Amateur talent show? Top mentors are my students.

For the next two weeks, He Xu's efficiency was once again at its peak.

Every day from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., they would stay in the dance studio of Aurora Media, working with the seven members of NOVA to refine the choreography of their debut song three times from beginning to end, breaking it down into eight beats each time.

"Yang Sheng, the arm trajectory in the third verse of the chorus is a little narrower than in the previous version."

"Qi Xunan, revise the transitions in the bridge solo again. Your current version isn't clean enough."

"Li Bufan, stop trying to show off. Practice your landing technique on the floor a hundred times over."

The seven people were scolded by him until they started complaining on the first day, but gradually became numb to it.

In the last two weeks, I vaguely felt a sense of unease, as if I would feel strange if I didn't get scolded one day.

He Xu spent the afternoon working on the choreography framework for Han Yu's dance.

Han Yu's new song final version was sent over the second week after the finals. He Xu opened the file, listened to it once, and then replied, "The arrangement is pretty good, leaving a lot of room for choreography."

He spent two days outlining the framework, and another four days refining it to a filmable demo level, before handing it over to Han Yu: "Find someone to film it yourself, I don't have enough time."

Han Yu replied with an "OK," and then added, "Let's have a meal together before I leave."

He Xu replied, "Get lost, I'm busy."

He spent all his evenings and weekends handling various finishing touches.

The contract handover with Banxing, the choreographer contract with Aurora Media, and the signing of choreography consultant agreements for several spin-off programs following "Absolute Debut" were all completed.

There were also a few scattered cooperation offers; we turned down the ones that needed to be turned down and forwarded the others to Lao Yuan and his team.

In less than a month, his desk was spotless.

The only thing he deliberately delayed mentioning until the very end was how long he would be gone.

A week before their departure, after NOVA's training ended, He Xu called the seven people together. He leaned against the mirror, hands in his pockets, glanced at the seven young faces, and spoke a little slower than usual: "This time I'm going to America, and I won't be back in just a month or two."

The dance studio fell silent for a moment.

Jiang Yang was the first to react, his voice tightening slightly: "Then... how long?"

"About half a year, maybe longer," He Xu said. "It depends on the treatment. The experts there said that the vocal cord repair surgery, plus the postoperative recovery period, will take at least six to eight months."

Li Bufan's fingers gripped the hem of his shirt, his dingy orange hair appearing somewhat dull under the light: "Then NOVA's choreography—"

"I've finished all the choreography for our debut song," He Xu said calmly. "The choreography framework for the next two comeback songs is also complete. I'll hand it over to Teacher Zheng Zaiyuan before I leave, and he'll take over and guide you guys."

He paused for a moment, then said, "The rest is up to you."

Yang Sheng stood at the very front, his back ramrod straight, his lips pressed into a thin line.

He didn't ask, "Will you come back?" because he knew that asking would only make the situation more awkward.

He Xu glanced at him, as if she could see through his unspoken words: "Of course I'm coming back—I'm not immigrating, I can't afford the high cost of living in America."

Jiang Yang's eyes were already red, but he bit his lip to stop himself from crying.

Li Bufan couldn't hold back any longer. He lowered his head and rubbed his face hard with his sleeve, then looked up and forced a smile that looked worse than crying: "Brother He Xu, we'll definitely be better off in half a year than we are now."

"That would be for the best," He Xu said. "Otherwise, the first thing I'll do when I get back is yell at you all."

A low laugh, slightly nasal, echoed in the dance studio.

Three days before departure, He Xu went to Banxing.

Before he left, he made a special trip to the practice room where he had spent six years.

The sign at the entrance has been changed; his old name has been temporarily removed and replaced with that of another young choreographer.

He Xu stood at the door for a few seconds, then turned and left.

The night before his departure, He Xu packed his belongings from his rented room into two suitcases.

One container held clothes and personal items, while the other contained a bunch of medicine, protective gear, and charging cables.

When Han Yu came to see him off the next morning, he stood at the door for a long time.

He Xu sat at the dining table, leisurely eating breakfast. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that the other man was standing there motionless. "What are you standing there for? You don't need to move any things."

Han Yu withdrew his gaze, his tone calm: "What are you planning to do with this house?"

"Empty."

"Not cancelling the lease?"

"It's not like I'm not coming back." He Xu put down his chopsticks. "It's only been a little over half a year."

Han Yu didn't reply, but walked over and sat down opposite He Xu. The living room was silent for a few seconds; no one spoke.

He Xu lowered his head, finished the last mouthful of porridge, put the bowl in the sink, then picked up two suitcases and walked towards the door: "Let's go."

Han Yu stood up and followed behind him, taking one of the suitcases without saying a word.

The two of them walked down the corridor in silence.

-

There were more people in the airport departure hall than He Xu had expected.

He dragged two suitcases to the check-in counter, where Jiang Yanbai had already arrived.

The person was wearing sunglasses and a mask, and a loose black hoodie. He looked completely different from how he usually appeared on camera.

"Your makeup and styling almost made me not recognize you." He Xu walked over and looked him up and down.

"Keep a low profile." Jiang Yanbai's voice came from behind his mask. "Don't get too close to me when we go through security later, or we'll get photographed."

He Xu glanced at him: "Who's going with you? I'll queue up myself."

"...You are so heartless."

He Xu ignored him and dragged his suitcase to the check-in line.

The two were indeed separated by two windows, and did not exchange a single word throughout the entire encounter.

Only after passing through security and entering the waiting area did Jiang Yanbai finally relax, pulling his mask down to his chin and letting out a long sigh: "I'm exhausted."

He Xu sat down in the seat next to him: "You seem to have quite a lot of experience in dealing with paparazzi."

"What do you think?" Jiang Yanbai leaned back in his chair. "I've been flying for seven years, and every time I go back to China it's like fighting a guerrilla war."

He Xu didn't speak, but turned his head to look at the plane that was about to carry them across the Pacific Ocean outside the floor-to-ceiling window.

The announcements in the waiting area were informing passengers of boarding, and the surrounding crowd began to stand up and move towards the boarding gate.

Jiang Yanbai stood up from his seat, reached for the nearly empty backpack at his feet, and glanced at He Xu: "Let's go. It's time to leave."

He Xu stood up, pulled down the brim of his hat, and followed behind him.

The lights in the boarding gate were blindingly bright.

He Xu followed behind Jiang Yanbai and heard someone among the passengers who had boarded the plane earlier suddenly raise their voice, filled with an irrepressible excitement.

He turned his head and saw through the glass a small group of people gathered outside the railings in the distance inside the terminal.

People were holding up light boards, holding up cell phones, and several people were waving their arms and legs in front of the phone camera—the name printed on them was clearly Jiang Yanbai's.

He Xu withdrew his gaze and said in a flat tone, "You tried to hide the whole way, but you still got photographed before boarding."

Jiang Yanbai didn't turn around, his tone tinged with a helpless smugness: "You'll get used to it. But don't worry, they won't be able to take pictures of you. I'll walk in front, you stay close."

He Xu glanced ahead a couple more times and saw that behind the human wall, quite a few people were already taking pictures of the boarding bridge with their phones.

He quickened his pace, pressing close behind Jiang Yanbai, his hat brim pulled down even lower: "Will this work?"

"Not bad." Jiang Yanbai glanced at him sideways. "He's like my personal underling."

"...Believe it or not, I'll punch you in the head!"

"No, no, no, I was wrong, I was wrong."