Amateur talent show? Top mentors are my students.

#HeXuSavingTheScenesWhileInjured# became a separate hashtag twenty minutes later, climbing to third place on the trending topics list.

Someone unearthed a work photo taken by staff at the scene of the second performance—He Xu was sitting behind the monitoring station, his hat brim pulled low, a process chart covered with red circles spread out in front of him, and a pot of water and a box of throat lozenges beside him.

The photo wasn't very clear, but it was enough for everyone to recognize him.

"He even had an earplug in his left ear... How did he manage to stay awake all night?"

"The stage manager did the most tiring job, being under constant tension and not even daring to sit down, yet he managed to carry the entire show."

"Does this person not know they need to rest?"

He knows, but he doesn't care.

He Xu: What is rest? Can you eat it?

Public opinion reached its peak in the early hours of the morning, forcing the program's public relations team to hold a meeting overnight.

But before the meeting, the production team received a call from the investors, who were very direct—sign He Xu.

Whether you want to be a contestant, a mentor, an advisor, or even a cleaning lady, just sign up.

After receiving the call, the director remained silent for a long time before dialing a number, his voice carrying an emotion that was hard to describe as either helplessness or admiration.

"...He Xu, are you free tomorrow? Come to the base."

He Xu originally didn't want to go.

Last night, after finishing my work at the Second Public Event, I went back to my rented room and fell asleep immediately without even checking my phone.

I woke up this morning to find his photos and discussions all over Weibo.

Han Yu leaned against the kitchen doorway, holding up his phone and reading the trending search terms to him, laughing as he read each one, clearly enjoying the spectacle.

He Xu listened expressionlessly, then said, "What does this have to do with me?" and continued drinking his porridge.

Han Yu put his phone away and said, "The production team will definitely contact you." He Xu replied, "Even if they contact me, I won't go. I have no illusions about this makeshift team."

Then the phone rang.

When the director said "He Xu, come over here for a moment" on the phone, He Xu was washing dishes with foam still on his hands.

So he immediately put the phone on speakerphone and threw it on the stove.

"what?"

"The investors... want to discuss a collaboration with you."

"I won't answer."

"Let me finish speaking—"

"I won't listen."

"He Xu!!"

"I can't hear you clearly." He Xu turned off the speakerphone. "Send me a WeChat message, I can see it."

Hang up when you're done.

As for why he still went—it was Han Yu who forced him to go.

"They've already called to invite you, aren't you going?" Han Yu leaned against the kitchen doorway. "Going for a bit won't kill you."

"If I go there, I will die in an 'accident'."

He lay expressionless on the sofa.

"Going there will only give you another contract and a lot of money." Han Yu walked up to him, looking down at him. "Didn't you say you were bored? Now that you have work to do, you don't want to anymore?"

……

That makes so much sense, I can't argue with that.

So he went.

He Xu returned to the base the next day.

The meeting room door was half open, and when He Xu pushed it open, he found that it was already full of people.

The director, producer, publicity director, legal counsel, and representatives from the two investors.

And there were those familiar mentors—Shen Yiheng sat at the end of the long table, Zheng Zaiyuan sat next to him, and Xu Shutong and Zhou Wei sat side by side.

Jin Xian wasn't there; she's reportedly busy with a gig.

He Xu stood at the door, glanced at the scene, and frowned.

"What's all this fuss about?" He casually pulled up a chair, sat down, and crossed his legs. "Speak, what is it?"

The director coughed and pushed a contract over from the table.

"He Xu, we would like to sign a long-term cooperation agreement with you."

He Xu glanced down at the contract cover, which had the program logo of "Absolute Debut" printed on it, and a line of small print below it—"Special Invited Dance Instructor Cooperation Agreement".

"Special guest dance instructor?" He Xu looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." The director continued, speaking very quickly, as if afraid that He Xu would stand up and leave halfway through. "The content mainly includes: stage choreography for subsequent programs, dance instruction for contestants, and stage coordination for public performances—you should be very familiar with these."

"Anything else?" He Xu flipped through a couple of pages of the contract, his tone casual. "And the salary?"

Salary—

The director announced a number.

He Xu paused for a moment as he turned the page.

When the director finished announcing the number, there was a two-second silence in the conference room.

He Xu looked up and asked, "Say it again?"

I said—

"I heard you," He Xu interrupted him. "I just wanted to make sure you guys weren't crazy."

The director opened his mouth, about to explain, when He Xu spoke up again: "You're a talent show, and you're offering me this kind of price? Do you have too much money to burn, or do you think I'd agree?"

"He Xu, listen to me—"

"I said it's not about the money." He Xu closed the contract and pushed it back across the table. "This show is way too casual. I was a contestant one minute and a mentor the next? Is that even believable?"

"That's outrageous," the director said, going along with his point. "But you have the talent, and you're worth the price—both in terms of professionalism and popularity."

He Xu was taken aback by those words and looked at the director for several seconds, seemingly trying to determine if he was joking.

