Cosmic Love Affair

Chapter 15 Oort Cloud Seven

Tan Ke got back to the company and first went to the company's health room.

The health room of Changjing mainly provides psychological counseling for employees.

After the last counselor left, the company couldn't find a suitable replacement. It just so happened that Tan Xin was called back from Africa by her father, so Tan Ke simply asked his sister to step in and fill the gap.

Seeing her brother come in, Tan Xin looked like she had seen a ghost in broad daylight, clutching her chest, "No way, right? I don't want to give you psychological counseling. I'll be under so much pressure!"

"Stop acting," Tan Ke pulled up a chair and sat down, "I've got a question for you. What's a quick way to relieve nervousness?"

Tan Xin thought for a moment, "That depends on the specific situation. How nervous are we talking?"

"I get nervous when speaking English, so nervous that I might not be able to say anything at all," Tan Ke said.

Tan Xin asked, "Any traumatic experiences? Excessive criticism? Ridicule?"

Tan Ke nodded.

"There's no quick fix for this kind of situation," Tan Xin gave a negative answer, "Because the body has already developed its own predictive mechanism. Once the brain recognizes a specific situation, the entire neural pathway will start working on its own, releasing cortisol and catecholamines. Once in this state, just relying on deep breathing or self-comforting won't be able to suppress the physiological response."

"Generally speaking, long-term counseling is needed, along with a proper diet, exercise, family support, and sometimes medication is necessary," Tan Xin concluded, "Quick relief is not very likely."

Tan Ke frowned and didn't say anything.

He had heard from Fang Xian that Shen Zhichuan was very anxious about Xie Li's English because there was a public event coming up soon.

Although he had comforted Xie Li today, this kind of comfort was clearly insignificant and ineffective, just like a bowl of chicken soup.

He thought for a moment, then asked Tan Xin again, "In this case, if he's still asked to give a speech in public, the situation won't improve, right?"

Tan Xin shrugged, "Of course not. It's like reinforcing his negative experiences. Failure will only deepen the trauma. Forcing a patient to repeatedly enter a situation that scares him, from a doctor's perspective, that's already mental abuse."

Tan Xin was extremely curious, "Bro, who are you asking this for? We don't have anyone in our family who gets nervous when speaking English, do we?"

Tan Ke coughed dryly and casually said, "A friend."

Tan Xin raised her eyebrows and said in a teasing tone, "Oh, I'm such a bad sister. I didn't even know my brother had a friend he cared about so much. My brother doesn't love me anymore."

She even put on a show of sighing dramatically.

For the first time ever, Tan Ke showed a hint of awkwardness on his face.

He was also very clear in his heart that his concern for Xie Li had far exceeded the normal level, even surpassing the two people he had dated before.

Especially since he entered Hua Street, he had been extremely busy and hadn't had the experience of paying attention to others.

Xie Li was the first one in such a long time who had made him deal with a personal issue during working hours.

Tan Ke forcibly changed the subject, "What about medication? Is there any medicine that can relieve nervousness?"

Tan Xin frowned slightly, not quite approving of this idea, "First of all, medication must go through a very careful assessment because drugs that act on the central nervous system or hormone-blocking drugs all have side effects. If the condition hasn't reached a certain level, and it's just a simple speech impediment, a morally responsible doctor would never casually prescribe medication for such a patient."

She pointed at herself, "Your sister here has a sky-high medical ethics index. I won't give you any medication advice."

Tan Ke was silent for a while, then stood up, "Alright, it seems that's the only way."

He still had work to do and couldn't stay with Tan Xin indefinitely.

During the evening video conference, the analyst here was reading the medic analysis report from the PPT.

Tan Ke listened for a while and began to zone out involuntarily.

He couldn't help but wonder how Xie Li would deal with this issue.

The best solution would be for Xie Li to tell Shen Zhichuan himself that he wouldn't participate in that event, and then start counseling and treatment to recover as soon as possible.

From what he knew about Shen Zhichuan, although that person could be quite harsh with words sometimes, he still had a soft heart and wouldn't force Xie Li to go.

But he seriously doubted whether Xie Li would take the initiative to speak up. Judging from what Xie Li had said, this problem seemed to have existed for a long time.

If Xie Li could have spoken up to Shen Zhichuan himself, he would have done it already and wouldn't have dragged it out until now.

So the whole thing was very likely to head towards the worst outcome, that is, Xie Li was unwilling to inform Shen Zhichuan and could only force himself to speak on stage, and in the end, due to excessive nervousness, he would fail to speak in public and leave an even heavier psychological shadow.

Tan Ke seldom troubled himself over something that was unsolvable yet hard to give up.

Rationally speaking, he had done his best, but emotionally he couldn't accept this outcome.

