216: SESSION (PART 3)

SESSION (PART 3)

Xue Lin's reply was affirmative, "Yes, I need to eat lunch. While cooking I thought I should cook for you as well. So, I cooked for both of us."1

Ge Chen was touched. "That's so generous of you. please just don't eat everything without letting me taste your meal first. I miss your cooking."

Xue Lin brushed her hand as if she was trying to shoo away his compliment. "Well, I'll let you eat plenty. Just so you know, I don't cook every day. I cook whenever I feel like it. So, you should take care of your own meal when that happens."

Ge Chen subtly smiled. "I'll keep that in mind."

They went upstairs. It had only two rooms. One was the master bedroom with a walk-in closet and bathroom. The other room was her study room. She had books filled the bookshelves. There was a study bed beside the window. Xue Lin left a large Humpty Dumpty stuff doll there. She used to use it as a pillow.

"This place is gorgeous," Ge Chen complimented her taste.

"Thank you. I hope you can keep my place clean. I don't like dust," Xue Lin told him.

'Does she want me to clean her house?' Ge Chen thought. To make sure, he asked her, "You mean you want me to work?"

"Did you think I would let you stay in my house for free?" Xue Lin made an expression like she was surprised that he thought that he would be staying here without helping her with work.

"…" Once again, Ge Chen was left with no words. 

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The next few days, Xue Lin went out for her session early in the morning and showed Ge Chen around Berlin, the capital city of Germany.

[A/N: Here's the lecture comes]

First, they went to the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor). It's Berlin's most famous historic landmark. Once a symbol of a divided nation, it now stands as a symbol of unity and peace. This impressively large Neoclassical gate was commissioned by King Frederick Wilhelm II in 1788, and its design was inspired by the Propylaea in Athens' Acropolis. The sandstone monument is 26 meters tall, standing in the Mitte district's Pariser Platz, just a block from the Reichstag building.

Ge Chen found out that Xue Lin was a lover of history.

Xue Lin showed him around and told him the significance of the Brandenburg Gate. "During the Cold War, its physical and symbolic position as a blocked gate along the Berlin Wall made it a frequent site for demonstrations by West Berliners. It's also famous for being the backdrop of US President Ronald Reagan's 1987 entreaty to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall."

"You know so much of this place." Ge Chen couldn't help but feel amazed.

Xue Lin scratched her head. "Well, how can I not know the history of the place that is letting me stay here? It would be disrespectful."

The next day, they went to the rebuilt Reichstag. The Reichstag (Reichstagsgebäude) was originally completed in 1894 where the Neo-Renaissance palace served as the home of the German Empire's Imperial Diet until it burned in 1933.

Xue Lin mentioned, "It was not used again until after the reunification of Germany, at which point it underwent a 10 year reconstruction and finally became the home of the German Parliament in 1999."

And there was Museum Island. Sandwiched between the River Spree and the Kupfergraben in a 400 meter long canal, Spree Island,better known as Museum Island (Museumsinsel), is one of the city's most important UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Then, they went to the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall originated in 1961 when East Germany sealed off that half of the city to prevent citizens from fleeing to West Germany. By the time it was torn down in 1989, the four-meter-high wall extended 155 kilometers, dissected 55 streets, and possessed 293 observation towers and 57 bunkers.

Another day, Xue Lin took Ge Chen to visit the German Historical Museum.

German Historical Museum, another great historical place to learn more about Germany's history and culture. Established to mark Berlin's 750th anniversary in 1987, the German Historical Museum (Deutsches Historisches Museum) much-visited attraction consists of several historic exhibition halls jam-packed with fascinating displays of artifacts relating to various periods and events from the country's founding right up to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Every day, Xue Lin took Ge Chen to one place, and they would spend the rest of the day there before coming home in the evening. Ge Chen was always curious where his wife would take him next, and he also expected her to take a romantic place.

However, every time he expected that he had to be disappointed. Even so, he found out one thing – living with his wife was very educational.

A child would become a scholar if he lived with Xue Lin.

Just like that, after a weekend, Xue Lin visited Berlin Television Tower along with Ge Chen.

The 368-meter-tall Berliner Fernsehturm (Berlin Television Tower) has lost none of its appeal to visitors to the city. Since opening in 1970, Europe's third-tallest freestanding structure has attracted over 60 million visitors, most of them drawn for the spectacular views over Germany's capital.

Two weeks passed just like that.

Xue Lin not only got instruction from Professor Ivanov but also practiced at home. First, she tried to maintain eye contact for long periods without blinking. She looked at herself in a mirror and kept a timer to figure out how long she could maintain eye contact without blinking.

Professor Ivanov instructed her, "You can also have a staring contest with someone else to test your ability. Try it on your friends or random guys you meet in the bars."

"I don't meet random guys in the bars at night, Professor," Xue Lin complained in a bored tone.

"I can't believe my student has such a boring life." Professor Ivanov shook his head. "Enough of it. Focus on your eyes. Having full command over your eye movements will help you maintain steady eye contact with the other person during the hypnosis."

Xue Lin's second lesson was something else.

Professor Ivanov directed her, "Practice your ability to focus with your eyes. Do this by looking at a close object, like a pen or pencil and then a distant object in the room." 

He got a pencil and gave it to Xue Lin. "Hold the pencil close to your face. Focus on the pencil. Move from focusing on the pencil to an object that is further away, like a picture on the wall or a doorknob."

He spoke slowly. "Return to focusing on the pencil. Then focus on the distant object. Continue practicing this to improve your focus flexibility."

He repeated the same thing again and again, "Listen, Lin, while hypnosis may seem like magic there is a lot of practice and science that goes on behind the act of hypnotizing someone. One of the most effective ways to hypnotize someone is with your eyes, the gateway to the psyche."

"I got it." Xue Lin always gave him the same answer.

When she mastered the second lesson, the Professor suddenly asked, "Did you improve your peripheral awareness?"

"Ah… no…" Xue Lin hesitantly replied.

Professor Ivanov instructed her, "This is your ability to see objects and movements on either side of you without having to turn your head. To improve this ability. Sit in a busy scene outside on a sidewalk or sit in front of a TV or computer screen that is playing a busy scene. Try to look at the busy scene with your head turned to one side.

"Then, look at the scene with your head turned to another side. Try to see as much of the scene as possible on either side. Make sure you practice from the left and the right."

Xue Lin did as he told her to do. She took out Ge Chen and then moved her head like that.

Ge Chen couldn't take a bite on his meal when he saw his wife acting so strangely. "Are you all right, my wife?"

Without looking at him, Xue Lin replied, "My husband, do I look sick to you?"

Ge Chen mentioned, "You are certainly acting differently. People will think you are suspicious."

"That's irrelevant to me." That was her answer in a flat tone.

"…Whatever makes you feel better." After that, Ge Chen could only observe her. He didn't dare to complain.

There were lots of processes and Xue Lin did everything the Professor asked for in three months. To test her, Professor Ivanov took her to the police station to hypnotize a criminal to give a confession.

When she was successfully done, Professor Ivanov couldn't be prouder. "Congratulations, Lin. You always know how to make me proud."

[A/N: Dearest Readers, don't learn from this bad author and practice this. Although I do some research before writing things like that, I'd wish for no one doing eye hypnotism. Xue Lin is also doing something crazy. Don't try to follow her. It won't do any good. Trust me. Only use this practice on someone who gives their consent before you hypnotize them and always use your ability responsibly. This is an earnest request from your happy-go-lucky Author.]

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