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

Chapter 363 Rhetoric
The moment the door opened, Vice Principal Ma's expression was extremely fierce.

From Nan Zhuren's perspective, when Vice Principal Ma's gaze fell into the consultation room, he immediately locked onto three students, including Lin Junkai, and then Teacher Zhao.

Finally, Nan Zhuren and Chonghui stood at the door.

The upper eyelid is relaxed, but the lower eyelid is taut.

The eyebrows form an inverted V-shaped frown line.

The pupils are slightly dilated, and the lips are pressed tightly together in a straight line.

[—A suppressed aggressive posture, and the suppression is continuously increasing.]

[The Adam's apple moved noticeably up and down, and the nostrils widened—okay, I managed to hold back.]

"Teacher Nan is here too." After making a subtle deep breath, Vice Principal Ma said slowly.

Just a few hours later, Vice Principal Ma's attitude towards Nan Zhuren changed drastically.

However, it is clear that there is still a conflict between this "new attitude" and the "old attitude," and Vice Principal Ma has not yet figured out this conflict in his mind.

Therefore, at this moment, Vice Principal Ma showed Nan Zhuren an extremely contradictory, conflicted, and even ugly and distorted expression that was almost comical.

It's a bit like the boss's Yu-Gi-Oh! "Pot of Greed." Nan Zhuren never expected that a real person could actually make such an expression.

At the same time, Nan Zhuren suddenly realized what was the most important thing for him to do that night.

[To ensure the safety and well-being of Teacher Zhao and his students as they go off to do their important work.]

With this thought in mind, Nan Zhuren gently tugged at the corner of her mouth in response:

"Yes, I didn't expect you to come, Principal Ma."

Judging from the change in the other party's emotions and the movement of his gaze, this vice principal was clearly there for the three students and Teacher Zhao.

That fierce [aggression] was quite clearly directed.

The reason is not hard to guess.

After the unexpected events during the day, Vice Principal Ma's nerves must have been stretched to their limit.

Nan Zhuren could roughly guess what Vice Principal Ma had gone through that afternoon while he was away.

In this situation, it's highly suspicious that three students "significantly related to the unexpected event" suddenly came to meet with a "not very well-behaved" school counselor.

Not to mention Nan Zhuren, who is obviously not right here.

After meeting Nan Zhuren, Vice Principal Ma strengthened his emotional control, recalling certain events that had occurred during the day.

The reason is easy to guess.

Just as Vice Principal Ma was about to say something, Nan Zhuren skillfully interrupted him:
"Did Principal Ma come to see me? I also have some things I'd like to discuss with you."

He then turned around, seemingly asking, "I've just finished here, so why don't you let the students go home first, so as not to delay their evening self-study?"

What were you all discussing just now?

Why did it end?

Vice Principal Ma swallowed rapidly, and after a long pause, forced a smile: "Okay..."

Teacher Zhao secretly followed the students out.

Neither the students nor she were going to "evening self-study," so of course Vice Principal Ma was unaware of that.

……

Only Nan Zhuren, Vice Principal Ma, and Chonghui remained in the consultation room. Chonghui remained silent for the time being.

Vice Principal Ma asked, "What does Teacher Nan want to discuss with me?"

If there were any serious issues that needed to be "discussed," Nan Zhuren really didn't have any.

However, if the person being addressed is Vice Principal Ma, Nan Zhuren does indeed have a lot to say right now.

Nan Zhuren thought for a moment: "What do you think, Principal Ma?"

A playful opening, while testing Vice Principal Ma's state of mind, also undermined his rationality.

Vice Principal Ma's face twitched: "Ah... I understand, is Teacher Nan still concerned about what happened during the day?"

The overweight middle-aged man patted his belly, managing to force a smile simply by stretching his face.

Then, he responded in a rather "mature" manner—

Vice Principal Ma sighed and made a troubled expression: "I was a bit harsh during the day, after all, too many things have happened recently. Teacher Nan, you may not know, but in terms of school management, besides student affairs—like Li Mingchen, whom you are handling—there are so many other things. These things mixed together can really affect a person."

The first sentence should not say "I have a lot of work," but rather "I have a lot of work in school administration." Moving the narrative away from first-person narration reduces emotional involvement; even when lying, this effectively minimizes reactions like blushing and a racing heart.

At the same time, the focus is on "being emotionally disturbed by work" rather than "I have feelings towards you". Even if Nan Zhuren wants to condemn, the subject of the condemnation has changed, which can be regarded as a round of scapegoating.

"Then I also had some misunderstandings about you, Teacher Nan, so some of my words this morning were not well thought out."

After stating the reasons, add a seemingly "apology" explanation.

However, it doesn't contain any actual words like "sorry" or "apology." This allows the speaker to appease the other person while maintaining their own dignity.

"Speaking of which, I haven't thanked Teacher Nan yet for saving Xu Pengcheng. He did our school a huge favor!"

The last sentence subtly flattered Nan Zhuren. It used a perfunctory thank you to compensate for the lack of a substantial apology in the second sentence, thus soothing and elevating the other party's emotions from a different angle.

He was quite skilled at both eliminating and attacking.

Therefore, in fact, every middle-aged person in their forties, unless they are still struggling at the bottom, has learned some psychological skills through trial and error.

Every middle-aged person is psychologically unbalanced in some areas.

If it were an average young person in their twenties or thirties, even if they were in the right before, they probably wouldn't be able to lash out at Vice Principal Ma now.

At the same time, the pace of the conversation will be completely in the hands of Vice Principal Ma.

Nan Zhuren guessed that Vice Principal Ma usually used this combo to make himself appear reasonable in front of his subordinates even when he was in the wrong.

Fortunately, the person standing in front of Vice Principal Ma now is Nan Zhuren.

……

This was, in fact, the first time Vice Principal Ma had a face-to-face conversation with Nan Zhuren, who was going all out, that resembled a confrontation.

Previously, it was either routine polite conversation or Nan Zhuren deliberately feigning weakness to stall for time.

Vice Principal Ma didn't know what had happened to others when they faced Nan Zhuren at full power in the past.

He just inexplicably felt that the way Nan Zhuren was looking at him now was exactly the same as how he looked at some self-righteous young teachers.

Faced with Vice Principal Ma's practiced rhetoric, Nan Zhuren simply said, "I won't react to your words, because they're just a prelude; they're not important in themselves."

Nan Zhuren made a "please" gesture.

"What is it that you really want to say, Principal Ma?"

(End of this chapter)