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

Chapter 338 [Body Map]

"Click."

As the wheelchair brakes were released, Li Mingchen picked up his crutches to prop himself up and knocked lightly twice on the door of the consultation room in front of him.

"Dong dong."

The door to the consultation room opened, and Ms. Zhao, seeing Li Mingchen's arrival, felt a great weight lifted from her shoulders and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"They're here—and Jun Kai is here too."

"Hello, teacher." Lin Junkai turned his wheelchair around and stopped at the door, greeting Teacher Zhao politely.

Li Mingchen has difficulty moving around, so he naturally can't come to the consultation room to find Nan Zhuren by himself and needs someone's help.

In the entire Senior 3 (1) class, only Lin Junkai knew Li Mingchen, so it can be said that they had the best relationship.

So the task of "helping" fell to Lin Junkai.

Upon entering the consultation room, Lin Junkai immediately asked, "Teacher, may I use your desk?"

As he spoke, he pulled out a test paper folded into a palm-sized square from his pocket, which was none other than the "Self-Test Paper (Seventeen)" that had just been distributed to the class.

Yes, Lin Junkai also brought this test paper to the consultation room.

Moreover, judging from his demeanor, he intends to make the most of the time Li Mingchen spends consulting with him, and use every minute to practice his questions.

Teacher Zhao was not surprised by this situation and immediately nodded in agreement. Li Mingchen also tried to persuade his partner to take this opportunity to rest.

In his eyes, this kind of behavior, such as "accompanying a classmate to the doctor in order to get a chance to skip class," is perfectly normal.

"No, what if similar questions appear in the college entrance exam?" Lin Junkai refused with a serious expression.

Li Mingchen looked puzzled: "We didn't lose the test paper. Won't the teacher go over it in class later?"

Lin Junkai simply shook his head: "When teachers go over the test, they only pick out the difficult questions or the ones that everyone got wrong. What if the ones they don't cover happen to be the ones I don't know?"

"If I don't do practice questions, I won't know if I'll make a mistake, and naturally I won't be able to correct it. If I encounter a similar question in the college entrance exam, I'll just lose points for nothing."

Li Mingchen was somewhat at a loss after hearing this, but the logic was impeccable. He had thought he had helped his good brother escape a troublesome situation, but he never expected that he would now become his brother's trouble.

Fortunately, Teacher Zhao spoke up in time.

"The environment here might be quieter than in the classroom, making it more efficient to do practice tests." This was her way of defusing the situation. Then she turned to Li Mingchen, "Teacher Nan is in that room."

Following the direction pointed out by Teacher Zhao, Li Mingchen opened the door to the consultation room.

……

click-

Boom, boom.

Something was hitting the ground irregularly, accompanied by a slight creaking sound, like the strange noise of rusty metal rubbing against each other.

Seeing Li Mingchen struggling to move with the help of crutches, Nan Zhuren quickly got up and went forward to help him.

"It's okay, teacher, I can..."

So Nan Zhuren stopped approaching, watched as Li Mingchen awkwardly moved himself to the single sofa, and then sat down with Li Mingchen.

He observed and watched the other person throughout the process.

Although Li Mingchen appeared taller and more robust when standing up compared to when he was lying in bed, his skin, which had been loose and wrinkled due to the rapid weight loss, looked somewhat out of place.

And it's not very healthy.

At the same time, his thin body still had some swelling, making him look even more visually unbalanced.

[The inner corners of the eyebrows rise while the outer corners fall, creating a "twisted eyebrow."] [The corners of the mouth are pulled down, and the lips are pursed.]

[Is it a mixture of [loss] and [anger]?]

Nan Zhuren thought for a moment and started the conversation by talking about what she had observed:
“We just met in the classroom, but you seem much more disappointed now than you were then?”

Upon hearing this, Li Mingchen adjusted his posture, appearing somewhat uncomfortable.

"Uh...it's alright. It's just that my classmate helped me bring it over, since you can tell, Teacher Nan, that I can't run that far on my own right now."

He recounted what had just happened outside, about Lin Junkai's insistence on doing practice tests in the consultation room.

"I originally thought this was a good thing, since the atmosphere in the class was too oppressive, and then the good evening study time turned into an exam."

"I originally planned to bring my brothers out here to catch our breath and rest, but who knew..."

Nan Zhuren maintained her smile and refrained from offering any hasty judgment.

Then they heard Li Mingchen lower his voice and say, "I think... he's a little... obsessed? Hahahaha..."

"Maybe it's because I'm definitely going to repeat a year this year and don't have to take the college entrance exam, so I can't really understand him, hahaha." After complaining in the previous sentence, Li Mingchen quickly added.

Nan Zhuren's gaze swept over Li Mingchen, taking in the contradictory aspects of his physique.

If we're talking about being "obsessed," you two are actually about the same, classmate.

The only difference is in the way they are presented.

However, the narrative that Nan Zhuren led Li Mingchen to bring the counselor and the client closer through the "cricket person" approach, besides...

Nan Zhuren also noticed a significant change in Li Mingchen – a sense of relaxation.

Compared to their last meeting, Li Mingchen seemed much more relaxed, both physically and mentally.

The issue of anxiety has been weakened to the point that it is almost invisible.

However, his anorexia problem remains unresolved, as evidenced by his physical appearance. Why is that?

Nan Zhuren's intuition told him that the answer to this question was likely related to "the difference between Li Mingchen and Xu Pengcheng".

Once you figure out the answer to this question, everything will fall into place.

Nan Zhuren straightened her posture, preparing to formally begin today's consultation.

……

Although they had already had a short conversation to bring them closer.

But Nan Zhuren knew that Li Mingchen still had a considerable degree of defensiveness regarding the content of today's conversation.

This defense is not only directed at the consultation itself, but it will certainly also be present in their subsequent conversations.

In response to this situation, Nan Zhuren had already prepared a consultation plan before the consultation began today.

He doesn't intend to start with "talk therapy" and go through a process of arousing [defense] and then bypassing it.

He plans to go straight to the techniques.

Nan Zhuren pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Li Mingchen, saying, "Although this is our first consultation today, we've talked once before."

Li Mingchen nodded and took the paper Nan Zhuren handed him. It was completely blank, just like Li Mingchen's mind at that moment.

Nan Zhuren then handed over a pen: "Through that conversation, I have a general understanding of your thoughts. Now, I want to know more about your 'body'."

Nan Zhuren said, "Let's draw a [body map] first."

(End of this chapter)