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

Chapter 356 Cramps [4000 words, two chapters combined]

"one two three four……"

Xu Pengcheng counted the lunch boxes stacked on the table.

He didn't just stuff the packaging full of food; the dishes in each lunchbox were different.

This kind of situation of bringing food to people must have happened many times. Xu Pengcheng even remembered everyone's preferences and tastes, and kept them in his heart.

As he counted, his body involuntarily reacted, and his stomach began to rumble like a drum.

"Seven, eight... Ah!"

Sudden.

Xu Pengcheng's expression turned pained.

His left leg began to twitch uncontrollably, and large beads of sweat kept streaming down his forehead, almost knocking over all the lunchboxes on the table.

He was the only student in the quiet cafeteria, and it took Xu Pengcheng quite a while to calm down.

Looking at the unharmed lunchbox on the table, I slowly breathed a sigh of relief.
-
Nan Zhuren walked down to the teaching building and took out his phone to check the time.

About ten minutes had passed since he and Chang Ming parted ways.

He rushed to the teaching building immediately, but did not go inside.

Chonghui is probably still inside, holding off Vice Principal Ma and the Dean of Students. Nan Zhuren still believes in his senior's abilities.

He will take over after Chonghui has exhausted all his methods.

"I hope Lao Chang can hurry up," Nan Zhuren sighed.

There are surveillance cameras in the gymnasium. As soon as Vice Principal Ma and his team arrive at the monitoring room, they will be able to find Chang Ming immediately and get straight to the point.

So they tried their best to keep each other occupied in the teaching building.

At this moment, the senior high school students, after tidying up their dormitories, began to make their way back one after another.

Their lunch break is their afternoon self-study session.

They used to walk in a hurry, but today they slowed down involuntarily because of the Nan Zhuren by the roadside.

"Hello teacher."

Occasionally, students from Class 1 of Senior Three would deliberately take a small detour to come over and greet Nan Zhuren.

"Hello."

Nan Zhuren responded with a smile and a nod.

Suddenly, a series of commotions came from the corridor ahead, breaking the tranquility of the school's afternoon self-study session.

"Principal Ma, yesterday I re-analyzed the overall emotional reactions of your school's middle school students, specifically..."

Nan Zhuren turned his head and, unsurprisingly, saw Vice Principal Ma, Chonghui, the Dean of Studies surnamed Li, and Teacher Zhao following at the back.

It seems that Chonghui is using the project's content to stall for time.

Judging from the impatient expression on Vice Principal Ma's face, this tactic is already starting to lose its effectiveness.

Fortunately-

"Hey, Zhu Ren!"

Upon seeing Nan Zhuren, Chonghui quickly waved to him.

Nan Zhuren has taken over.

……

Upon seeing Nan Zhuren, Vice Principal Ma, who had been rushing out, stopped and stood still, arms crossed, as if waiting for Nan Zhuren to come forward.

When Nan Zhuren and his group first arrived, Vice Principal Ma was quite polite.

This attitude is the result of various concerns.

Even the project initially given to Chonghui and his team was a product of the same factors.

However, Vice Principal Ma no longer has any concerns about Nan Zhuren and his group, or rather, there is little need for him to have any concerns.

At this moment, facing Nan Zhuren and the others, Vice Principal Ma's behavior had returned to the normal attitude of a vice principal of a key high school in a coastal provincial capital.

[A master's degree from Jiangnan University? It's not like there aren't master's degree holders at the university; maybe in a few years, Jiangnan University graduates will be applying for teaching positions there too!]

Vice Principal Ma, who had long been patient with Nan Zhuren and his group, adopted a questioning stance, intending to hear how Nan Zhuren and his group would explain the current situation.

And what was Nan Zhuren's reaction?

Step, step, step——

Unlike his hurried pace when he rushed over from the stadium, Nan Zhuren now strolled forward calmly and unhurriedly.

Vice Principal Ma's face grew even uglier. In the past, whenever he adopted this posture at school, everyone would immediately rush to him, or even jog, to be reprimanded.

Nan Zhuren's idea was to stall for time.

With his face and physique, he managed to make this short distance look like a model's catwalk. The students, who had initially lowered their heads and wanted to walk away quickly after seeing Vice Principal Ma appear, couldn't help but be drawn to him and stopped in their tracks.

"Principal Ma." Nan Zhuren nodded to the man at the front, then turned to the person behind him, "Director Li."

