Chapter 1: Are you sick?

  According to Zhang Gaoyuan's lesson plan, he wanted everyone to make a guess. After all the students in the class had said out loud what they smelled, he burst into laughter and said: "You're all wrong! It's actually just a bottle of ordinary tap water that I filled up in the bathroom. You were all misled because my psychological hint led you into a thinking trap. Psychology is so magical, so interesting, and it affects our lives every moment. Now let's open our textbooks and enter the wonderful world of psychology.

  Those two hateful guys, they didn't cooperate at all. They didn't fall for it and even spoke the truth, leaving the teacher wondering what to do next.

  Is there such a thing as bullying?

  After hearing Zhang Gaoyuan's words, the students immediately understood that they had all been deceived and Tang Chong and Jiao Nanxin were right.

  "Monitor is so formidable. Unexpectedly didn't fall for it ----- Monitor, how did you figure it out?" The boys admired Tang Chong's thinking ability even more.

  "Come on, Nan Xin. Nan Xin, you are our pride." The girls naturally supported the female representative, Jiao Nanxin even more. If this time only Tang Chong saw that all the girls were defeated, it would be embarrassing for all of them. Jiao Nanxin managed to win back their honor.

  "Wow, I thought it was foot odor." Hua Ming sniffed up and down, saying: "It can't be my shoes that stink, right?"

  Zhang Gaoyuan wiped the blackboard with a piece of chalk and said, "Not bad. Both students are correct. Subtle suggestions can unconsciously deprive us of our judgment and have a certain influence on our thinking. In psychology, this phenomenon is called 'suggestion effect', where language, actions, expressions or special symbols affect others' psychology and behavior, making them accept the suggester's point of view, opinions or act in a suggested way."

  He looked at Tang Zhong and asked: "What's your name?"

  "Thank you."

  He is our class monitor.

  "Dean Jiao's student."

  Tang Chong hadn't even had time to respond when his classmates in the class helped him make a detailed introduction.

  "Oh. So you're one of Dean Jiao's new students this year?" Zhang Gaoyuan started laughing. "No wonder you're so impressive."

  "You're overpraising me," Tang said with modesty.

  "Hmm. Tang Zhong, can you tell us how did you know that this bottle contains purified water?"

  "Negative method," said Tang Chong. "After hearing your introduction, my first reaction was the same as that of other classmates to sniff the air for a smell. But I found that there is no fresh smell entering the air..."

  "Wait a minute." Zhang Gaoyuan interrupted Tang Chong's words. "There are so many flavors in the air. Can you distinguish them all?"

  "Yes." Tang Chong smiled and nodded. The classroom was so clean, how much smell could there be in the air? If they let them live in prison for a while, they would know what complex smells were like.

  "How is this possible? How did you do it?" Zhang Gaoyuan was clearly more interested in this question.

  "Because I've heard too much already." Tang Chong said with a smile.

  "Have you heard too much?" Zhang Gaoyuan nodded, apparently misunderstanding the meaning of Tang Chong's words, and said: "Indeed. We breathe air every day. But people who carefully feel it are rare. No wonder you can become Dean Jiao's student, your sensitive observation is not comparable to ordinary people. I am far from it. Okay, off topic. You continue."

  "I think that even if the air freshener's scent is very faint, it can't be completely non-existent. Otherwise, having us smell it would be meaningless. But I really didn't smell anything, and that's when some doubts arose. Then I thought to myself, this is a psychology class, not a physics or chemistry class, what's the point of bringing out something like this for us to smell?"

  "----" Zhang Gaoyuan fell silent again.

  This guy is too freaky, right?

  After asking the questions, they immediately urged the students below to answer, without giving them any time to think. Their first reaction was to look for the taste, rather than thinking 'this is a psychology class, not a physics or chemistry class'.

  That is to say, he has a strong independent thinking ability that is not affected by any external factors.

  He turned around and looked at Jiao Nanxin, asking: "Miss, how did you know the answer?"

  "Because I've read a lot of psychology books, I know the teacher wants to use psychological suggestion effect to attract our attention at the beginning," Jiao Nanxin said with a smile. "If that's the case, then it definitely won't be giving us a correct answer. So, my guess is that there's just purified water inside."

  "Alright." Zhang Gaoyuan said helplessly. "I originally wanted to explain the wonderful use of psychology in our lives based on this matter. Because of the performance of these two classmates, I think, without me saying much, everyone has already gotten very good evidence."

  "This was originally going to be the content of my first lesson." He glanced at his watch and said, "It's only been ten minutes now. For the remaining thirty minutes, let's study a classic case in psychology."

