Who would study psychology unless they had some issues?!
Chapter 339 - 337: Guilty of one’s actions, yet having no choice but to act

Chapter 339: Chapter 337: Guilty of one’s actions, yet having no choice but to act

That was a physique that absolutely occupied a high ecological niche in the aesthetics of sports students, and Li Mingchen found it hard to dismiss it.

"That person is my senior," Nan Zhubin said with a smile, "A while ago, I consulted my senior, and according to him, normal, healthy fat loss requires strict calculations. It has to be based on an individual’s weight, age, and basal metabolic rate to set an appropriate caloric deficit, and there’s a very strict formula for it."

"And once the energy intake over a long period exceeds the lower limit of the formula’s calculation, it can cause muscle loss, malnutrition, hormonal imbalance, and so on..."

Nan Zhubin’s speech suddenly paused.

He intently watched Li Mingchen’s suddenly appeared micro expressions.

[A brief tightening of the lower lip.]

[Eyes rapidly shifting to one side.]

[Is this... an agreement? And a concealed agreement at that?]

Li Mingchen agreeing with what he’s saying now?

"You knew this a long time ago," Nan Zhubin’s tone was assertive, yet inevitably a bit surprised.

Nan Zhubin squinted his eyes and began to recall Li Mingchen’s previous words: "You know this, you know you’re over-dieting, you know you’re damaging your health. But you still think this behavior is ’necessary’?"

[A sudden decrease in blinking.]

[Eyebrows briefly raise then recover.]

[Also an agreement.]

Agreeing that dieting harms the body but also agreeing that it is "necessary"?

Nan Zhubin’s pupils suddenly dilated, his thoughts collided in his mind, and Li Mingchen’s previous behaviors started to rearrange and combine in his mind, forming a complete cognitive map.

Not only did Li Mingchen appear in Nan Zhubin’s mind. Xu Pengcheng, Lin Junkai, and other sports students who had spoken with Nan Zhubin, as well as their coach, Vice Principal Ma, also appeared in his thoughts at that moment.

Nan Zhubin remained silent for a moment, casting one last glance at Li Mingchen’s expression, making a final judgment.

"Why would that be? You think dieting is bad, yet you see it as necessary?"

"Is it for the physical test? If it was before, it might make sense, but now that you’ve confirmed you’ll take the college entrance exam next year, and you’re in the recovery period for your injury, dieting offers you no benefits."

"So—why is that?"

This was a series of questions, but Nan Zhubin didn’t intend for Li Mingchen to answer.

The powerful micro-expression analysis ability allowed Nan Zhubin to multitask, as he carefully observed Li Mingchen’s series of micro expressions after hearing his questions.

There was memory, disgust, and confusion.

And most importantly—

[The inner corner of the eyebrow raised—a sad frown.]

[Brief eye closure and deep breath—to suppress emotional outburst.]

[Cheek muscles clenching as the inner oral wall is abraded—biting the inside of his lip or even his tongue.]

[In self-punishment.]

The final chain of key emotions emerged from this—shame, pain, self-hatred.

Nan Zhubin remained indifferent.

By this point, all the information was understood.

...

Nan Zhubin’s gaze softened.

"Mr. Nan... I..."

Li Mingchen still wanted to say something, but hesitated, unable to speak.

Nan Zhubin waited for two breaths, then raised his hand to signal to Li Mingchen.

"A very important goal in our consultation today is to explore the causes behind your issues. If possible, it’s best to know the real reasons."

"I think I already know now."

Li Mingchen looked up sharply.

Nan Zhubin smiled: "At this stage, making you speak out is indeed a bit difficult for you. So the teacher wants to boldly guess based on what he just observed, and you only have to listen."

"You don’t need to correct or make any comments."

Because your expression will tell me.

Li Mingchen’s expression was somewhat blank, seemingly not quite understanding what Nan Zhubin meant.

If it’s speculation, why not let him correct it?

Could it be that the teacher before him is someone with a strong desire for reasoning?

"When I first came to the school, I saw the scene of your usual training. At the time, two people were holding a baton, driving a buzz-cut tall guy to run laps—in my outsider’s eyes, the immediate emotion that arose was disgust."

"Your vice principal told me that it was advanced students leading the backward ones to make rapid progress."

Nan Zhubin’s words made Li Mingchen’s breathing quicken. He looked up but didn’t dare make eye contact with Nan Zhubin.

"Before consulting with you, my senior and I started a project related to emotion induction at your school, talking to many people in the school."

"Including that big buzz-cut student, I found out his name is Xu Pengcheng. I also found out that all his teammates had ’urged’ him to train in the same way."

"This includes Lin Junkai who just brought you over and you."

Li Mingchen lowered his head again, as if trying to hide his expression.

"However, later I talked to Lin Junkai, he, like you and Xu Pengcheng, believes that such training methods are necessary. But during the consultation, he displayed an emotion—self-blame."

Nan Zhubin brought the topic back.

He looked at Li Mingchen: "This self-blame is present in you too, but to a deeper, more intense degree, and it harbors aggression towards yourself."

"So..." Nan Zhubin took a deep breath and said slowly: "You actually know your behavior towards Xu Pengcheng has exceeded ’encouragement’, ’helping’ limits, contains harm, and may even be subject to moral judgment."

"So you punish yourself with ’dieting’, right?"

"When I asked you to paint your arm blue earlier, you rejected it, feeling that you didn’t deserve such a top-level strength. You know dieting will reduce your strength, but you don’t see that as an issue."

"When you recall the time you fell from the building, there is pain, but this pain alternates with a sense of ’relief’. At first, I thought it was due to academic pressure, but now it seems you are happy to be free from a moral dilemma, resulting in relaxation."

"Your anxiety has almost disappeared now because you know you no longer have to excessively ’urge’ classmates. But you cannot reconcile with your past actions, so you’re still over-dieting, still punishing yourself."

"But—here’s a problem."

Nan Zhubin looked at Li Mingchen, matching the student’s shocked expression.

"All of you participated in excessive behavior towards Xu Pengcheng, aware of its excessiveness, but you couldn’t control it."

"You all hadn’t stopped because you couldn’t; this indicates your behavior was compelled."

"You couldn’t resist because the cost of resistance was too high, indicating the person pressuring you has control over something that can significantly affect you."

"You couldn’t even avoid it—or rather, couldn’t routinely avoid it, which is why you chose the conveniently appearing excuse of ’dieting’ to punish yourself, accidentally withdrawing from the process."

Nan Zhubin concluded his reasoning at this point.

He threw a question back to Li Mingchen, his eyes filled with encouragement.

"The thing that heavily influences you, I guess, is the college entrance exam, and this is also something you cannot avoid."

"So—where did the pressure come from? Can you tell me?"