Amateur talent show? Top mentors are my students.

The practice room was silent for a full three seconds.

Xu Shutong's lips moved once, then moved again.

"...Impossible," she said.

"Go through it yourself." He Xu stepped aside. "The third line, turn right."

Xu Shutong hesitated for a moment, but still walked over and followed the direction He Xu had indicated.

She stopped when she landed on the third step.

Then she blushed.

Starting from the neck, the burn went all the way to the earlobes, and even the cheekbones were covered with a thin layer of pink.

"...Did I teach it the wrong way?" she said softly, her voice carrying a clear sense of guilt.

"You taught it backwards." He Xu repeated, his lips already uncontrollably curving upwards. "I taught you all afternoon, and the whole group followed you wrong all afternoon."

"I misremembered." Xu Shutong's voice trailed off, filled with an incredulous embarrassment. "I... I mixed up the choreography in the original 'Wait Me' music video with this demo..."

He Xu looked at her, remained silent for two seconds, and then smiled.

That smile wasn't big, but it was incredibly annoying.

"...Nobody told me I was wrong!" Xu Shutong shouted angrily.

"They don't know right from wrong," He Xu said. "They'll follow your lead, of course!"

Xu Shutong's cheeks puffed out, and the embarrassment in her eyes slowly turned into a kind of "If you laugh again, I'll fight you" kind of angry rage.

"He Xu!!"

"I'm here." He Xu leaned against the mirror, arms crossed, looking like he was watching a spectacle. "Go on."

Stop gloating!

"I wasn't gloating at all," He Xu said, his expression as innocent as if it were genuine. "I was helping you correct your mistakes. Teacher Xu, you should thank me."

"Thank you my foot!" Xu Shutong took three steps over and punched him on the arm.

The force wasn't strong, but it carried a real sense of annoyance.

He Xu was jolted to the side by the blow, but the smile on his lips couldn't be contained: "I'm stating the facts."

"Facts my foot!" Xu Shutong punched him again, this time on his other arm.

She puffed out her cheeks, looking both annoyed and embarrassed, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

Five people stood there, some covering their mouths and laughing so hard their shoulders shook, some looking down pretending to tie their shoelaces, and some simply turning around to face the wall, their shoulders shrug.

"What are you laughing at!" Xu Shutong's voice rose half an octave. "Everyone, get back in line! Let's start over! Move to the right!"

The five people immediately composed themselves and stood back in their respective positions, but they couldn't suppress the smiles on their lips.

Xu Shutong turned around, took a deep breath in front of the mirror, and tried her best to regain the demeanor of a "mentor".

"The third line of the chorus, move to the right." She pressed play again, her voice still carrying a hint of lingering annoyance. "Everyone, pay attention to your movement direction."

The music started again.

-

He Xu spent the entire afternoon wandering around the practice building, teaching a few moves to one group and watching the excitement of another. He didn't say much, but his eyes were never idle.

Most groups are still in the dance learning stage, and the basic movements have just been established. They are still far from being ready to "need his help," so he is happy to have some free time.

After taking a shower that evening, he put on a dry T-shirt and was about to go back to his room to stretch a bit before lying down when his phone vibrated.

The message Shen Yiheng sent was just one line—

"Come to the lounge, there's something for everyone."

What's going on?

Holding a tea party in the middle of the night?

But he went anyway.

The lights in the corridor have been changed to warm tones, and the daytime noise has gradually subsided.

When He Xu reached the door of the mentor's lounge, he heard a commotion coming from inside—voices, laughter, and somewhat unaccustomed footsteps.

He paused for a moment as he pushed the door open.

The scene before him was much more interesting than he had imagined.

All the mentors were present.

Jung Jae-won stood in the center of the lounge, holding a phone and playing music, his expression almost manic.

Xu Shutong sat on the sofa, hugging her knees.

Jin Xian sat on the other side, holding a coffee cup, with a slight smile on her lips.

Zhou Wei—the same Zhou Wei who used to train his athletes so hard they dared not even breathe in the practice room—was standing opposite Zheng Zaiyuan, his body swaying to the beat in an extremely stiff manner.

For this third public performance, even though his main job is as a singer, he had to start learning to dance.

He Xu glanced at him a few times today and knew that his foundation was very poor, but he didn't expect it to be this bad.

It looks like a stick insect.

"Teacher Zhou, relax a bit, don't treat this like military training." Zheng Zaiyuan's voice carried a strong sense of encouragement. "This is a wave, not standing at ease or attention! Rhythm, rhythm! OK?"

Zhou Wei's brows were furrowed tightly, and his lips were pressed into a thin line.

He tried creating the wave again, but the effect was even worse than before.

He looked as if he had been struck by an electric current, his movements so stiff that it was unbearable to watch.

"Hahahahahahaha—" Xu Shutong finally couldn't help but burst out laughing, and quickly covered her mouth with her hand, but her shoulders were still shaking.

Jin Xian's hand holding the coffee cup trembled slightly.

After watching Zhou Weina's wave, which was enough to give any dance teacher a heart attack on the spot, He Xu couldn't help but smirk upwards.

"Teacher Zhou, are you dancing or doing rehabilitation exercises?"

Zhou Wei froze.

He turned his head and saw He Xu leaning against the door with that familiar, irritating smile on his face, and his brows immediately furrowed.

"Why are you here?"

"Shen Yiheng said there was going to be a good show." He Xu strolled in and sat down on the armrest of the sofa next to Xu Shutong. "He really wasn't lying to me."

Zhou Wei's ears turned red for a moment.

Jung Jae-won is still working hard to teach.

"Teacher Zhou, your hip—yes, right here—push to the right, then push to the left—"

"No, stop swaying your whole upper body!"

"A wave is when your body moves like a wave, not when you sway from side to side!"

He Xu looked at Zhou Wei's face, which was slightly flushed from exertion, and felt extremely happy.

"Teacher Zhou," he began slowly, his voice carrying a lazy mischief, "you sing so gracefully, but how come you look like you're tied up when you dance?"

Zhou Wei's brows furrowed into a tight knot: "I'm a musician, not a dancer."

"And that wave you just did," He Xu gestured with his hand, "was it some new dance style you invented yourself? I've been dancing for so many years, and I've never seen anything like it!"

Zheng Zaiyuan couldn't hold back any longer. He put his phone on the table and squatted down laughing: "He Xu, your mouth—I'm impressed, really impressed."

Zhou Wei's ears turned bright red, but he didn't turn around and leave like he did last time in the practice room.

He gritted his teeth, stared at He Xu for several seconds, and then said in an extremely restrained tone, "I'm here to learn."

"Well, you've learned it in a rather unique way," He Xu said mercilessly.

Jin Xian put down her coffee cup and smiled, a rare occurrence for her: "He Xu, say less. Teacher Zhou is already being very kind by voluntarily giving us extra practice time."

"I'm helping him improve," He Xu said matter-of-factly. "If you can't even dance well and you don't want people to criticize you, when will you ever get better?"

Zheng Zaiyuan stood up from the ground, wiping away the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes: "Alright, alright, He Xu, since you're here, why don't you teach Teacher Zhou? Your teaching will definitely be more effective than mine."

He Xu glanced at Zhou Wei, then at Zheng Zaiyuan: "Me, teach him? I'm afraid he'll get angry and kick me off the show."

Zhou Wei took a deep breath: "...No."

He Xu raised an eyebrow.

"I said I don't know," Zhou Wei repeated, his voice calmer than before. "Teach me, and I won't get angry."