Who would study psychology if they didn't have some kind of problem?

Chapter 109 The truth of the past

It was just a single word: "yes".

Huang Xin spoke it as if it had taken all his strength.

At the same time, this word also disarmed him completely.

"...That's right, Zhu Ren, you're the scapegoat."

Nan Zhuren paused, looking at Huang Xin's expression.

“Chen Jie,” Nan Zhuren suddenly uttered a name.

Upon hearing this name, Nan Zhuren felt something churning within her body, requiring emotional readjustment to calm down again.

Huang Xin looked up in surprise, unable to believe that Nan Zhuren would actually say that name.

……

This name is the same as the name of the depressed client who committed suicide because of Nan Zhuren's "misassessment" in the failed case he handled at Jiangda University.

This level of counseling incident could easily lead to PTSD in most counselors, and could even generalize into a fear of "psychological counseling," "people with the surname Chen," or even "all young women." It could ruin their careers, or even cause them lifelong distress.

Not to mention that Nan Zhuren was expelled from school after experiencing such a major change.

While others experience a series of seemingly mundane events that escalate into destructive ones, Nan Zhuren's case is a cascade of destructive events. Even within Lin Lilin's long career, visitors of this caliber are few and far between.

They had never even seen graduate students like Huang Xin before.

Therefore, within Huang Xin's research group, the prevailing opinion was that "Nan Zhuren has been completely defeated by psychological trauma and is utterly ruined."

That's why they were extremely surprised and terrified when they saw Nan Zhuren return to the school as a psychological counselor to give a speech.

Or, they encountered a mentally ill patient who was pretending to be normal.

Alternatively, they might be encountering a super-psychotic whose values ​​and mindset are vastly different from those of a normal person.

What happened next confirmed Huang Xin's guess.

Nan Zhuren's behavior pattern has deviated far from the standards of a normal psychological counselor, or even a normal member of society.

……

"Chen Jie." In front of Huang Xin, Nan Zhuren emphasized this name once again.

This was a name that should have traumatized Nan Zhuren, but Huang Xin was far more terrified than Nan Zhuren when he heard it.

"What issues in this case were I unaware of back then?"

Huang Xin remained silent. He took a deep breath to calm himself down, not to hide anything, but to make his narration as smooth as possible.

“I don’t know as much about the case file as you do. After all, you are her counselor, and I am not.”

Huang Xin glanced at Nan Zhuren's reaction, but the other person remained expressionless.

"But I know a little about things outside of consulting."

Nan Zhuren's eyes were fixed on every detail of Huang Xin's face: "Speak."

"In fact, I only found out about this after you left. Because your departure created a gap in the resources that originally belonged to you, and the teacher couldn't find anyone to help him for a while, I was put in charge, which gave me the opportunity to find out more." Huang Xin gave himself a boost.

“You know, the teacher has a psychology clinic outside, but he never lets us go there; even for internships, he mostly uses his connections to arrange for us to intern at other counseling centers, rather than at his own clinic.” Nan Zhuren searched his memory and nodded in agreement.

Huang Xin recalled: "Because the clientele of my teacher's clinic is very high-end, the requirements for consultants are also high. When I was a first-year graduate student, I asked my teacher if I could work with him, and he told me not to think about this question before I turned thirty."

The senior brother gave a wry smile: "But you are different, Nan Zhuren, you are different, you are exceptionally talented."

"It seems that the teacher had long intended to train you to work in his clinic. At that time, he planned to have you intern at his clinic, and the client you were asked to work with independently was an 'interview'."

Nan Zhuren interrupted Huang Xin's rambling recollection with a noncommittal tone: "It seems that the focus of our discussion was the 'problem' of that case."

Huang Xin pursed his lips, seemingly making a huge decision in his mind.

But he finally said it: "After you left, the resources you had were given to me, including some of the work the teacher had originally planned to give you regarding his private clinic."

"Among them is information about the transfer of several of his clients. According to the records above, several clients of the teacher's private clinic had improved and were therefore transferred to counseling centers of a lower level; however, most of these clients deteriorated again in a short period of time after receiving external intervention and had to be transferred back to the teacher's private clinic—with only a few exceptions."

Huang Xin said sincerely, "I'm sorry, Zhu Ren, but your case back then, Chen Jie, doesn't seem to be one of those 'exceptions'."

"By the way. It seems that the doctor's clinic only started experimenting with transferring a large number of clients to other consultation rooms after what happened to you; in other words, you revealed 'a certain risk' to the doctor—a risk that the situation would worsen after the clients left the clinic!"

Nan Zhuren leaned back on the sofa, letting the soft backrest envelop her body.

He felt he had grasped something.

After taking two deep breaths, he pressed on, "So what exactly caused all of this?"

"I don't know," Huang Xin shook his head. "I really don't know. The teacher originally didn't plan to let me get involved in his clinic's work. It was only because of your departure that I had this opportunity. I'm not capable of getting involved that deeply. Even the documents I handled didn't have headers or watermarks. I don't even know the name of the clinic. I didn't dare to ask too many questions."

Nan Zhuren observed Huang Xin's facial expression, hoping that the other party was lying.

Unfortunately, he was disappointed. The other person's expression when saying every word perfectly matched the baseline of "telling the truth" that he had previously established.

"Is the new client I recently saw, who has depression, also from your private clinic?"

"Correct."

Nan Zhuren lowered his head.

Recalling what Huang Xin just said, "However, most of these patients would deteriorate in a very short time after receiving external intervention and would have to return to the teacher's private clinic."

The suspicions in my mind were beginning to take shape.

Suddenly, Nan Zhuren caught something out of the corner of his eye.

He saw Huang Xin's reaction.

She looked away, avoiding my gaze.

Swallowing is a way of trying to stop oneself from saying something.

If the other party reacts this way when questioned by Nan Zhuren, it means that the other party intends to lie.

If the other party reacts this way without Nan Zhuren asking any questions, then that means—

"What crucial information are you still hiding!"

Nan Zhuren suddenly raised his voice: "What is it?!"

(End of this chapter)