I Have Decided to Go Look for My Father

With that, the vice team lead could only respond with, “You know it as well as I do that this decision was not made by us or any other judges. This was the viewpoint of a long-time expert.”

Teacher Yu busted out laughing from being very annoyed upon hearing that. “A long-time expert? I know who it was. Liu Dehing, right? So what are you saying? Whatever he says goes? Problem is many of the teachers on the judges’ team, plenty of us are experts, did not find this topic problematic!”

Being confronted again by Teacher Yu, the vice team lead stiffened but stood his ground. “Teacher Liu is, after all, a subject matter expert in this field and had been a judge for the Youth Innovation Competition for many years. He had established his expertise in the matters. If that was his viewpoint, he had his reasons.”

Besides, Liu Dehing had been an old friend of Boss Hu, the main person responsible for this competition. Naturally, they would need to accommodate his opinion in the matters.

The vice team lead did not spell out the second part but his attitude had made that abundantly clear.

A contemptuous look flashed past Teacher Yu’s face. Logical my @**!

“I say he is doing this on purpose!” said Teacher Yu with disgruntlement.

She did some more digging later on.

Liu Dehing’s grandson, who was a sophomore in senior high school, had also entered into this competition. They had caught wind that some senior high school would award extra points to the winners of the Youth Innovation Competition. As such, this competition was important to Liu Dehing’s family.

That was the reason that Boss Hu did not invite Liu Dehing to be a judge this time in order to shy away from conflict of interest.

He meant well but, little did he know, Liu Dehing was a petty one and was very bothered by it.

He was already unhappy and, on top of that, the topic that he had spent a lot of effort in choosing for his grandson scored lower than this other project and only took second place. That made Liu Dehing even more disgruntled. As such, he was gunning toward Gu Xi and her team.

“I thought our competition stressed our fairness.”

The vice team lead let out a sigh. “You should know that fairness is relative.”

Pausing, the vice team lead said, “Facts of the matter is that most people believed in Teacher Liu. What can we do?” Their hands were forced as well.

As a subject matter expert in the field, Liu Dehing’s reputation preceded him.

And he had openly stated that Gu Xi’s team’s topic was irrational.

Liu Dehing was not a judge this time and the official reason was because of his health. Others were not aware that his grandson was also in this competition. As such, the public readily believed the very “fair” words of this subject matter expert.

Lo and behold, the rationality of a topic was difficult to prove. The others only felt that it was feasible from their personal experience.

After all, the topic was still a concept at this point in time and nobody had built it yet or that there were any related products currently on the market. It might as well be a debate on whether high speed trains would be underground or in air in the future. Nobody could say for certain…

Boss Wu had considered all those factors and also didn’t want to sour his relationship with his old friend. After weighting his options, he finally decided to sacrifice Gu Xi and her team.

Teacher Yu, upon hearing the vice team lead’s explanation was so angry that she had a hard time breathing. Unfortunately, she was just a nobody and could do nothing other than turning and leaving.

***

Teacher Yu did not return to her own office after she left the office Instead, she chased after Gu Xi and the others.

Gu Xi was a bit surprised when she saw Teacher Yu running after them. Teacher Yu, however, left her with a lasting impression from the time of the defense.

“I apologize for the outcome of the evaluation,” said Teacher Yu with a unhappy look.

“But I personally do not believe that your subject was not irrational.”

The same idea had occurred to her in the past. She didn’t follow up on it not because she felt that it was irrational, but that she knew the limitation of her own ability and resources well and that she would not be able to make it happen.

Nevertheless, just because she wouldn’t be able to make it happen didn’t mean that nobody else could.