With a stern expression, Tan Ke stared at the projection screen, and the pen in his hand was being clicked noisily.

The analyst reading the PPT thought he was dissatisfied with the content and was extremely nervous.

The other people in the conference room also didn't dare to breathe loudly, sitting up straight.

After the PPT was finished, Tan Ke still had no reaction, remaining silent with a cold face.

In the past, the domestic team of Changjing was managed by Fang Xian. Fang Xian was easy to get along with, usually cheerful and approachable, and even when there were problems with the work, he wouldn't lose his temper with his subordinates.

Tan Ke used to lead the business in the United States and communicated with the domestic team through video. Every time the domestic colleagues appeared in the video, they were criticized to the point of being utterly disheartened.

From major specific decisions to a single misused punctuation mark in the PPT, it could draw Tan Ke's dissatisfaction.

The colleagues of the Chinese team were terrified of him.

Two years ago, Changjing began to gradually shift its focus back to the country, and everyone in the Chinese team was on tenterhooks, counting down the days until their own downfall.

No one in the conference room dared to speak, for fear of becoming the one to trigger the boss's anger.

It was still the American colleagues in the video who called out his name jokingly, "Are you paying us triple overtime just so we can admire your face?"

Tan Ke got off work and arrived home almost at ten o'clock.

After working out and reviewing some materials, he washed up and lay down on the bed, tossing and turning for over an hour without a hint of sleepiness.

He checked the time and saw it was already past two.

His working hours were very long, with an average sleep time of less than five hours from Monday to Friday, relying on exercise and catching up on sleep on weekends to maintain his state, usually falling asleep as soon as he hit the bed.

This was the first time he had trouble sleeping in bed.

On his way back by car, he had already decided not to interfere too much, after all, Xie Li's matters should be solved by himself.

If Xie Li couldn't speak up to Shen Zhichuan himself, he also couldn't make the decision on behalf of Xie Li.

But when he lay in bed, he felt this decision was very inappropriate.

If Xie Li could speak up himself, he would have done it already.

If he couldn't bring himself to speak up, Tan Ke stared at the patterns on the ceiling, thinking that he would be standing by and watching this young person suffer from mental abuse.

He liked the way Xie Li looked when he smiled, with bright eyes full of vitality. He hoped Xie Li could keep smiling like this.

Tan Ke was wide awake.

He took out his phone and called Fang Xian.

Fang Xian was at the racetrack, surrounded by the roar of engines: "What's up? Your call almost made me shift gears wrong. Seriously, why aren't you asleep yet? Do you know what time it is?"

Tan Ke's head ached from the noise on the other end, and he rubbed his temples, "Find a quiet place, I have something to ask you."

Fang Xian thought it was about the new hedging strategy he had set, and quickly got out of the car, "What's the matter?"

Tan Ke's tone was serious, "How was Carson's tension aphonia treated back then? How long did it take?"

Fang Xian almost thought he had heard wrong, "You're calling me in the middle of the night just to ask this?"

He paused for a moment, then immediately realized, "Holy crap, you really have a thing for that young guy, don't you?"

Tan Ke didn't deny it.

Fang Xian chuckled, "Alright, a wonder in the desert."

Tan Ke's tone was bad, "Once you're done laughing, hurry up and tell me."

Fang Xian became serious, "I think he's not as severe as Carson. Carson had completely stopped communicating at that time. That young guy probably just gets too nervous around people, or my identity makes him very nervous, like he's afraid of losing face in front of strangers, or something like that."

There was no sound from the other end of the call.

Fang Xian called out twice, but all he got in response was the busy signal.

Tan Ke woke Tan Xin up from her sleep again, "If we create an illusion for the patient that there's no one around, would that be helpful?"

Tan Xin, still groggy, held the phone, "Who? What? Oh, you mean the one you asked about this afternoon. It should be, if he can speak when there's no one around, then it would be. Brother, are you crazy? It's so late, can we talk about it tomorrow?"

Tan Xin hung up the phone.

Tan Ke then called Xiao, his assistant.

Xiao was also very unhappy, but he maintained a basic respect for his generous annual salary, "What can I do for you, boss?"

Tan Ke said, "Help me find the contact information of the guy who took us to the astronomical observatory last time. You're in charge of contacting Landa, you should be able to find it, right?"

Secretary Xiao, suppressing his sleepiness, replied, "Yes, I can."

Tan Ke's tone was very domineering, "Alright, give it to me in half an hour."

Tan Ke had a crazy idea.

If Xie Li could speak relaxedly in a private setting –

Wasn't it just an event? Were there no sponsors to be had?

He would be the sponsor, he would arrange the venue.

If Xie Li still got too nervous to speak at that time, he would just have someone pull the power switch of the venue.

Wasn't it just money?

In this world, could a problem that could be solved with money even be called a problem?