  He walked up to the computer console and turned on the projector in the classroom.

  Then he rummaged through his computer and opened a video file.

  A restaurant appeared on the projector screen, four men walked in and found a table to sit down.

  The first fat man said to the waiter: "I'll have a beef stir-fry."

  "Give me a beef noodle soup." The second man said.

  "I'll have a beef noodle too," said the third man.

  "You all eat beef noodles, I also eat beef noodles." The fourth man said.

  Then the waiter asked the first fat man and said: "Sir, do you want beef fried noodles or beef noodles?"

  The fat man's face showed a hesitant expression, and the scene came to an abrupt halt.

  Zhang Gaoyuan walked back onto the stage and said, "As I mentioned earlier, psychology is a process of studying and analyzing an individual's psychological characteristics based on their feelings, perceptions, memories, thinking, and emotions. Now that you've all watched this video, who can tell me what food the first fat guy will end up choosing? Will he give up his previous choice of dry-fried beef noodles and switch to eating beef noodle soup like his companions?"

  "He will because he sees all his companions eating beef noodles and he will follow suit."

  "No. Since his first point was dry-fried beef noodles, it proves that he likes to eat this ----- why should he change his hobby based on others' tastes?"

  "Look. I think this fatty is hesitating. If he's hesitating, it means he's thinking about whether to change or not."

  Everyone expressed their own views, and the atmosphere in the classroom was very lively.

  "Tang Zhong, what do you think?" Zhang Gaoyuan asked proactively.

  "I think he'll change his mind," said Tang Chong with a smile. "The way he walks with light footsteps, and looks around when entering the dining hall, proves that he's not very resolute. And since all three of his good friends chose different dishes, it made him wonder if his own choice was correct, so he started to hesitate-----for someone who is irresolute, hesitation means giving up."

  "And you, fellow student, what's your view?" Zhang Gaoyuan once again actively called out Jiao Nanxin's name. Because earlier their performance had truly shocked and amazed him too much.

  "I think he won't change," Jiao Nanxin said firmly. She was sitting in front of Tang Chong, so she didn't turn her head to see his expression at this time. "Some people say that when he walks, his footsteps are light and floating, I think it's because he is too fat and can't walk steadily. And some people say that when he enters the dining hall, he looks around, that's because his willpower is not strong enough, but I think it's because he has a lecherous heart to see if there are any beauties in the dining hall-----isn't this a common problem of lechers?"

  Pā lā lā

  Many students applauded voluntarily for Jiao Nanxin's point of view.

  Tang Chong's face fell into a bitter smile.

  He knew this woman was against him again.

  What's all this about someone saying and another person saying ----- aren't they all just things you've said yourself? In this world, there's only one Tang Chong, and I don't even have multiple personalities.

  Zhang Gaoyuan also smiled and said, "Continue."

  "He's a fatty, he's a flirtatious fatty. Being fat proves that he likes to eat, is a foodie. Foodies have a reverent attitude towards food. So, he won't give up his preferences because of others' opinions. Moreover, flirts, whether they're fatties or not, all like to show off their uniqueness from others. This is also to attract girls' attention ----- so, I think he won't change his choices."

  "If he won't change his mind, then why did he hesitate at the last moment?" Tang Zhong laughed. "His eyes were wandering, his fingers were consciously separating and merging, and it looked like a very painful expression, which already proved that beef noodles had a great attraction to him."

  "If he likes beef noodles, then his first order should be beef noodles. Since he didn't order it, that means beef noodles is not a priority for him. For someone who loves to eat, why would he change his choice because of others' attitudes?"

  "Perhaps it's because he had doubts about his own choices. After all, people have a psychological tendency to follow the crowd. When we go to a restaurant and originally wanted to order scrambled eggs with tomatoes, but found that everyone in the restaurant ordered grilled beef, wouldn't we also think of trying it?"

  "If you've been craving for three months to go to a restaurant and have a plate of tomato scrambled eggs, how can you easily change your mind? You've saved money for ten years to buy an Audi, but someone says BMW is good, so you immediately change your mind?"

  "Agreed," said Tang Chong. "Assuming I don't know how to drive and have enough money."

  "I won't. Because I've been working hard for that Audi. It's not just a means of transportation, it has more important significance to me -"

  "Two classmates——" Zhang Gaoyuan interrupted, wanting to break up the debate between the two. They became more and more intense, and the topic was no longer about beef noodles, but shifted to Audi and BMW. This made him quite helpless.

  Jiao Nanxin and Tang Chong argued to the point of excitement, neither willing to give up. With a wave of her small hand, she said: "You shut up first."