Amateur talent show? Top mentors are my students.

He Xu left the base after recording the interview.

Han Yu came to pick him up.

Shen Yiheng called him here.

He made the call in the afternoon.

He Xu didn't speak to him again after the interview was finished.

Arguments in the meeting room, pre-interview communication, and passing by in the corridor.

The distance between the two people is always separated by an entire team, like two parallel lines; they can see each other, but can't touch.

Shen Yiheng finally found a moment of respite after He Xu went back to his room to pack his things.

He leaned against the wall in the corridor, his phone pressed to his ear, listening to the dial tone on the other end, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the phone.

beep - beep - beep -

Each note was drawn out for a very long time.

He thought no one would answer.

His relationship with Han Yu wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't good either.

From the moment he made that decision to become a companion star, an invisible rift has existed between the two of them.

He Xu was the cause of that crack, and also the deepest scar within it.

The call connected on the fourth beep.

No one spoke on the other end.

Shen Yiheng took a deep breath and spoke first: "Han Yu."

"...Hmm." Han Yu's voice was very faint, so faint that no emotion could be detected.

"Where are you?"

"Home."

"He Xu withdrew from the competition today," Shen Yiheng said without any preamble. "He injured his ear; his high-frequency hearing in his left ear has decreased. Did you see the program's statement?"

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone.

"I saw it," Han Yu said.

"If he wants to leave, no one can stop him. But I don't want him to go back alone." Shen Yiheng's voice was very low. "There's no one in his rented room. He'll just be alone when he goes back, with no food or water, and no one will even know if his ears hurt."

Han Yu did not speak.

"Could you... come and pick him up?" Shen Yiheng asked.

Han Yu chuckled on the other end of the line.

"What makes you think I'd go?" he asked.

"I'm begging you... I owe you a favor. He's already done enough... He can't take it anymore. Even if he could, I couldn't bear to watch..." Shen Yiheng said. "So, I'll consider it an obligation. Come and take him away."

Han Yu's voice came through the receiver, a little lower than before: "Are you finished?"

Shen Yiheng opened his mouth, wanting to say something more, but his throat felt like it was blocked by something.

"You've finished talking, now I'll speak." Every word Han Yu uttered seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth. "What makes you think he's your only teacher?"

Shen Yiheng's finger paused on the phone case for a moment.

"You owe me a favor?" Han Yu chuckled, a cold laugh. "Shen Yiheng, who wants a favor from you?"

His voice finally rose a little, but he quickly lowered it again.

"He was also my teacher."

"I'm not that ungrateful."

-

He Xu didn't have much stuff: a backpack, a jacket, and a bag of medicine that the doctor had given him.

He stood at the entrance of the base and waited for less than ten minutes before a black SUV pulled up in front of him.

The car window rolled down, revealing Han Yu's face, which looked thinner than when they last met at the hospital.

"Get in the car," Han Yu said, without any pleasantries or extra greetings.

He Xu opened the passenger door, got in, and fastened his seatbelt. His movements were slow, each one more strenuous than usual.

Han Yu glanced at him.

He Xu looked worse than he did at the hospital that day; his eyes were dark and bluish, his lips were chapped, and his left ear was stuffed with cotton.

He leaned back in his seat, his head slightly turned toward the right window, his gaze fixed on the scenery rushing past outside.

He didn't speak.

Han Yu didn't say anything more and started the car.

The car was quiet; no music was playing, and the air conditioning was set very low.

The air blowing out of the vents carried a faint leather scent.

He Xu fell asleep—or rather, passed out—less than ten minutes into the drive.

His head rested against the car window, swaying gently with the car's bumps, his brow furrowed, his breathing heavy and labored.

Han Yu glanced at him at the red light, then reached out and adjusted the passenger seat back a little, before pulling a jacket from the back seat and covering him with it.

He Xu did not wake up.

This made Han Yu feel that something was wrong.

He had known He Xu for so many years and knew how light a sleeper this person was.

Back when he was with Banxing, he would immediately open his eyes if someone gently pushed the door open in the practice room.

Even with the car bumping so much, he didn't wake up.

It's probably because my body can't take it anymore.

The car drove for more than an hour, from the suburbs where the program crew's base was located, through most of the city, and finally stopped at the entrance of an inconspicuous residential area in the old town.

Han Yu parked the car, turned off the engine, and turned his head to look at the person who was still asleep in the passenger seat.

He didn't want to wake him.

But there's no underground parking here, and parking the car outside would be too conspicuous; he didn't want to be photographed.

"He Xu," Han Yu called out, his voice neither too loud nor too soft.

no response.

"He Xu." He called again, reaching out and gently touching He Xu's shoulder.

He Xu's body stiffened abruptly, and he sprang up from his seat, his back pressed tightly against the chair back.

His eyes opened, his pupils dilated slightly, his gaze unfocused, and his lips moved but no sound came out.

Han Yu's hand was still suspended in mid-air. Looking at He Xu's expression, his fingers curled slightly.

"...Have we arrived?" He Xu's voice was squeezed out of his throat, so hoarse that it was almost inaudible.

"We're here." Han Yu withdrew his hand, his voice very soft. "You were asleep. I called you several times."

