Amateur talent show? Top mentors are my students.

When He Xu stepped off the stage, his legs were still a little weak.

He put almost all his strength into that dance, and every movement was 120% perfect.

The spotlight had already dimmed behind him.

The screams from the audience surged in through half a wall, wave after wave.

It seems to be working well.

He Xu stood in the corridor, head down, taking a couple of breaths, when he heard a voice coming from directly in front of him.

Wow.

He Xu raised his head.

Jiang Yanbai leaned against the wall opposite in the corridor, his arms crossed.

His gaze swept from He Xu's brow bone to the V-neck, then to the opening at the waist, and finally slowly returned to He Xu's face.

"Xiao Xu," he began, his voice laced with an incredibly irritating admiration, "do you know how many people couldn't sleep because of those three minutes you were on stage?"

Before He Xu could speak, Jiang Yanbai had already walked towards him.

He stopped in front of He Xu, looked him up and down, then reached out and very lightly tapped He Xu's collarbone with his index finger—

It's that small patch of skin at the edge of the V-neck that gets wet with sweat.

"It's wet here." Jiang Yanbai's tone was calm, but the content was explosive. "Your sweating is quite sexy."

He Xu suddenly took half a step back, clutching his collar: "...Where the hell are you touching?"

"Your collarbone," Jiang Yanbai withdrew his hand, his expression perfectly innocent. "What's wrong with touching it? The whole country saw your outfit on stage just now, can't I even get a close look?"

"You call that appreciation?" He Xu's voice was still panting from the dance. "What you're doing is taking advantage of others."

"Me, taking advantage of someone? If I really wanted to take advantage of someone, I would have done it already—"

"What do you want to do?"

Jiang Yanbai looked at him and slowly curved his lips into a smile: "What do I want to do? Of course, I want to pin you against the wall and praise you three hundred times."

He Xu took a deep breath: "...Shut the fuck up."

-

When He Xu pushed open the door to the lounge, it was filled with a smell that was a mixture of hairspray, sweat, and tension.

All twenty contestants have returned backstage.

Some people sat in chairs looking down at the floor, some leaned against the wall with their eyes closed and took deep breaths, and some stood in front of the mirror making a final adjustment to their collar and microphone.

When He Xu walked in, everyone looked over.

To be precise, I first saw the door being pushed open, then I saw the V-neck of the black shirt, and only then did I see He Xu's face.

The air fell into a subtle silence for half a second.

Jiang Yang was the first to lose his composure, jumping up from his chair: "Teacher He! That dance you just did—"

He paused, as if he couldn't find any suitable adjective.

Li Bufan chimed in from the side, "We've given you our lives."

"Shut up." He Xu walked over and casually put on a jacket over the black shirt.

I don't know where it came from, it's dark gray, and the zipper is zipped up to the top, completely covering the eye-catching V-neck.

When he had zipped up halfway, he saw Li Bufan's expression of extreme disappointment.

"...What does that expression mean?"

"Nothing, nothing." Li Bufan immediately looked away, pretending to count the lights on the ceiling. "I just think you look quite handsome in your coat, Teacher He."

"He looks even better than if he weren't wearing any clothes."

"Get out of here."

Li Bufan rolled behind Yang Sheng to hide.

He Xu's gaze swept across the entire lounge, from Yang Sheng to Qi Xunan, from Song Yingwen to Wang Yijun, from Li Bufan to Jiang Yang.

Everyone's expression was similar—nervous, expectant, and a little bit dazed at the impending end.

"Don't be so nervous." He Xu walked to the wall and leaned down, crossing his arms. "The rankings are already set, there's no use in you being nervous now."

"...Teacher He, you might as well not have said that." Li Bufan peeked half his head out from behind Yang Sheng. "When you didn't say it, we could still have some fantasies, but now that you've said it, we've lost even those fantasies."

"So should I say—I secretly looked at everyone's vote count?"

Twenty people stared wide-eyed at the same time.

"...I was just kidding."

"Teacher He!!"

He Xu smiled slightly but didn't reply.

The door to the lounge was pushed open at that moment.

Han Yu stood at the door, wearing that dark gray jacket, holding a handheld camera—the lens was pointed directly at the people inside the house, and the screen showed a red dot indicating that it was recording.

"Excuse me, I've been asked by the production team to record this historic moment." Han Yu's voice carried a hint of a smile as the camera slowly panned from left to right. "Take a look at these faces that are about to debut... and while I'm at it, let me record who's crying for the viewers."

Jiang Yang immediately turned around and wiped his face with his sleeve.

Li Bufan, on the other hand, showed no fear and even gave a peace sign to the camera.

The scene in the lounge was being transmitted in real time to the mobile phone screens of millions of viewers and the large screen at the venue.

The barrage of comments was like a hornet's nest being stirred up, with layers of white text surging out, almost flooding two-thirds of the screen.

"Wait, wait, wait—this person is Han Yu, right??? He's Han Yu, right???"

"Han Yu brought a camera to film backstage?? Is this allowed to be broadcast???"

"No, look at the camera panning across—Jiang Yang is secretly wiping away tears! He thought no one was seeing!"

"Li Bufan's 'yes' was so ridiculous, I was practically dying of laughter just looking at it through the screen..."

"Yang Sheng looks so calm... Is he not nervous at all?"

"Yang Sheng is nervous for no reason; he's practically picking at his pants seams with his fingers!"

"He Xu is wearing a coat—why?!"

"Aaaaaahhhhh why?! Why did you have to cover that dress up?! I want to see the V-neck!!!"

"He Xu, slow down! Don't zip it up so fast!!"

In the picture, He Xu had his jacket zipped up all the way, and his face was accentuated by the collar, but the dark gray jacket completely covered his waistline and collarbone.

The comments section erupted in an uproar at that moment.

"I hate this coat."

"Han Yu, go over there! Go over there and unzip his jacket!"

"Are you crazy? Hahaha, I want to too!"

"Calm down... He just finished dancing, he's sweating, it's normal for him to wear a jacket..."

"I won't listen! I won't listen! I won't listen!!!"

Han Yu walked halfway around the lounge, and the camera slowly panned across each face from left to right.

As he passed Song Yingwen, he paused and asked, "Are you nervous?"

Song Yingwen's expression didn't change much, but his lips moved slightly: "...A little."

"What's one point? What's your heart rate right now?"

"One hundred and twenty."

Han Yu chuckled and turned the camera to Jiang Yang beside him: "And you?"

Jiang Yang had already wiped his eyes dry with his sleeve, grinned at the camera, and said, "I can't feel my heart beating anymore—I should be dead by now!"

The live chat exploded again.

"Jiang Yang, hahaha, that's hilarious! You're dead and you're still talking?"

"His spirits are great! No wonder he's been through a fall!"

"I believe that people who have been through setbacks are more resilient to pressure."

"Han Yu, pat Yang Sheng a little more! He looks like he's about to break!"

The camera then shifts to Yang Sheng.

He sat in a folding chair in the corner, his back ramrod straight, his hands resting on his knees, his expression indeed very calm.

But if someone looks closely at his fingers, they will find that he is pinching the flesh between his thumb and forefinger with his fingernails.

Han Yu didn't say anything, just shoved the camera in for a two-second close-up shot, then silently turned away.

The viewers in the live chat were laughing uncontrollably.

"Han Yu, you understand so well!!"

"That close-up... Yang Sheng, why are you pinching yourself! Doesn't it hurt?!"

"He's suppressing his nervousness... Yang Sheng is the kind of person who pretends everything is fine the more nervous he is."

"Just like his teacher! Don't you think so, He Xu?"