I am not a literary giant

"Do you still want to be promoted in the future?"

To be honest, Wang Zixu really wanted to answer: No.

Five years ago, he would have treated promotion as his primary goal in life; three years ago, he would have believed it was his only way out.

But at this point in time, he only feels it's troublesome.

The promotion process for employees in public institutions is extremely complicated, but each promotion increases their salary by about 20%, and there is also the opportunity to be promoted to a leadership position.

The most stringent requirement for promotion is to have received an "excellent" rating in an assessment within the past two years.

To date, Wang Zixu has never received an "excellent" rating. This is not because he is not diligent in his work.

In his early years, his life was fundamentally about striving. Like everyone else, he longed for promotion. He worked tirelessly, tried to please his colleagues, and hoped to achieve an "excellent" rating in performance reviews to change his life.

After a year of hard work, he suddenly realized that in order to get an "excellent" rating in the evaluation, in principle, one needs to be conscientious, have a good work style, be ideologically sound, and have strong skills... In practice, one also needs the approval of the leader.

The reason is that the number of "outstanding" positions allocated to the organization each year is limited. If some people are outstanding, then some people will inevitably not be. Deciding who should be selected as outstanding requires everyone to reach a consensus.

Before the annual performance evaluation, the leaders would talk to each colleague individually. This was essentially a way to address their concerns and concerns.

For those who work diligently, the leaders will focus on their work and ask them to wait a little longer, letting the more senior ones take the lead.

For those with particularly long tenure, the leaders will also focus on working on them. Anyway, they are old, and it's enough for them to get a promotion before retirement. Let's give the opportunities to the younger generation.

The evaluation and commendation process is a severe test of a unit's leader's political wisdom and decisiveness. An organization cannot solely rely on performance, seniority, education, or ability. All factors must be considered comprehensively. In particular, it is crucial to ensure that a single commendation does not discourage colleagues.

In their workplace, the "excellent" rating is assigned based on need, not on work performance. Every young colleague who is eligible for promotion receives the "excellent" rating once. Once you've received it, you can't receive it again; it's rotated. If you're excellent this year, it's someone else's turn next year. Otherwise, morale will be low, the team will be difficult to manage, and work will be difficult to carry out.

When Wang Zixu first joined the company, there were three older colleagues ahead of him in line, each with their own reasons for wanting to be recognized as "excellent" first.

The leader talked to Wang Zixu, saying that although he graduated from a prestigious university, was hardworking and conscientious, the opportunity should still be given to the older colleagues. He said, "Think about it, if you were old and still had the chance to advance, wouldn't you also hope that someone would give you a push from behind? Put yourself in their shoes, shouldn't we be considerate of each other?"

Wang Zixu wholeheartedly agreed. The leader then said, "I guarantee that once these three comrades have all received the 'Outstanding' award, you'll be the first one to receive it."

Wang Zixu waited three years. After seeing off the last veteran comrade, the leader also left, and a new leader arrived—Director Gou. Director Gou denied all the promises made by the previous leader.

Director Gou had his own set of ranking logic, and according to his logic, Wang Zixu would have to wait another 3 years. After another 3 years, a new batch of young colleagues joined the unit. Director Gou said that the ranking still had to be reset.

Prince Xu had seen through the truth of life and the hypocrisy of humanity. His ambitions had long since shifted. What was the point of telling him all this now? My Qing Dynasty was already gone.

Zhang Cangnian, unaware of his inner thoughts, assumed he was certain of victory and kindly offered a reminder:

"In principle, considering seniority, education, and work experience, you should definitely receive an outstanding award this year. However, you also need to consider the special circumstances this year—new documents issued this year require a focus on promoting and cultivating young colleagues. Our evaluation logic may change."

Wang Zixu looked at him and said, "When I first came to the unit eight years ago, I was young too. When I was young, I was asked to give way to the older colleagues. Now that I'm old, I'm starting to mentor the younger ones."

Zhang Cangnian said with a grin, "Well, there's nothing we can do about it. Sometimes things just happen like that. When I was a freshman in high school, the principal said that the freshmen should do the big clean-up. But when I was a sophomore, the principal said, 'Last year the freshmen did the clean-up, so this year the sophomores should do it.'"

After saying that, he said sternly, "Jokes aside, you should take this seriously. You may not be eligible for awards, and you may seem aloof, but others will think you're incompetent or have made some serious mistake. What if all the younger comrades get promoted later, and you end up like me, wandering around with just a teacup?"

Prince Xu laughed and said, "There's nothing wrong with learning from you. It's so easy and carefree."

Zhang Cangnian said, "Just wait and see. You'll understand how tough it is to be bossed around by a bunch of young people."

Wang Zixu was a little depressed by what he was said. He asked, "How many people are eligible for awards this year?"

Zhang Cangnian said, "That depends on what the leaders think. But in my opinion, there are actually two people with the best chances this year: you and Xiao Diao."

Xiao Diao's real name is Diao Yiwen. She joined the company at the same time as Guo Ranran. They live in offices two offices away from Wang Zixu's, and the two rarely interact.

Upon hearing the name, Wang Zixu said, "Diao Yiwen came last year, right? Why her?"

Zhang Cangnian said, "She hasn't been with the company for long, but firstly, she graduated from Hexi University, which is a prestigious university; secondly, she has work experience outside the company and is relatively old; and thirdly, the current trend is that performance evaluations not only consider ability but also academic ability and hard indicators such as published articles. And coincidentally, she has published articles."

Wang Zixu asked in surprise, "What did she publish? Where did she publish it?"

Zhang Cangnian said: "Xihe Literature and Art".

Upon hearing about this magazine, Wang Zixu completely lost his composure. He said, "Our institution isn't some research-oriented university. Judging excellence based on published articles is already absurd, let alone one published in a literary magazine."

Zhang Cangnian spread his hands: "What can we do? Officials have two mouths; how can they set standards? It's all just a matter of what the leader says."

Wang Zixu shook his head, stood up to pour water, and said, "I'm too lazy to deal with this kind of thing. If the leader wants to give it to Xiao Diao, then let him."

Zhang Cangnian's expression changed slightly: "Really? You really think so?"

"Hmm. There's nothing else to think about."

"Then you'd better think about it again," Zhang Cangnian said. "Xiao Wang, sometimes it's not about fighting for your own interests. If you don't fight for them, people will just think you're incompetent. If you miss this year's evaluation, you'll miss next year's promotion. Before you know it, your life will be wasted. When you're older and still sitting here stirring things up, people will just think you've lost face."

Wang Zixu said, "Face is something you give yourself, not something given to you by others."

The waters of the Canglang River are clear, I can wash my hat-strings; the waters of the Canglang River are muddy, I can wash my feet. Whether the water is clear or muddy, one can live according to one's own heart, but one cannot help but bow down and use the waters of the Canglang River. But Prince Xu felt that since he could already see the Yangtze River with his eyes, he did not need to be confined to the Canglang River.

Let someone else have it.

He walked out the door, and Zhang Cangnian ran over again, whispering, "You and Lin Feng are such good friends, why don't you say hello to him? If Xiao Diao can publish articles in 'Xihe Literature,' you definitely can too."