He Xu closed his eyes, his fingers gripping the seatbelt until his knuckles turned white, and took several deep breaths before slowly loosening his grip.

He pushed open the car door, got out, and moved much slower than usual.

Han Yu took He Xu's backpack from the trunk, locked the car, and walked over to him.

He Xu didn't look at him, and walked into the residential area with her head down.

Han Yu followed behind him, with a distance of two or three steps between them.

He Xu lives on the sixth floor, where there is no elevator.

Han Yu followed behind him up the stairs, watching his back.

She was too thin; the outline of her shoulder blades was visible beneath her white T-shirt. She took each step firmly, but her whole body looked like she might collapse at any moment.

When he arrived at the door, He Xu fumbled for his keys in his pocket, but couldn't find them after searching for a long time.

His hands were trembling.

"I'll do it." Han Yu stepped forward, took the backpack from his hand, and opened the side pocket.

The key is inside.

Seeing his movements, He Xu took half a step back.

This half-step made Han Yu's fingers pause for a moment.

When He Xu retreated, his body almost instinctively leaned against the wall, as if he wanted to shrink himself into a corner.

Han Yu didn't look at him. He inserted the key into the lock, turned it, pushed open the door, put his backpack on the shoe cabinet by the door, and then stepped out.

"The medicine is in my backpack. Take it three times a day after meals." His voice was calm. "I'm leaving."

He Xu leaned against the wall, looking at him without speaking or moving.

Han Yu turned and walked towards the stairwell. After taking three steps, a voice came from behind him, so soft that it was almost inaudible.

"...Han Yu".

He stopped in his tracks.

"Could you...not go?"

Han Yu stood at the top of the stairs without turning around.

The lights in the hallway are voice-activated, and they've already turned off because there was no sound.

"Could you...not go?"

These five words, spoken by He Xu, felt more unfamiliar to Han Yu than any other sentence he had ever heard.

He Xu would never say such a thing.

He's always pushing others away.

Han Yu turned around.

The motion-activated lights turned on at that moment, illuminating the corridor in a stark white light.

He saw that He Xu was still leaning against the wall, without moving.

But his eyes reddened.

"He Xu." Han Yu walked back and stopped in front of him. "What's wrong?"

He Xu shook his head, his lips moved, but no sound came out.

Han Yu reached out and pulled He Xu up from the wall, then pushed him through the door while holding his shoulder.

The moment the door closed, He Xu's legs went weak.

His knees bent, and he fell downwards.

Han Yu quickly grabbed his waist and dragged him to the sofa.

He Xu lay down on the sofa, curled up in a ball, and buried his face in the cushions.

He didn't cry, or at least he didn't make a sound, but his shoulders were shaking, and his whole body was trembling.

Han Yu squatted down beside the sofa, looking at him, and suddenly understood why Shen Yiheng insisted that he come to pick him up.

It wasn't just because Shen Yiheng was busy or He Xu needed someone to take care of him.

Furthermore, He Xu's condition was so poor that he couldn't reveal it to anyone.

It wouldn't work in front of Shen Yiheng, it wouldn't work in front of anyone in the production team, and it would be even worse in front of the kids like Li Bufan, Yang Sheng, and Jiang Yang.

Only in front of Han Yu could He Xu let his guard down.

It's not because Han Yu is closer to Shen Yiheng.

It was because Han Yu had seen him at his most disheveled.

Four years ago, when He Xu was hospitalized with a sore throat, Shen Yiheng was stopped outside the ward by company personnel. It was Han Yu who climbed in through the window.

He Xu was lying in a hospital bed at the time, unable to speak, and could only type on his phone.

He typed five words for Han Yu to see: "Don't tell anyone."

Han Yu stared at that sentence for a long time, then nodded.

From then on, He Xu stopped pretending in front of him.

Han Yu had seen him at his most vulnerable; all pretense was meaningless in front of him.

At this moment, He Xu was curled up on the sofa, his face buried in the cushions, his shoulders trembling.

Han Yu squatted down beside him, without saying a word or touching him, just waiting quietly.

waited for so long.

It was so long that the sky outside the window changed from grayish-blue to dark blue, and then from dark blue to black.

He Xu finally moved.

He lifted his head from the cushion, revealing a disheveled face flushed red from tears.

His eyes were swollen, the tip of his nose was red, and his lips were dry and cracked. He looked as if something had hollowed him out from the inside out.

"...Why haven't you left yet?" His voice was so hoarse that it was almost just a breath.

"You told me not to leave," Han Yu said.

He Xu remained silent for two seconds.

"...Did I say that?"

"Um."

He Xu stared at him for two seconds, then buried her face in the cushion again.

"...Never mind what I said."

Han Yu didn't say anything.

He looked at the back of He Xu's head, which was buried in the cushion, at his excessively thin wrist, and at his slightly trembling shoulders.

His Adam's apple bobbed.

He stood up and went into the kitchen.

The stove was covered in a layer of dust, and there were only a few bottles of expired mineral water in the refrigerator.

Han Yu rolled up his sleeves and began wiping the stove, boiling water, and rinsing the rice.

As the porridge bubbled and simmered in the pot, he leaned against the kitchen doorway, watching the figure curled up on the sofa.

I was so heartbroken I couldn't speak.