Amateur talent show? Top mentors are my students.

He Xu thought that after changing to women's perfume, life would be a little more peaceful.

At least no one will use "men's restroom" to describe his smell anymore.

He was wrong.

The next afternoon, as soon as he entered Banxing's practice room, all twelve trainees turned around and then sniffed like puppies.

The entire classroom fell silent for a moment.

"Teacher He Xu..." The youngest boy in the front row blinked, "You smell so good today."

He Xu stood at the door, his expression unchanged: "Practice yourselves."

"No, really—" Another child took two steps closer, but was stopped in his tracks by a look from He Xu, though he didn't stop talking, "...Peach flavor! Sweet!"

He Xu looked down at his wrist.

He did spray a little this morning, just a little, and pressed it on his wrist and the side of his neck.

The top notes of that Peach Gap are white peach and bergamot. When it's first sprayed, it's so sweet it's almost dripping with honey, but it fades after a few minutes, leaving a faint hint of jasmine and cedar.

He thought that by the time he went out, most of the crowd had dispersed.

Obviously not.

"Hey, He Xu, you changed your perfume?" Da Zhou walked over from the corner. He had just been looking at his phone next to the radiator, but he paused for a moment after smelling the scent on him.

He walked over to He Xu, tilted his head and leaned closer, twitching his nose.

"Brother—" Da Zhou's voice held a difficult-to-describe tone, somewhere between shock and relief, "You smell so good!"

He Xu turned her head to look at him: "Say it again?"

"No, I'm serious—" Da Zhou took a half step back and looked him up and down. "The smell on you, tsk tsk tsk, the contrast is too great, I can't get used to it for a moment."

"You think it smells good?"

"It smells good," Da Zhou said frankly. "It's much better than the previous one. The previous one gave me a headache after smelling it for a while, but this one—hey, come and smell it."

The last sentence was said to Xiaofei, who was standing next to him.

Xiao Fei was leaning against the mirror flipping through his choreography notes when he heard the greeting. He looked up, walked over, stood next to He Xu, and leaned in to smell him.

Then his expression changed.

"It really smells good." Xiao Fei pushed up his glasses, his tone very serious. "Teacher He, you should have changed it a long time ago. The previous one had too much of a pine scent, and after sweating from dance practice, it was really disgusting."

He Xu stood between his two old partners, watching expressionlessly as they sniffed him around as if he were some rare plant.

"Have you had enough of smelling it?" His tone was completely flat.

"I haven't had enough of the smell," Da Zhou said matter-of-factly. "Your scent is so soothing. I'm almost getting depressed from taking care of these kids lately. Let me smell it a few more times."

"You fucking think I'm aromatherapy?"

"Your scent is definitely better than any aromatherapy." Da Zhou made no attempt to hide it, even taking a step closer. "Special, special, what's that word again?"

"Refreshing," Xiao Fei replied.

"Yes, it's refreshing." Da Zhou nodded, then gave He Xu a thumbs up. "This is the one for now, don't change it back."

He Xu looked at his sincere face, paused for a moment, and walked expressionlessly to the corner of the practice room, turning his back to everyone to begin stretching.

Da Zhou's voice came from behind him: "He Xu—what brand is that perfume you have? I want to buy one for my girlfriend too!"

He Xu didn't even turn his head: "I'm not telling you, get lost."

-

That evening, He Xu had just stopped at the entrance of the cafeteria when he heard a series of chaotic footsteps behind him.

He turned his head and saw the seven members of NOVA walking towards him from the other end of the corridor, clearly having just finished their vocal lesson.

Li Bufan was walking in front, looking down at his phone while replying to messages, but he suddenly stopped when he got next to He Xu.

His nose twitched twice.

Then, as if a switch had been activated, he suddenly raised his head and looked at He Xu.

"Brother He Xu!"

"what?"

"You smell so good! Did you eat a lollipop?" Li Bufan took a half step forward, inhaled, and said, "You smell so good!

He Xu looked at him expressionlessly: "Stay away from me."

"No, really, this scent—" Li Bufan took another sniff, "What perfume is this? It smells so much better than the last one! The last one smelled like I was walking into a hardware store—"

"That's a pine-scented note."

"I don't care what the scent is, this one smells good." Li Bufan turned his head and shouted to the people behind him, "Come smell it! Brother He Xu changed his perfume!"

Jiang Yang was the first to run over, sniffed next to He Xu, and then his eyes lit up: "Peach flavor! Sweet!"

"Let me smell it too—" Lu Yiming leaned closer.

"Let me smell it too—" Song Yingwen also came over.

He Xu stood at the entrance of the cafeteria, surrounded by seven people.

Some people smelled his shoulders, some smelled his cuffs, and Qi Xunan even leaned in to smell the side of his neck.

He was completely surrounded and unable to move, like a tree surrounded by a group of small animals sniffing at its scent.

"You lot—" He Xu's voice came from the crowd, carrying an offended indifference, "Get out of my way."

"Teacher He, let us smell it, it's not like we're losing any meat." Jiang Yang laughed like a fool.

"Yeah, Brother He Xu, this smells amazing. You should use this from now on," Li Bufan chimed in.

Yang Sheng stood on the periphery of the crowd, not joining them, but he glanced at He Xu with a slight smile.

Wang Yijun stood at the very back, hands in her pockets, her expression indifferent, but her gaze lingered on He Xu for two seconds before shifting away.

He Xu squeezed out of the crowd, took two steps toward the cafeteria, and glanced back at them.

"Dinner's ready," he said. "Stop fooling around."

The seven men followed, laughing and joking, but Li Bufan was still muttering, "Brother He Xu, what brand is that perfume you're wearing...?"

He Xu ignored him.

He walked into the cafeteria, sat down by the window, and had the meal that Zhuang Jun had asked the cafeteria to reserve for him in advance placed in front of him.

He picked up his chopsticks and had just taken two bites when his phone vibrated in his pocket.

Jin Xian sent a message: "How's the perfume? This one is the best in my opinion."

He Xu looked down at the line of text, chewing rice, paused for a moment, and then typed a reply—

"It's so useful. Everyone's crowding around to sniff it like dogs."

send.

There was silence on the other end for a few seconds.

Then Jin Xian's reply popped up, containing only two symbols: "...?"

He Xu flipped his phone face down on the table and continued eating.

I couldn't help but smile when I thought of my reply.