Amateur talent show? Top mentors are my students.

He Xu leaned against the mirror, his chest still heaving, sweat trickling down his jawline.

He looked at Jiang Yanbai's unusually expressionless face, remained silent for a few seconds, and then said, "...You don't know anything."

"You don't understand the songs I wrote?" Jiang Yanbai walked in and closed the door. "Your ending pose just now—you curled up into a ball, then slowly stood up—were you implying something?"

"What are you implying?"

"It's implying that you're someone who's too tightly bound to yourself, yet unwilling to let go." Jiang Yanbai's voice carried a rare seriousness. "When I wrote this song, I was thinking about 'loop'—a loop is a circle, without a beginning or an end, so it doesn't matter whether it starts or ends."

He Xu looked at him without saying a word.

"But the feeling you experienced when you jumped out wasn't a cycle." Jiang Yanbai leaned forward slightly.

The practice room was quiet for a few seconds.

He Xu lowered his eyes and looked at his fingers resting on his knees.

There were still traces of dust left on the floor from dancing practice under her fingernails.

"...You're right." He finally spoke. "I really didn't want to jump through the loop."

"So what do you want to dance?"

He Xu raised his head, his gaze falling on his reflection in the mirror opposite him: "...What I want to dance is 'Break Free'."

Jiang Yanbai's expression shifted slightly.

"The ouroboros keeps eating its own tail, over and over again, never stopping. But what if it doesn't want to eat it anymore? What happens to the tail if it opens its mouth?"

"It will fall down. Then it won't be round anymore."

"Yes," He Xu said, "it's no longer an ouroboros."

Jiang Yanbai leaned back in his chair, stared at He Xu for a long time, and then slowly smiled.

That smile lacked the usual slickness, instead possessing something softer: "So what you want to jump is 'a snake that no longer wants to eat its own tail'."

"...That interpretation is acceptable."

Jiang Yanbai stood up, walked to He Xu, bent down, and extended a hand.

He Xu looked at the hand, then at Jiang Yanbai's face.

"what?"

"Let me help you up," Jiang Yanbai said. "Aren't you cold sitting on the ground?"

He Xu looked at him for a few seconds, then reached out and grabbed his wrist, using it to stand up.

When he stood up, his legs were a little numb from squatting for so long, and he swayed to the side.

Jiang Yanbai immediately reached out and supported his shoulder.

Be careful.

"Let go." He Xu's voice carried a hint of impatience, but he didn't struggle.

Jiang Yanbai held on for another two seconds before slowly letting go and taking half a step back.

"Are you planning to dance this on the final stage?" he asked.

"Um."

"Use my song?"

"Um."

Jiang Yanbai paused for a moment, then said, "You won't pay the copyright fees?"

"You fucking—" He Xu picked up a water bottle from the floor and pretended to smash it at him.

Jiang Yanbai laughed and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender: "Just kidding, just kidding! I'd love for Xiao Xu to dance to my song—your part just now was more exciting than all the music videos for this song."

He Xu put down the water bottle, unscrewed the cap, and took a sip: "Stop flattering me."

"I'm telling the truth." Jiang Yanbai's joking expression disappeared. "Your dance, once it's on stage, will steal the soul from everyone in the audience."

He Xu didn't reply. He put the water bottle back in the corner, bent down to pick up the towel draped over the speaker, and wiped his face. "Alright, go out now that you're done watching. I need to go through it two more times."

"Still going smoothly? What you just said was already—"

"Not enough," He Xu interrupted him. "The ending of the spin in the chorus lands too far to the side. Practice it a few more times to make it cleaner."

Jiang Yanbai opened his mouth, but in the end just shook his head, with an expression that said, "You're hopeless." "Fine, you can practice. I'll leave your dinner at the door."

The door closed.

The practice room fell silent again, with only the buzzing of the speakers remaining.

He Xu stood in front of the mirror, took a deep breath, and dragged the progress bar back to the beginning.

When the music started playing again, his body was more relaxed than before.

The landing, which was off by half a step, was corrected on the third attempt.

When he practiced for the seventh time, he stopped, took a sip of water, and then stood in front of the mirror again.

Eighth time.

Ninth time.

The tenth time.

When he finally felt that the chorus's spinning ending was so clean that he couldn't find any fault with it, the sky outside the window had completely darkened.

He turned off the speaker, unplugged his phone from Bluetooth, walked to the door, bent down, and picked up the lunchbox that was placed on the floor.

The insulated box was still warm, containing porridge and a few light side dishes.

He Xu leaned against the corridor wall, lifted the lid, and slowly finished his meal.

Then he went back to his dorm, took a shower, lay on his bed, stared at the ceiling, and thought about tomorrow for a while.

The ear has basically recovered.

The doctor said that the high-frequency band is still slowly recovering, but daily life is no longer affected, and there is no need to wear earplugs anymore.

He turned over, pulled the blanket tighter around himself, and closed his eyes.

There's one week left until the final.

He should go to work.

-

The next morning at eight o'clock, He Xu appeared in the main practice building on time.

He was wearing a plain black short-sleeved shirt, sweatpants, and white sneakers, with a work pass issued by the production team hanging around his neck.

He carried a bottle of mineral water in his left hand and put his right hand in his pocket, walking at a leisurely pace, just like in the days before he withdrew from the competition.

When the contestants in the corridor saw him, they were stunned for a moment, and then they all stood up straight.

"Hello, Teacher He!" someone shouted, their voice as loud as a military drill roll call.

He Xu turned his head and glanced at him: "Your voice is already so good this morning?"

The contestant was taken aback by his words, his expression froze, unsure of what to say next.

He Xu had already walked past him.

The first practice room was Yang Sheng's group's.

The door wasn't closed properly, and you could hear music coming from inside through the crack.

The drumbeats are dense and the rhythm is hard, making it the kind of choreography that requires a lot of physical strength.

When He Xu pushed open the door, Yang Sheng was standing in front of the mirror with his back to the door.

He was wearing a gray training T-shirt soaked with sweat, his hair wet and plastered to his forehead, as he was doing a series of floor exercises with one hand on the ground.

The three group members next to me each occupied a corner; one was stretching his legs, one was reciting lyrics from a lyric book, and one was massaging his sore calves.

Before Yang Sheng could finish his action, the door opened.

His peripheral vision caught sight of the figure at the door, and he suddenly paused, shifting his weight and tilting to the side.

He Xu leaned against the doorframe, watching his disheveled state, and a slight smile curved his lips: "So excited to see me?"

Yang Sheng stood up from the ground and casually brushed the dust off his knees: "...Teacher He."

"Hmm." He Xu walked in, glanced around the practice room, and asked, "Where are we at?

"We just finished rehearsing the synchronized dance part of the chorus," Yang Sheng said. "There are still a few places where the positioning is a bit unstable."

He Xu walked to the center of the practice room, placed the water bottle in the corner, and then turned to look at the four boys: "Let me see you dance it once."

The four people stood in their respective positions at the same time.

When the music started, He Xu leaned against the wall, crossed his arms, and looked at the reflections of the four people in the mirror.

Yang Sheng was much more stable than he had expected.

His solo practice over the past few days has clearly paid off; his movement framework is now quite solid, and he's found his power points more accurately than before.

But He Xu frowned after only thirty seconds.