"Teacher Nan," Vice Principal Ma couldn't help but speak up, switching back to a more respectful form of address for Nan Zhuren, "Where is Director Chang?"

Nan Zhuren thought for a moment: "Which Director Chang?"

Pretending to be stupid in a serious manner.

Vice Principal Ma's face darkened even more: "Director Chang from the Health Commission? Which other Director Chang?!"

"Oh, that Director Chang."

Nan Zhuren nodded expressionlessly.

The trick of playing dumb is only needed once at the beginning. The core of this approach is "pull and pull". If you keep playing dumb, you may end up actually being dumb.

“Director Chang, I just ran into him.” Nan Zhuren spoke slowly and steadily. “We even spoke on the phone last night.”

Sure enough, upon hearing this, Vice Principal Ma, who had been somewhat agitated, involuntarily regained his patience.

"What did he say to you on the phone last night? No... you just ran into him, so where is he now?" Vice Principal Ma's speech became faster and faster, and the last few words almost stuck together.

Nan Zhuren looked the other person in the eye, his tone remaining calm and unhurried.

“He called me yesterday because of Li Mingchen’s situation. You know, he was our project liaison and followed Li Mingchen’s case from beginning to end. When I was doing the psychological assessment…”

The speech began with the creation of the world by Pangu and lasted for two minutes, without even getting to the point about what Chang Ming had said on the phone the night before.

Vice Principal Ma had been completely focused, but as Nan Zhuren continued speaking, his expression gradually became impatient again.

"Teacher Nan, Nan Zhuren!!" He suddenly raised his voice.

"Are you kidding me?!"

In stark contrast to Vice Principal Ma, Nan Zhuren maintained a calm expression.

"Of course I wasn't playing a trick on you." Nan Zhuren's tone was calm and even, his speech slow and steady. "Is there some misunderstanding between us?"

"Enough! You've been rambling on and on since the beginning!"

Looking at Nan Zhuren's distinct features, Vice Principal Ma found his face increasingly repulsive.

"Who do you think you are! I haven't treated you badly since you first came in, have I? I even gave you a project; I'm your client!"

Nan Zhuren's tone remained calm: "Strictly speaking, the principal is our client, and Principal Ma, you are the vice principal..."

Upon hearing this, Vice Principal Ma was completely enraged.

……

Nan Zhuren is just playing games with the vice principal.

This is Nan Zhuren's purpose.

Vice Principal Ma's temper was now completely ignited, and he began to unleash an undisguised reprimand on Nan Zhuren—that's a polite way of putting it; to put it bluntly, he was hurling insults. This was also Nan Zhuren's objective.

Using bland yet highly sarcastic language, he diverted Vice Principal Ma's attention to himself, shifting his focus away from Chang Ming.

Those who frequently get yelled at at work should know that when bosses are lashing out, they have no concept of time. A half-hour or even an hour-long meeting can be filled with nonsensical profanities and unwarranted emotional outbursts by a repressed leader.

Nan Zhuren guessed that Vice Principal Ma had forgotten what his original purpose was at this point.

As for getting a few scoldings—that's nothing.

Nan Zhuren even felt a secret sense of satisfaction: Look, this person fell into my trap so easily.

MVP awards aren't just about damage output. A great carry sometimes also needs to absorb damage.

As Vice Principal Ma became increasingly engrossed in his rant, even the students standing nearby couldn't help but show expressions of pity.

"Ring ring ring——"

Just as Nan Zhuren was silently counting down the time, Vice Principal Ma's cell phone suddenly rang.

After glancing at the caller ID, Vice Principal Ma, whose face had already turned red, suddenly changed his expression, finally demonstrating the emotional management qualities expected of a manager in the system.

"Hello? Director Zhou..."

Nan Zhuren frowned.

The atmosphere he had painstakingly created was shattered.

Sure enough, Vice Principal Ma's attention was forcibly drawn back the next second: "I haven't found Director Chang yet—"

Nan Zhuren took a step forward without making a sound. Perhaps because of his age, Vice Principal Ma's receiver was very loud, allowing Nan Zhuren to hear what the person on the other end was saying.

"How much time has passed, and you still haven't found Chang Ming?"

The voice was faint, even fainter than Nan Zhuren's; yet it was deep, deeper than the words Vice Principal Ma had spoken over several minutes.

"Little Ma, what are you doing?"

Vice Principal Ma, whose face had just calmed down from its flushed state, suddenly turned pale.

