Chapter 1109 - 828: Symptom Rebound and Mutation

Nan Zhubin listened to Jie Nianzhou’s description, letting the words hang in the air for a moment before speaking.

"What was your first reaction when you saw that message this morning?" Nan Zhubin’s voice was gentle.

Jie Nianzhou took a deep breath: "...I just felt it was very sudden. Then... it was like being punched all of a sudden."

He used a metaphorical feeling.

Not specific words to describe emotions, but in some sense, even better.

Nan Zhubin nodded: "And then? Any specific thoughts?"

There naturally were, and many of them.

Jie Nianzhou organized his phrasing: "Then I started thinking—I have so many things to do today. I need to first build the framework for this application, then go to the lab to adjust some previous data, and spend time drafting a relatively formal report."

"The teacher values this kind of report very much..."

For a single ’day’ of work time, the time to prepare a report could take up most of it.

Jie Nianzhou’s speech speed began to increase, "But the more I think about it, the more I feel there isn’t enough time. Then I started thinking—maybe I can’t do the consultation today."

A fairly critical piece of information emerged.

Nan Zhubin immediately followed up: "Did you first think ’there isn’t enough time,’ and then think ’cancel the consultation’; or did you first think ’cancel the consultation,’ and then begin calculating time?"

Jie Nianzhou was silent for two breaths, slightly lowering his head, it was memory, it was feeling, it was also organizing thoughts.

"...It seems to be both. Mixed together."

Nan Zhubin nodded, not pursuing this direction further.

He changed the question: "Then back to your feelings about this matter—when you saw that message, what was the specific feeling in your heart? Not thoughts, feelings."

This time, no metaphors, Nan Zhubin needed the visitor to give a precise summary word for his feelings.

This time Jie Nianzhou was silent for a bit longer, his lips opened and closed, repeating twice.

As if considering whether he should say that word.

"...Frustrated." He eventually said it.

Compared to a few weeks ago, when he would subconsciously defend Bi Yanling, or even explain for her, Jie Nianzhou now being able to express this word, to authentically express his own thoughts, was a kind of growth and breakthrough for him.

Nan Zhubin promptly reinforced the situation: "Are you familiar with this feeling of frustration? Has it appeared before?"

"...Familiar." Jie Nianzhou said, "Not just today. I’ve been feeling this way since last week."

In theory, the changes in Bi Yanling since last week should have something to do with his research group.

This is also how a [Dual relationship] interferes with consultation.

Fortunately, sitting in front of Jie Nianzhou was Nan Zhubin after all, who could very well maintain his neutral position. Out of cautious principles, he even added an extra layer of [Emotion Rebalancing] for himself.

A slight fatigue emerged, but the mind became clearer. Nan Zhubin leaned slightly forward, adopting a posture of attentive listening.

"Can you specifically talk about the situations you experienced last week? About those situations that made you feel ’frustrated.’"

Jie Nianzhou organized his words.

"It’s the things I talked to you about before—she redid the scheduling and required everyone to be at their workstations during their free time."

"Which wouldn’t be an issue, but the problem is she often isn’t there herself, and we’re just working on our computers at the workstations, no different from being in the dormitory."

"And..." Jie Nianzhou paused, "she started often bringing up past grievances... or you could say being contradictory. For example, she once gave a classmate a suggestion for modification, the classmate changed it according to her suggestion, and now she looks at it and says ’who told you to change it this way,’ then criticizes him in front of the whole group."

This issue was mentioned before, but Jie Nianzhou brought it up again.

Indicating that this matter left a deep impression on him, or had a significant impact.

"Is the frequency of such incidents high?" Nan Zhubin continued to inquire.

"Maybe once or twice per person, I don’t know if that’s considered high..." Jie Nianzhou pursed his lips, "But such situations do greatly affect people’s mentality... Every time it happens, I start to get nervous, because I don’t know if I’ll be next."

"Because of such things... there’s really no way. It’s not about doing something poorly, do you understand what I mean? You could even say I did too well... but even that turned into a bad thing."

"This makes me and my classmates start to get very conflicted, not even knowing how to advance the work, or whether to advance it further at all."

"Completely understood." Nan Zhubin first provided a [Support] style of affirmation in response to the visitor’s question.

Since the visitor was very concerned about this, Nan Zhubin continued to delve deeper: "And you? Were you treated like this last week? Were any past grievances brought up?"

"...I haven’t been publicly criticized yet," Jie Nianzhou shook his head, "Last week, she just urged me on progress once."

"How did you respond at that time?"

Jie Nianzhou replied: "I just said ’it’s almost done,’ something like that. Then after returning..."

Jie Nianzhou suddenly looked up at Nan Zhubin: "After returning that day, I went through the previous chat records several times to confirm that I didn’t miss when she mentioned the deadline for this data compilation."

[Jawline tightened, gaze suddenly shifted downward.]