Amateur talent show? Top mentors are my students.

After lunch, the six of them cleaned up the table, put the dishes and chopsticks back in their places, wiped the kitchen countertop, and then rested again.

On the first day, everyone was meeting for the first time, so even though the afternoon was quite free, the production team only arranged free time.

Around 2 PM, Wu Jiayuan and Jiang Yining were the first to get started.

The two discussed things on their phones in the living room for a while, then Wu Jiayuan poked her head out and called upstairs, "Teacher Jiang and I are planning to go for a walk around the area, anyone want to come along?"

He Xu was standing by the window at the end of the second-floor corridor replying to Zhuang Jun's message without even looking up: "I'm not going."

Lin Zhen poked his head out of the room: "I have some work to take care of, you guys go ahead."

Zhuang Wenmin's voice came from her room, muffled through the door, but the meaning was clear: "I have something to do this afternoon."

Wu Jiayuan's gaze shifted to Sun Zhuohang, who was sitting on the living room sofa: "Where's Zhuohang? Do you want to come along?"

Sun Zhuohang was looking down at his phone when he heard this. He looked up and blurted out before he thought, "No need, no need, I don't need to buy anything, you guys go ahead."

He regretted it as soon as he said it.

He actually had nothing to do; there weren't even any new messages on his phone. He just kept switching between the same few social media platforms.

But he was too embarrassed to change his mind, so he could only watch as Wu Jiayuan and Jiang Yining wrapped themselves in down jackets and scarves and went out.

After the door closed, the villa became completely quiet.

Sun Zhuohang sat on the sofa for a while, looking at his phone over and over again, but couldn't find anything new. So he stood up and walked towards the stairs.

He went up to the second floor, wandered around the corridor, then strolled to the third-floor attic, sat at the low table for two minutes, and then, feeling even more bored, went back downstairs.

As he passed the kitchen, he opened the refrigerator and glanced inside; he didn't want to eat any of the food.

I went to the living room and stood in front of the French windows for a while, looking at the lake outside. There were two wild ducks swimming on the lake.

He watched for about a minute, then the duck swam away, and he had nothing else to do.

He sat back down on the sofa and picked up his phone.

Then he heard a noise coming from the direction of the backyard.

Sun Zhuohang got up, walked to the side door at the back of the restaurant, and glanced outside.

The villa has a small terrace in the backyard, next to which is a simple shed with windproof curtains on all sides, leaving only the south-facing side open to let in a little gray-white light in winter.

Under the shed were several pieces of fitness equipment—a treadmill, a set of adjustable dumbbells, a yoga mat, and an elastic band fixed to a frame.

He Xu had changed his clothes at some point—a black long-sleeved sweatshirt, dark gray sweatpants, and sneakers—and was sitting on a yoga mat doing stretches.

One leg is straight, the other is bent, the body leans forward, the fingers reach the soles of the feet, the whole person is folded into a quiet angle.

The movements were slow and wide-ranging, with the lines of the shoulders and back stretched into a long arc beneath the long sleeves.

Sun Zhuohang stood at the door for a few seconds and was a little surprised by He Xu's flexibility - his leg was so straight and he didn't seem to have any trouble pressing down on his body.

He originally wanted to go back, but He Xu happened to turn his head at that moment and saw him.

"What are you standing there for? Are you bored?" He Xu straightened up, turned her head to look at him, and said, "Come over if you're bored."

Sun Zhuohang pushed open the door and went out, a cold wind blowing into his collar.

He shrank his neck, quickly went into the shed, stood next to the heater, and didn't know what to do with his hands.

"Don't you have anything to do?" He Xu asked.

"……Um."

"Let's get some exercise." He Xu tilted his chin towards the dumbbells. "Want to work out?"

Sun Zhuohang hesitated for a moment: "...I'm not very good at it."

"It's okay, I'll teach you." He Xu stood up from the yoga mat, picked up a pair of light dumbbells from the shelf, and handed them to him. "Warm up first, loosen up your joints. Is this outfit okay for you? Don't get cold."

Sun Zhuohang glanced down at himself—a sweater and a thin down vest, not very thick, but enough to keep him moving: "Okay."

He Xu led him through a set of shoulder circles and arm stretches.

Sun Zhuohang followed along, his movements were earnest but his body was not very coordinated, and his whole body swayed when his shoulder blades shrugged.

He Xu stood beside him for two seconds, then reached out and pressed on his shoulder: "Don't shrug, sink down."

Sun Zhuohang nodded and did it again. This time his shoulders relaxed, but his arms were still a bit stiff.

He Xu didn't say anything more.

He walked back to the yoga mat and continued his stretching, while Sun Zhuohang followed along with the dumbbell exercises.

After practicing for about ten minutes, He Xu changed to a different set of exercises.

He sat on the yoga mat, slowly opening his legs to the sides, straightening his knees, leaning forward, spreading his palms, and his forehead almost touching the yoga mat.

The hem of the long-sleeved shirt rolled up a bit with the movement, revealing a small section of the waistline, which was being blown by the hot air from the heater.

The dumbbell in Sun Zhuohang's hand stopped in mid-air.

"Brother He Xu... how did you do that?" His voice was filled with confusion.

He Xu turned his head to look at him, still in that position: "Practice more."

"I can't even go halfway down from you."

"That's because you don't stretch regularly."

He Xu sat up and tilted his head to signal him to come and try.

Sun Zhuohang hesitated before walking over and sitting down on the yoga mat opposite He Xu, trying to open his legs to the sides.

When he turned the car to about 60 degrees, the muscles on the inside of his thighs pulled so hard that he stopped right there, his expression indescribable.

He Xu couldn't help but chuckle.

"Don't push yourself too hard," he said. "Start with what you can do."

Sun Zhuohang took a deep breath, pulled his leg back a little, gritted his teeth and pressed down, his whole body trembling slightly.

He Xu squatted down and placed a hand on his back, very lightly: "Don't hunch your back when you lean forward, keep your waist straight. The more you hunch your back, the harder it will be to go down."

Sun Zhuohang adjusted his posture as instructed, managing to press down a little further, but his expression remained distorted.

He Xu looked at him for two seconds, withdrew his hand, stood up, and said, "Take it slow, pull a little bit every day, and you'll be able to go down after a month."

"A month?"

"Um."

Sun Zhuohang's expression was somewhere between "Are you kidding me?" and "What you're saying makes perfect sense."

He Xu ignored him and went back to his yoga mat. He did a few push-ups and a set of planks, and then did a set of exercises that Sun Zhuohang couldn't name at all. It looked like he was practicing balance and core coordination.

The movements were small, but every detail was clean and there were no unnecessary movements.

Sun Zhuohang watched from the side, and the more he looked, the more he felt that his dumbbell exercises just now looked like a child jumping rope.

He Xu didn't deliberately show off anything from beginning to end. He just practiced at his own pace, with steady movements and even breathing. He would occasionally stop to drink some water.

The wind howled outside the shed, and the heater hummed, making this small space feel like a completely different world from the icy, snowy landscape outside.

But the more he thought about it, the more Sun Zhuohang felt that this person was incredibly capable.

He even felt an urge to train like him, even though he knew he probably wouldn't last three days.