Who would study psychology unless they had some issues?!-Chapter 362 - 359: Rhetoric

The moment the door opened, Vice Principal Ma’s expression was extremely fierce.

From Nan Zhubin’s perspective, he could see: when Vice Principal Ma’s gaze entered the consultation room, it first locked onto the three students Lin Junkai and others, then Teacher Xiao Zhao.

Finally, it was Nan Zhubin and Chonghui standing at the door.

[Upper eyelid relaxed, but lower eyelid tense.]

[Eyebrows formed an "inverted V" furrow.]

[Pupils slightly dilated, lips pressed into a straight line.]

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

[Adam’s apple distinctly moved up and down, nostrils flared——Good, held it in.]

"Mr. Nan is here too." After making a subtle deep breathing gesture, Vice Principal Ma said slowly.

Just a few hours apart, Vice Principal Ma’s attitude towards Nan Zhubin had undergone a drastic change.

But obviously, there was still a conflict between this "new attitude" and "old attitude," and Vice Principal Ma hadn’t sorted out this conflict in his mind yet.

Therefore, at this moment, what Vice Principal Ma showed to Nan Zhubin was an extremely contradictory, conflicted expression, twisted to the point of being almost comically distorted.

It was a bit like the boss in the game Yu-Gi-Oh [Pot of Greed], and Nan Zhubin didn’t expect that someone in the real world could actually make such an expression.

At the same time, Nan Zhubin suddenly knew what the most important thing for him to do tonight was.

[To escort Teacher Xiao Zhao and the students, who needed to handle important business.]

Having thought of this, Nan Zhubin gently tugged at the corner of his mouth, responding:

"Yes, I didn’t expect you to come as well, Principal Ma."

From the emotion shift and gaze movement shown by the other party just now, it was clear that this Vice Principal had come specifically for the three students and Teacher Xiao Zhao.

The fierce [aggressive] intent was quite apparent.

The reason was not hard to guess.

After the unexpected incident during the day, Vice Principal Ma’s nerves had probably been stretched to the limit.

Nan Zhubin could roughly guess what Vice Principal Ma had experienced that afternoon when he was not around.

In such a situation, three students "significantly related to the unexpected incident" suddenly ran over to gather with a "not very well-behaved" psychology teacher in the school, which was really too sensitive.

Not to mention the presence of Nan Zhubin, who just by his existence, was a hint of anomaly.

And after seeing Nan Zhubin, Vice Principal Ma strengthened his emotional [suppression], associating it with certain things that happened during the day.

The reason wasn’t hard to guess either.

Just as Vice Principal Ma was about to say something, Nan Zhubin skillfully interrupted first:

"Did Principal Ma come to see me? I also have some matters to discuss with you."

Then he turned around, seemingly asking: "Just as I finished here, why don’t we let the students go back first, so they won’t miss their evening self-study."

What were you all discussing just now?

How could it be over?

Vice Principal Ma swallowed rapidly, forcing out a smile after a while: "Alright..."

Teacher Xiao Zhao quietly followed the students out.

Neither the students nor she were actually going to "evening self-study," of course, unbeknownst to Vice Principal Ma.

...

Only Nan Zhubin, Vice Principal Ma, and Chonghui were left in the consultation room.

Chonghui remained silent for the time being.

Vice Principal Ma said, "What does Mr. Nan want to discuss with me?"

If there was any serious issue that needed "discussion," Nan Zhubin truly didn’t have one.

But, if the subject were Vice Principal Ma, then now Nan Zhubin indeed had a lot to say. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

Nan Zhubin thought for a moment: "What does Principal Ma think?"

An opening move of banter, testing Vice Principal Ma’s condition, while also weakening his composure.

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

The middle-aged man, who was getting chubby, patted his belly, merely stretching his face into a semblance of a smile.

Then, he responded in what appeared to be quite a "mature" manner——

Vice Principal Ma sighed and made a troubled expression: "I did speak a little harsh during the day, after all, too many things have been happening recently. Perhaps you don’t know, Mr. Nan, apart from the student affairs in school management—such as Li Mingchen under your care—there are too many other tasks. All these tasks mixed together, they can affect people."

In the first sentence, instead of saying "I have a lot of work," he said, "There’s a lot of work in school management." By moving away from the first-person narrative, it reduces emotional involvement, making it possible to effectively weaken reactions like blushing or palpitations even when lying.

At the same time, focusing on "being emotionally disturbed by work" rather than "I have emotional issues with you," even if Nan Zhubin wants to criticize, the recipient changes, effectively shifting the blame.

"Then I also had some misunderstandings with you, Mr. Nan, so some words said in the morning were poorly thought out."

Providing what seems like a [justification as] "apology" after explaining the reasoning.

Yet, there’s no substantial terminology like "sorry" or "apologize" within, which smooths out the other party’s emotions while maintaining his own dignity.

"Speaking of, I haven’t even thanked you, Mr. Nan, for saving Xu Pengcheng, doing our school a great favor!"

The last sentence complimented Nan Zhubin. Using a nonchalant gratitude to make up for the lack of substantial "apology" in the second sentence, comforting and elevating the other’s emotions from another angle.

This shifting and cushioning was quite skillful.

In essence, every middle-aged person over forty, as long as they’re not struggling at the bottom, has more or less grasped some psychological tactics.

Every middle-aged person is a biased psychological expert.

Switched with a generally experienced young person in their twenties or thirties, even if they held the moral ground originally, it’s likely that they would be embarrassed to vent anger at Vice Principal Ma now.

At the same time, the pace of conversation would completely fall into Vice Principal Ma’s hands.

Nan Zhubin estimated that Vice Principal Ma typically used this sequence of combos to righteously hold his ground facing subordinates, even when he himself was at fault.

Luckily, the person standing in front of Vice Principal Ma now was Nan Zhubin.

...

Speaking of which, this was Vice Principal Ma’s first similar [Confrontation] with a fully-fledged Nan Zhubin.

——Previously, it was either daily polite exchanges, or Nan Zhubin intentionally played weak to buy time with purpose.

Vice Principal Ma did not know the outcomes other people faced before when going up against a fully armed Nan Zhubin.

He only inexplicably felt that the way Nan Zhubin looked at him now was exactly like how he looked at certain self-assumed smart young teachers.

While facing Vice Principal Ma’s skilled rhetoric, Nan Zhubin merely said indifferently: "I won’t respond to this section of your speech, as it only serves as an introduction, intrinsicly unimportant."

Nan Zhubin made a "please go ahead" gesture.

"What’s the real point you want to convey, Principal Ma?"

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