Who would study psychology unless they had some issues?!

Faced with Senior Brother Xingyun's rather unfriendly gaze, Nan Zhubin seemed oblivious.

He merely pointed at the stack of books on the other's desk, specifically towards the book propped on the outermost with its pages most dog-eared, and said, "Senior Brother, are you also studying Narrative Therapy?"

Senior Brother Xingyun blinked.

The research group's students had different areas of focus, not everyone studied consultation. However, Senior Brother Xingyun was an aspiring psychological consultant not currently part of that exemption.

On his desk were the psychoanalytic school classic "Interpretation of Dreams", the humanism school "The Forming of a Person", and a book introducing narrative therapy, "Stories, Knowledge, Power: The Power of Narrative Therapy".

If Nan Zhubin had asked about the first two, Senior Brother Xingyun might have just nodded and continued with his work without lifting his head.

But Narrative Therapy… it's quite niche.

Senior Brother Xingyun raised an eyebrow, unable to resist turning his body halfway: "Have you read this book?"

[OK, the basic [icebreaker] completed.]

The conversation naturally started to unfold.

Nan Zhubin nodded, "Yes, I once encountered a visitor. He required short-term improvements and found it difficult to focus on his internal resources, so split personality and humanism weren't very applicable. I contemplated a lot when formulating the intervention plan and eventually found that using narrative was the fastest effective solution..."

Senior Brother Xingyun's expression immediately softened: "Really? I also found narrative to be particularly useful in certain cases while sitting in on a teacher's visitor recently..."

He turned his body a little more from the half-turn unconsciously, putting down the pen in his hand.

Soon, he and Nan Zhubin were exchanging words quite seamlessly.

"..."

"Wait..." At a certain moment, Senior Brother Xingyun realized something was off.

How did their conversation turn into a case exchange?

And compared to himself, this junior's cases seemed astonishingly complete!

A certain senior's pride, combined with a bit of prejudice from being forced to work overtime by his mentor, made Senior Brother Xingyun want to halt the current dialogue.

However, the person opposite was sharing a comprehensive case exchange with him...

"Junior Brother..." Thinking of a possibility, Senior Brother Xingyun couldn't help but ask, "Have you already started taking cases independently?"

Nan Zhubin seemed oblivious to the other's psychological shift, smiling and nodding: "Yes."

Senior Brother Xingyun curiously and nonchalantly asked, "How many consultation hours have you accumulated?"

Nan Zhubin adopted a thoughtful pose — his pupils slightly lost focus, using the Flow State to calculate.

...

To tell the truth, Nan Zhubin had never really calculated it before.

If counted from before joining Howard's "Yan Nuo" Psychological Consultation to now...

"Probably over 2000 hours," Nan Zhubin replied.

Senior Brother Xingyun showed an incredulous expression, instinctively feeling the other was bluffing.

Such a young face, how could it match such a number?

"Sometimes I can do about 40 hours of consultation a week," Nan Zhubin explained, reporting a workload several times that of a usual consultant.

This explanation makes it seem even more unbelievable, no matter how you hear it, it sounds absurd!

Yet, somehow, Nan Zhubin's expression gave an inexplicable sense of conviction, as if saying — if you find it unbelievable, that's your problem.

Before Senior Brother Xingyun could say anything further, Nan Zhubin, as if remembering something, continued, "Speaking of which, I also have several cases suitable for Narrative interventions, which should be helpful for you, like..."

"Moreover, there are some intervention methods similar to Narrative, different yet interconnected, that you can learn about, like..."

"For example, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, its 'cognitive defusion' technique is similar to Narrative's 'externalization', but more behavioral. I have a visitor..."

"And somatic experiencing therapy, its operation of rebuilding bodily sovereignty is similar to Narrative's reinforcement of 'I am the master of my body' narrative style, but it focuses more on the physiological base..."

"And..."

...

Unconsciously, all the students in the office, whether studying or slacking, gradually stopped their actions, turning their heads in unison.

Senior Brother Xingyun swallowed saliva, and unconsciously turned his body back a little.

Too exaggerated...

Perhaps the reported consultation hours had embellishment, but the cases shared now are real and valuable. Those subjective narrative details could not have been picked up from somewhere; they must have been gained from real hands-on consultation experiences.

And this effortless familiarity with various applicable intervention methods for different situations... So the teacher didn't just bring in someone with connections into the group, but found a talent monster in consulting?

Senior Brother Xingyun pursed his lips, feeling a bit of cognitive dissonance that was hard to reconcile in a short time.

How to continue interacting with this junior brother seemed to become a matter worth premeditating...

"Hm?"

At this moment, it seemed Nan Zhubin suddenly noticed what was on Senior Brother Xingyun's computer screen, showing a hesitant expression: "Senior Brother is analyzing data?"

Senior Brother Xingyun awoke as if from a dream: "Yes..."

"What software is this... Is it taught in the first year of post-grad, or does it have to be self-learned?" Nan Zhubin asked, "In my undergrad psychology statistics, I only learned SPSS, and didn't do very well..."

SPSS is the most suitable entry-level data analysis software for beginners, ideal for standardized data analysis processes like reliability and validity tests and variance analysis for questionnaires.

Senior Brother Xingyun seemed as if having just realized life's beauty after a nightmare: "This is AMOS, used for path analysis of variables, the modeling is quite convenient. When writing an article, placing a path diagram makes the visual impression completely different..."

Speaking, Senior Brother Xingyun seemed to be probing something: "When studying, did the junior brother pour all his energy into consultation?"

Nan Zhubin nodded: "Indeed. So I am troubled by the review recently because the unified exam contains almost no consultation content. General psychology, developmental psychology I find okay, but statistics and measurement feel like learning new knowledge..."

This is actually true, during reviewing, most of Nan Zhubin's Flow State was utilized in solving statistics and measurement questions.

"No worries, stats and measurement don't need to be learned so deeply, exams only test basic calculations."

As Senior Brother Xingyun spoke, he suddenly showed a mischievous smile: "Did you mark the key points while reviewing?"

"No..."

"Hold on a sec... Haha, my textbooks are still with me. I happen to be teaching students at an institution recently too. Let me tell you, some formulas you don't need to memorize or even look at, like this one..."

"Oh—really?" Nan Zhubin looked enlightened.

Senior Brother Xingyun's mouth curled up unconsciously.

A few nearby recently-tested-for their master's students also poked their heads up: "Yes, and for measurement, experimental psychology, these many don't need memorizing."

The crowd exchanging words grew without noticing.

"Ding," a sound.

Chonghui and Shi Qianqian, who had completed equipment checks, pushed the door open.

They blinked at the different atmosphere in the office from a few minutes ago.