Amateur talent show? Top mentors are my students.

Jiang Yanbai walked to the sofa, glanced down at the densely packed English pages on He Xu's phone screen, and remained silent for two seconds.

"...Are you looking into teaching strategies for autism spectrum disorder?"

He Xu didn't look up: "Mm."

"That kid again? What are you planning to do?"

"I chatted with him for a bit and watched him dance for a while—" He Xu put down his phone, leaned back on the sofa, and stared at the ceiling. "He has a great talent for dancing."

Jiang Yanbai sat down in the chair opposite him, leaning forward slightly: "...You wouldn't be thinking of taking him on as a student, would you?"

He Xu did not answer immediately.

During the few seconds he remained silent, Jiang Yanbai's brows slowly furrowed.

"He Xu, have you thought about this? He's not an ordinary kid." Jiang Yanbai's tone was serious. "Do you even know him? You don't even know his full name. You don't know his family, whether his mother agrees, or whether he can accept... your teaching methods."

"I know."

"You know that—"

"That's why I hesitated," He Xu interrupted him. "I know he's not an ordinary person, and I don't intend to teach him the way I used to."

"So what method do you plan to use? Do you know how? Can you do it?"

He Xu did not speak.

Jiang Yanbai looked at his silent face and lowered his voice: "I'm not stopping you. I just want you to think it through—you taught students before because you were good at it—but those methods probably won't work on Ian. Are you ready?"

He Xu lowered his head, staring at his fingers resting on his knees, his knuckles turning slightly white.

"...I wasn't prepared," he said, his voice lower than usual. "But I always felt that if I didn't teach him, maybe no one else would."

Jiang Yanbai looked at him but didn't reply immediately.

The living room was quiet for a while.

Then Jiang Yanbai sighed: "...You're just too soft-hearted."

"I'm soft-hearted?" He Xu turned her head to look at him. "Say that again?"

"You're soft-hearted." Jiang Yanbai retorted without backing down. "You just won't admit it. If you were truly hard-hearted, you would have already done something else."

He Xu opened his mouth, wanting to refute, but found that he really couldn't refute it.

He lowered his head, picked up his phone again, swiped it twice, and then put it down.

"...Let's talk about it tomorrow," he said. "I'll go to the dance studio tomorrow and see if he'll come back."

Jiang Yanbai stood up, went to the kitchen to pour a glass of water, and said with his back to He Xu, "If you really intend to take him in, you'd better talk to his family first."

He Xu leaned back on the sofa, his gaze fixed on the completely dark night outside the window: "...Understood."

-

The next afternoon, when He Xu pushed open the door to the dance studio, he immediately noticed something was amiss.

It wasn't a sound—the dance studio was as quiet as it had been every day he came.

The sunlight still slanted in from above, spreading a warm golden pattern of light across the wooden floor.

But there was something unfamiliar in the air.

He turned his head and saw Ian sitting on the floor against the wall, in the same posture as a few days ago—hugging his knees, his back slightly hunched, like a kitten curled up in a corner.

But there was another person next to Ian.

a woman.

A long black trench coat, a dark gray turtleneck sweater, and her hair styled in a neat bun at the back of her head.

Her features bear some resemblance to Ian's; the curve of her brow bone and the direction of her jawline both convey a cool, unpretentious sense of line.

She sat on a folding chair next to Ian, her legs together.

She wasn't holding a phone or a bag; she just sat there, with an upright posture and a very elegant demeanor.

She heard the door open and looked up.

Then her gaze fell on He Xu.

It was not aggressive, but carried a clear and vigilant observation.

He Xu stood at the entrance of the dance studio, his hand still on the doorknob. The moment he met that gaze, he felt a pressure he hadn't felt in a long time.

This veteran singer is truly remarkable.

He released the handle, stepped inside, and stopped about two meters away from Ian and the woman.

Ian looked up at him, then looked down again.

The woman remained seated in the folding chair, silent, but He Xu could feel her gaze constantly fixed on him.

He turned to her and said in Korean: "안녕하세요. 저는허욱이라고합니다. (Hello, my name is He Xu.)"

The woman looked at him, remained silent for a moment, and then spoke.

Her voice was lower than He Xu had expected, cold and indifferent; "저는박수영입니다. 이안의어머니예요. (My name is Park Soo-young. I'm Ian's mother.)"

He Xu nodded.

Park Soo-young sat upright in the folding chair, her gaze never leaving He Xu's face.

"[The following dialogue is in Korean] My son mentioned you after he came home," she said. "He rarely mentions other people, so I came."

"He came to watch me dance, and he watched for several days," He Xu said. "I just let him watch."

"I know." Park Soo-young's tone remained unchanged. "I've seen the surveillance footage."

He Xu's eyebrows twitched slightly, but he didn't reply.

Park Soo-young stood up from the folding chair.

Her movements were very light, and the hem of her trench coat swayed slightly with her movements.

She glanced at Ian—the boy was still sitting on the floor, fiddling with the loose threads on his hoodie cuffs, seemingly oblivious to what the adults were saying.

"Can we talk alone for a bit?" Park Soo-young asked. "In the hallway."

He Xu nodded.

He followed Park Soo-young out of the dance studio, the door closing behind him.

The light in the corridor was dimmer than in the dance studio. The afternoon sun slanted in from the window at the end, casting a thin strip of light on the gray-white floor.

Park Soo-young stopped in the middle of the corridor and turned to face him.

She didn't beat around the bush: "I've investigated you."

He Xu leaned against the corridor wall, arms crossed, his expression unchanged: "What did you find out?"

"The choreographer for 'Absolute Debut,' Emiko's acting collaboration—and John Carter's new movie." Park Soo-young's voice remained calm, but her gaze lingered on his face. "And your past connections in Korea."

"You investigated very thoroughly."

"My son has hardly ever mentioned anyone's name in the past sixteen years—if he mentions your name, of course I need to know who you are."

He Xu looked at her but didn't reply.

Park Soo-young took half a step forward.

She was a little shorter than He Xu, but her posture was upright, and the aura she possessed, honed by time, made her seem even more incisive up close: "I'll just ask you directly—what's your purpose?"