"Director Zhou, I'll be right there..." Vice Principal Ma immediately stopped paying attention to Nan Zhuren and walked past him towards the monitoring room.

"Report to me immediately if anything happens." The voice on the other end remained calm. It was the closing remark; the call was about to end.

……

"Zhu Ren!" Chong Hui suddenly called out from the side.

Before he knew it, he had walked very close to Vice Principal Ma.

Just as Vice Principal Di Ma was about to leave, Chong Hui suddenly raised his voice and clearly called out Nan Zhuren's name as his first words.

He appeared to be calling out to Nan Zhuren, but in reality, he wanted to let others know that Nan Zhuren was present.

He didn't know why he did it; it might just be an experiment, or perhaps a sudden inspiration.

Vice Principal Ma suddenly stopped in his tracks.

It wasn't because of what Chonghui said, nor because he was startled by Chonghui's sudden shout, but because Zhou Chu's puzzled voice came through the receiver.

"...Nan Zhuren, is that Nan Zhuren next to you?"

"Yes, Zhou Chu..."

The voice on the other end of the line thought for a moment: "...Give him the phone."

Vice Principal Ma wore an incredulous expression, completely unable to guess the intention behind the superior's order.

Chonghui narrowed his eyes.

Nan Zhuren glanced at Chonghui, then took the phone, somewhat puzzled, and asked, "Hello? Is this Director Zhou?"

"Nan Zhuren, is that Teacher Nan?"

Upon hearing this title, Little Horse blinked.

"Well, I am."

"I also graduated from Jiangda University. You're my junior, so I'll call you Xiao Nan."

Little Ma blinked again, showing no relief at the fact that their titles had been restored to equal status.

Because the sound coming from the microphone now seemed much softer than before.

Vice Principal Ma had just been giving Nan Zhuren a long lecture.

"Your lecture at Jiang University caused quite a stir." The voice on the other end sounded somewhat melancholy. "Recently, many of my 'colleagues' have been talking about it, and I've also watched your video."

I suspect they're not just colleagues.

"We even had a small meeting about this, and we're planning to organize some training sessions soon. We're also thinking of consulting with you, the person involved." This statement is likely just a polite way of putting it.

"When Xiao Chang told me that you were working on this project, I was quite surprised. I never expected to be connected with you by such an unexpected turn of events. I originally planned to contact you after the project was completed and ask you to come and give our colleagues a professional lesson, since our work is related."

"I heard that Director Xia personally handled your teacher's case? How is it going?" This question sounded like concern.

Nan Zhuren roughly understood the situation at the scene.

Vice Principal Ma suddenly felt his hands and feet were a little stiff.

Nan Zhuren glanced at him, about to say something.

Suddenly, I glanced to the side and saw a figure in the second-floor hallway.

It's Xu Pengcheng.

The teaching building has more than one entrance, so Nan Zhuren didn't see the other person until now. He only caught sight of this conspicuous figure now.

Yes, it's conspicuous.

The tall student walked unsteadily and with a limp, as if he couldn't muster any strength in his left leg.

He was carrying two huge plastic bags in his hands, which contained not only takeout meals from the cafeteria but also a lot of snacks he had bought from the convenience store.

He appeared even more unsteady and more...struggling.

[Rapid breathing, but shallow panting... This isn't panting from exhaustion.]

[The gaze is unfocused, the eyes cannot concentrate, and the pupils are slightly dilated.]

[A slight tremor in the jaw, a slight furrowing of the brow.]

[My left leg is trembling. Is it injured? No... it looks more like a cramp!]

Thanks to his enhanced vision through micro-expression analysis, Nan Zhuren was able to clearly see Xu Pengcheng's expression and body language even from a distance.

Then, his pupils suddenly contracted.

The next second, he threw his phone aside and rushed upstairs.

"Xiao Nan, I... um? Xiao Nan?"

Vice Principal Ma hurriedly took the phone, unaware of what had happened.

Chonghui glanced at Nan Zhuren and followed his gaze to the stairwell.

He was once again struck by inspiration.

Chonghui snatched Vice Principal Ma's phone, turned on speakerphone, and rushed upstairs.

"Zhou Chu? I'm Chonghui. I don't know if you've heard of me before. I'm from Beidu..."

To prevent the other party from hanging up due to confusion, Chonghui gave a brief self-introduction to attract attention.

"what?"

Before the person on the other end of the phone could react...

A scream suddenly came from the teaching building!

(End of this chapter)