that, look at that." Vice Principal Ma interrupted Teacher Xiao Zhao, "Didn’t you just say they hadn’t done anything? And now they’re secretly teaching the students!"
"You’re helping an outsider, who isn’t even a teacher, occupy the evening study time of our senior students! If their homeroom teacher hadn’t informed me, I’d still be in the dark!"
The continuous scolding nearly made Teacher Xiao Zhao shrink into the chair.
Vice Principal Ma still felt unsatisfied and continued.
"Young and naive, don’t think passing the qualifications means you can sit back and relax. You’re a teacher, our school’s teacher!"
Often harassed book friends probably understand. When being scolded, few people actually pay full attention to what the leader is saying.
Initially, the young ones might jokingly retort internally, the leader scolds one line, and you rebut in your mind. Later on, seasoned folks might empty their minds, and think about things that can pass the time, like "what to eat later."
Teacher Xiao Zhao was in a transitional state between the inexperienced and the experienced.
She first tucked her neck in response to the leader’s reprimand, then her mind instinctively began to empty.
And then, for some reason, the sentences she read about [Existentialism], one after the other, surfaced from the other day, yesterday, and today’s daytime readings.
Along with what Nan Zhubin had told her.
Principal Ma responded to Teacher Xiao Zhao: "Back then they were invited as experts, isn’t it a valuable opportunity to learn from them? I entrusted such a rare learning opportunity to you, now you don’t even know what they’re doing, can’t interpret it? I ask you, and you can’t even give me a proper answer?!"
[A rare learning opportunity?]
[Although the opportunity to interact with Mr. Nan and others is indeed rare, but... originally you forced this onto me, right? Said I should learn and acquire abilities to independently manage the [Psychological Monitoring System]...]
Vice Principal Ma took a fierce breath and sipped his tea.
Teacher Xiao Zhao suddenly quietly asked, "Principal Ma, what did Mr. Nan and the others do today?"
"You’re asking me, I was planning to ask you!"
Vice Principal Ma was extremely agitated: "Director Zhou is coming over today!"
This news made him exceptionally uneasy.
"So what have Nan Zhubin and Chonghui been doing these past two days?" Vice Principal Ma pressed on again.
"They’ve been doing experiments, consultations..." Teacher Xiao Zhao answered.
[In other words, doing things advantageous to students.]
[But... now Director Zhou is coming, does beneficial for students mean detrimental to the school?]
[Is it just disadvantageous for you?]
Teacher Xiao Zhao looked at Vice Principal Ma.
[In other words: things beneficial to students actually disadvantage Principal Ma, is that the case?]
Because she was still thinking, Teacher Xiao Zhao’s gaze remained blank, appearing as if she continued to zone out.
Anger is not sustainable for a long time; perhaps he had scolded enough, or perhaps because of Teacher Xiao Zhao’s look, no one can get angry.
"No clue..." Vice Principal Ma sat back down, "Forget it, for now, stop associating with them, return to your previous ’main duties.’"
[Main duties? Tree planting, events, hosting external visitors?]
Vice Principal Ma waved his hand languidly, intentionally not looking at Teacher Xiao Zhao, not even realizing the constantly changing expression on her face.
After a while, Vice Principal Ma seemed to notice and looked up.
"Why aren’t you leaving yet?"
He hadn’t seen Teacher Xiao Zhao stand up.
Instead, he heard the young female teacher say softly, "Principal Ma, I heard—the recent democratic assessment we conducted was preparatory for transferring you to become principal at Twelve High, right?"
Vice Principal Ma was utterly shocked that Teacher Xiao Zhao started with such a statement.