Who would study psychology unless they had some issues?!
Chapter 296 - 294: Nan Zhubin: Is It Difficult to Make Friends?

Chapter 296: Chapter 294: Nan Zhubin: Is It Difficult to Make Friends?

"Junior, what are you thinking about?"

Inside the room.

Nan Zhubin, who was fiddling with the equipment, looked up at the sound and saw Chonghui’s concerned gaze.

"You don’t seem to be in a good mood."

His senior keenly noticed that ever since Nan Zhubin entered the school, his expression had been off.

At first, Chonghui thought Nan Zhubin was still preoccupied with that student named Li Mingchen. But gradually, Chonghui sensed something was amiss.

At this moment, the two had moved to the psychological consultation room in the school’s administrative building.

Compared to the psychological consultation center in college, which occupied two floors, this high school’s consultation room seemed a bit petite.

All in all, it was only about the size of a single-grade office; after some renovation, it was divided into three cubicles, each roughly the size of a standard consultation room.

The cubicle closest to the door served as the school psychologist’s office; the middle one was an "Emotional Venting Room," equipped with sandbags and mannequins; and the innermost one was the "Psychological Consultation Room" used to intervene with troubled students.

Now, both the "Emotional Venting Room" and the "Psychological Consultation Room" were to be temporarily converted into a workspace by Nan Zhubin and others to collect students’ emotional expressions.

Under Chonghui’s guidance, Nan Zhubin set up cameras, computers, and other equipment, adjusting the parameters. When he heard Chonghui’s concern about his emotions, he paused for a moment.

He touched his own face, "Is it that obvious?"

Chonghui chuckled softly, "Your expression management is certainly spot-on; the average person shouldn’t notice, but——"

I’m different. This was what Chonghui left unsaid.

He seldom got to enjoy this feeling of pride.

Nan Zhubin shrugged and contemplated, "It’s not that I’m in a bad mood, it’s just that... coming to the high school this time feels exceptionally stifling."

The impact of "Micro-expression Analysis: Intermediate" hit him quite hard.

It’s like how people instinctively receive something handed to them while on the phone. After upgrading from "Beginner" to "Intermediate," Nan Zhubin’s activation of "Micro-expression Analysis" led him to unconsciously receive all the micro-expression information within his line of sight.

And just a moment after class ended, the density of students in his view was a bit high, and the data load was overwhelming.

Moreover, it was all negative information.

Chonghui immediately understood, the emotional state of senior high students, those who know, know.

He even empathized a bit with Nan Zhubin.

"Let me give a rather inappropriate example." Chonghui pondered, "Does it feel like a clean-freak in a pile of garbage?"

Nan Zhubin frowned, "That’s a bit too inappropriate."

"How about an OCD patient thrown into a room with mismatched wallpaper patterns, crooked door frames, misaligned tile gaps, and a constantly dripping faucet sound?"

Nan Zhubin blinked, "Closer."

Just thinking about it is creepy, fortunately, his "Micro-expression Analysis" is considered an active skill.

"Being able to visually identify negative emotions, sense the oppressive atmosphere, yet unable to intervene due to ability, position, and other issues, thus turning intolerable and affecting your own state—am I right?"

This time Nan Zhubin nodded, "More or less."

Chonghui sighed, "Generally speaking, this situation happens to beginners; I didn’t expect you haven’t been ’desensitized’ yet— is it because your observation ability is too strong, so you can’t ignore it? Hasn’t your former mentor... or sister Pingting discussed this problem with you?"

He had been "desensitized" before, but now he might have become sensitive again due to a recent skill upgrade.

However, this was hard to discuss, so Nan Zhubin didn’t directly answer.

In the end, Nan Zhubin only said, "Maybe I’ve been too sensitive lately."

When adults discuss matters, it suffices to touch on the points.

Moreover, Chonghui and Nan Zhubin’s relationship hadn’t reached a deeply intimate level; seeing that Nan Zhubin had no intention to delve deeper into the topic, Chonghui merely nodded.

However, after some thought, he added, "A lot of times, as psychology students, we evaluate problems from a personal perspective, which often confines us to a limited viewpoint; if you want to understand the full picture of a region or a group, sometimes you need to resort to third parties."

Nan Zhubin looked at Chonghui.

"Like what we’re doing with this project. Collecting ’emotional expressions’ is correct, but where to set the threshold for abnormal emotions and when to send alerts still depends on the sample’s normative group."

"So——" Chonghui looked at Nan Zhubin, "Maybe you are indeed a bit sensitive, but taking this opportunity to learn more about this high school is not bad. I also hope you can quickly overcome your current emotions so as not to impede the progress of our project."

Nan Zhubin looked at the seasoned Chonghui, recognizing he was being consoled, and listened attentively.

"Of course, following that Vice Principal Ma won’t provide a comprehensive understanding of the school."

Chonghui said, "This may be tough, but— maybe you could try making a new friend in this school?"

...

Zhao Xinyu slowly walked past the sign of "Jiangdu First Middle School," wearily greeted the security guard, and parked her electric bike.

High school teachers could be said to be one of the hardest groups to assess age based on appearance alone.

Take Zhao Xinyu in front of us, for example.

She looked fairly delicate, but her skin was dark and haggard; with heavy dark circles, a bare face, it seemed she only did the most basic facial cleansing and skincare, before tying her hair up in a ponytail.

Her upper body wore a rather old-fashioned plain jacket, and her lower body sported plain-colored tracksuit pants with no stripes.

Besides that, she wore no earrings, necklaces, bracelets, or any other jewelry.

In summary, she presented herself with the aura of a woman in her thirtysomethings, dressed like someone in her forties.

"Teacher Xiao Zhao, arriving just now?" the security guard greeted Zhao Xinyu.

Judging from the address, she’s actually probably in her twenties.

"Morning, Master Liu." Zhao Xinyu forced a smile, politely responding, "Our subject doesn’t have many classes."

Even though she said that, the fatigue on her face didn’t reflect the feeling of being "idle."

Before Zhao Xinyu could catch her breath, a text message suddenly came through on her phone.

[Principal Ma: Xiao Zhao, please come to my office.]

"Not again..."

With a soft grumble in her heart, the young teacher’s face was full of reluctance. But her feet instinctively started climbing the stairs, eventually stopping at Vice Principal Ma’s door.

"Knock knock." She knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Vice Principal Ma had been waiting here. As soon as he saw Zhao Xinyu’s face, he cut straight to the point: "Xiao Zhao, have a seat. I have a new task to trouble you with."

Though he said "trouble," his tone left no room for refusal.

"Recently, two external teachers came to our school to conduct some kind of... psychological monitoring and identification system, requiring the cooperation of our school teachers."

"Could you help out?"