The director looked very serious.

He Xu glanced at the words "Special Guest Dance Instructor" on the contract cover again, and suddenly remembered something.

He turned his head, his gaze sweeping across half the conference room, landing on Shen Yiheng.

Shen Yiheng sat at the far end of the long table and hadn't said a word since the meeting started.

He Xu's eyes held a very obvious question—Did you do this?

Shen Yiheng shook his head slightly, a hint of helplessness in his expression.

He Xu withdrew his gaze.

"He Xu," the producer spoke up at the right moment, "this wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision. Everyone saw the stage effects of yesterday's second performance, and you know the audience's reaction; everyone's talking about you online."

He paused, then softened his voice: "This show needs you."

He Xu leaned back in his chair, glanced at the producer for two seconds, and then snorted.

"Alright, alright, stop with the act." He sat up straight, tapping his fingers twice on the edge of the table. "Your show keeps saying you're short of choreographers, then a director, then contestants. Who would believe that?"

The director's lips twitched, as if he wanted to say, "Can you please stop making fun of us?" but he swallowed the words back—because He Xu was telling the truth.

"Three conditions, will you agree or not?"

"you say."

"First, we'll sign quarterly contracts, not long-term ones. I'll be available whenever you call, but I reserve the right to leave at any time."

The director opened his mouth: "This 'run away at any time'—"

"Let me finish," He Xu interrupted him. "Secondly, I'll only handle stage-related matters: choreography, coordination, and technical guidance. Don't make me do any 'mentor's remarks,' and don't make me go on stage to interact with the contestants. I won't do it."

"……OK."

"Third," He Xu's gaze slid from the director's face to Shen Yiheng's, "when I'm working, don't stand there and give me instructions. Especially you—"

He pointed at Shen Yiheng and said, "Don't look at me like that, as if you're deaf."

Shen Yiheng's expression froze for a moment when his name was called.

"I didn't—"

"You did." He Xu withdrew his hand. "You think I didn't notice? How many times did you peek at me backstage last night? Am I your son or your teacher?"

Shen Yiheng opened his mouth, wanting to refute, but found that he did indeed have that habit.

"...Okay," he said, his voice lower.

"Alright then." He Xu stood up, pushed his chair back under the table, rolled up the contract, and held it in his hand. "I'll review the contract when I get back. If there are no problems, I'll sign it."

He walked to the door, paused, and turned to look at the director: "Your show is really casual."

director:"……"

"There's not even a transition from contestant to mentor." He Xu shook his head. "Even a makeshift team would have to call you their grandmaster."

After saying that, he opened the door and went out.

The meeting room was silent for a few seconds.

Then Jung Jae-won was the first to laugh, his voice sounding particularly loud in the not-so-large space.

"Hahahaha—he's right, he is indeed quite casual." He leaned back in his chair. "But don't you guys think? The more he acts like this, the more the audience buys into it."

Zhou Wei picked up his coffee cup, took a sip, and said calmly, "That's why he's worth the price."

Xu Shutong glanced at him, seemingly not quite understanding.

Shen Yiheng sat in the corner, covering half his face with a pen cap, his shoulders shaking.

After a long while, he finally put down his pen, and the corners of his mouth curved up high on his face, which had been hidden by the pen cap for a long time.

-

This time, the production team didn't hide anything.

They even use it as a warm-up.

The official Weibo account of "Absolute Debut" posted a new update at 6:00 PM that day, accompanied by a picture of a brand new work ID card—an orange lanyard, a white card, the program logo printed in the upper right corner, and a photo of He Xu in the center.

In the photo, He Xu is expressionless, with stray hairs falling on his brow bone and his lips slightly pursed, looking somewhat unwilling, but his facial features are still so handsome that it's hard to look away.

Below the ID photo are two lines of text: "Special Invited Dance Instructor / He Xu".

The official Weibo post contained only one sentence: "Welcome back to the 'Absolute Debut' family, Teacher He Xu."

The comment section was flooded with tens of thousands of messages within three minutes.

"Special guest dance instructor??? Wow, the contestant's become the mentor, huh???"

"Others enter talent shows to debut, but He Xu enters them to get promoted."

He Xu: I'm not targeting anyone in particular, I'm saying that everyone here is—my student.

"The production team knows how to generate buzz; I'll take this hype."

"So, is he going to be a mentor alongside Shen Yiheng? A mentor and student on the same stage???"

"He Xu: When I used to scold you, you were my student. Now that I'm standing here scolding you, I'm still your teacher."

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, are you panicking yet?!"

The program's publicity department breathed a sigh of relief as they watched the data surge in the backend – this time, the public opinion was entirely positive.

Within two hours of the announcement, related topics occupied four spots on the trending topics list.

Anyone even remotely connected to "Absolute Debut" has seen that announcement.

Of course, there are forty other teenagers in the world who don't know this.

Although these players won the second round, they continued to stay at the base.

But they still don't have cell phones.