Amateur talent show? Top mentors are my students.

"Too unrestrained?" Qi Xunan repeated the word, his gaze fixed on He Xu's face, as if judging whether he was joking. "The choreography for this song is power-oriented—are you sure you want to rein it in?"

"A powerful style and a restrained style are not contradictory." He Xu walked to the center of the practice room, picked up his phone from the speaker, and dragged the progress bar back to the beginning of the chorus. "In your part just now, you used a lot of force, but every movement was exploding outwards—shoulders, arms, hips, all of them were being sent in all directions."

He put down his phone and stood in front of the mirror.

"But this song isn't about going outwards."

"Watch."

The music started.

Qi Xunan stood to the side, his gaze fixed on He Xu.

He Xu danced the same chorus—the same moves, the same timing, the same intensity—but the feeling it conveyed was completely different.

His movements were smaller, his exertion was deeper, and every inch of his body felt like it was being pulled inward by something.

It was completely different from his usual flamboyant dance moves.

But that kind of restraint doesn't mean being restricted or overly constrained.

It's more like a spring compressed to its limit, with all the power trapped inside, ready to spring out at any moment.

Qi Xunan's gaze moved from He Xu's shoulder to his waist and abdomen, and then to his knees.

He finally figured it out.

He Xu's every movement was a process of "retraction".

But his eyes were looking outward.

That contrast between his inner and outer self made him feel as if he were trapped by something, yet he refused to completely surrender.

The music stopped.

He Xu stood still, his breathing more stable than usual after the dance, because the movements were smaller and the energy expenditure was less.

"You understood?" He turned his head to look at Qi Xunan.

Qi Xunan remained silent for several seconds before speaking: "...Taking it with restraint actually creates more tension."

"You finally understand." He Xu leaned against the mirror, arms crossed. "The theme of 'The Cage' is not 'resistance,' but 'struggle.'"

"You danced too much like you were rebelling, which made it less like you were being suppressed."

Qi Xunan seemed to be deep in thought. After a while, he stood in front of the mirror again and took a deep breath.

The music started.

This time, he deliberately reduced the range of motion, pressed the point of force inward, stopped pushing his shoulders outward, and narrowed the trajectory of his arms.

But the effect of jumping out is like being tied up and forced to jump, hesitant and timid.

He Xu stood by the wall, his brows furrowing slightly.

He opened his mouth, the words "What the hell are you dancing?" were already on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed them back down.

You can't curse.

Shen Yiheng said that he had been too harsh in his criticism.

Although he didn't think he had done anything wrong, he couldn't just ignore the PD's words.

He Xu suppressed his irritation and spoke in a voice half an octave lower than usual: "Stop."

Qi Xunan stopped and turned around to look at him.

He Xu walked up to him, but didn't speak immediately. Instead, he went over his thoughts, filtering out the barbed parts and keeping only the useful ones.

"Your problem just now was," He Xu began, slowing his speech, "that when you collected it, you only collected the outside, not the inside."

Qi Xunan looked at him without saying a word, but her gaze was very focused.

"Your range of motion has decreased," He Xu reached out and gently patted his shoulder, "but your method of generating force hasn't changed—you're still exploding outwards, you've just artificially shortened the radius of your movements."

"If you jump out like that, you'll end up like you are now, hesitant and timid."

Qi Xunan was silent for two seconds, then looked down at his shoulder, as if processing what he had just said.

He Xu waited two seconds to make sure he was listening, then added, "It's not about pulling your power back, it's about pushing it inward."

"I'll try again."

The music started again.

This time, Qi Xunan reduced the range of motion, shifted the point of force from his shoulders to his waist and abdomen, and pulled his body inward at every angle.

But his gaze was sharper than before.

That restrained undercurrent seeped out through the gaps in every movement.

He has a high level of comprehension.

He Xu did not interrupt him.

After the chorus finished, Qi Xunan stopped, turned to look at He Xu, and waited for him to speak.

"...Okay." He Xu leaned against the wall. "Just practice according to this feeling."

Qi Xunan nodded.

He walked to the corner, picked up the water bottle, took a sip, then walked over to He Xu and sat down against the other wall.

The two people stood about a meter apart, and neither of them spoke.

The only sounds in the practice room were the hum of the air conditioner and the faint music coming from the distant corridor.

Qi Xunan spoke first.

You're in a bad mood today.

declarative sentence.

He Xu turned his head and glanced at him: "You figured it out?"

"It's obvious," Qi Xunan said calmly, "You didn't swear today."

He Xu smiled, but didn't turn his head. He just leaned against the wall and looked at the reflections of the two people in the mirror opposite him.

"You've misunderstood me," He Xu said. "I don't have to swear to teach dance—look, I didn't swear at you today, did I?"

"Yeah." Qi Xunan nodded. "So today was even scarier."

He Xu finally turned her gaze away from the mirror, tilting her head to look at him: "What do you mean by this?"

"The literal meaning." Qi Xunan's voice remained in that indifferent tone. "When you're swearing, I know what you mean. When you're not swearing, I have to guess."

"...I definitely didn't swear."

"So you really are in a bad mood today."

He Xu didn't reply, but turned his gaze back to his fingers resting on his knees for a while before suddenly asking, "Why didn't your company give you resources before?"

Qi Xunan turned her head and glanced at him, as if trying to discern the purpose of the question.

"No reason," he said.

"There's a reason why there isn't one." He Xu leaned against the mirror. "You're capable enough, good-looking enough, and your stats aren't bad either—the company has to have a reason for not promoting you."

Qi Xunan paused for a moment, then said, "I'm not very good at fighting for things."

He Xu raised an eyebrow.

"You're not very good at fighting for things," He Xu repeated, "but you do want to fight for things, don't you?"

Qi Xunan was silent for a moment: "...I want to."

"Thinking and doing are two different things—it's useless to just think about it; you have to let others see what you're thinking."

"I know," Qi Xunan's voice remained calm, "but I don't know how to let anyone see it."

He Xu glanced at him and suddenly found the man quite interesting.

He wasn't actually familiar with Qi Xunan.

But He Xu always felt that he was different from many of the trainees he had met.

Qi Xunan is completely uninhibited on stage; her camera presence, facial expressions, and aura are all top-notch.

But once he stepped off the stage, he seemed like a completely different person—quiet, uncompetitive, and even afraid to say what he wanted.

His ambitions were also completely suppressed.

"Weren't you quite the performer on stage?" He Xu said. "Why did you go silent offstage?"

Qi Xunan remained silent for a moment, his gaze falling on his reflection in the mirror opposite him.

"...I'm used to it," he said. "I hold back offstage, but I can really let loose on stage."