Amateur talent show? Top mentors are my students.

"It's too late." Han Yu had already swiped open the screen, cleared his throat, and began to read in a melodious, suppressed-laughter tone—

"When Shen Yiheng was being instructed by He Xu, the way he cautiously peeked at his teacher—what else could this be but love?!"

He Xu leaned back in his chair, expressionless.

"A leopard cat and a golden retriever are a perfect match! One is aloof and sarcastic but actually soft-hearted, the other is sunny and clingy but actually super cool. What else could they be but a match made in heaven!"

He Xu's brow twitched.

"Did you guys notice that during the second performance, Shen Yiheng was hosting on stage, and he clearly glanced at He Xu several times out of the corner of his eye? I counted, at least ten times! Ten times, everyone!"

Han Yu finally couldn't help but laugh out loud, turning his phone over to show He Xu: "There are still over three thousand likes on this post."

He Xu stared at the screen for three seconds, then turned his face back: "...You're quite free."

"I'm just keeping an eye on public opinion for you, aren't I?" Han Yu put his phone away, the smile on his lips still there. "You're a special guest mentor for the show now, so any online discussions related to you fall under your job responsibilities."

"Including things like this?"

"Including things like this."

He Xu was silent for a moment, then turned his head to look at Han Yu.

Han Yu was looking down at his phone, his profile illuminated by the fluorescent lights in the rest area, his eyelashes casting a faint shadow on his cheekbone.

He still had a smile on his lips, but there was something in that smile that made He Xu look at him for a couple more seconds.

That's too deliberate.

He Xu couldn't help but have the wicked thought of teasing the other party again.

He stared at Han Yu for a few seconds, then suddenly spoke.

"Han Yu".

"Um."

"Are you...jealous?"

Han Yu's fingers were still on the phone screen, and he froze for about two seconds.

Then he suddenly raised his head, his gaze meeting He Xu's eyes, which held a mixture of inquiry and mockery.

"...What did you say?" Han Yu's voice rose half an octave, clearly showing a reaction as if his tail had been stepped on.

"I said," He Xu leaned back in his chair, a slightly malicious smile playing on his lips, "are you jealous?"

Han Yu's ears turned red at a visible speed.

Starting from the earlobes, the burn spread all the way down to the neck, even covering the cheekbones with a thin layer of pink.

"I—you—" he stammered twice, then abruptly looked away. "Are you crazy? Why would I be jealous?"

"Why did you sound so sarcastic when you were reading those things just now?"

"What did I mean by being sour?!" Han Yu's voice rose a little more. "Wasn't I reading that to you? You only did it because you were curious—"

"I wasn't curious," He Xu interrupted him. "You insisted on showing it to me."

Han Yu opened his mouth, then closed it again.

His ears were so red they looked like they were about to bleed.

He lowered his head, remained silent for several seconds, and then said in a low, dry voice, "...I'm not jealous."

"Oh." He Xu nodded. "Then why do you stutter?"

"I don't stutter!"

"You just used three 'I's' and one 'you' before you could utter a complete sentence. Is that what you call not stuttering?"

Han Yu slammed his phone down on his knee, stood up abruptly, and turned to walk towards the entrance of the rest area.

They walked so fast it was as if they were fleeing a crime scene.

He Xu watched his retreating figure and slowly said, "Why are you walking so fast?"

Han Yu paused at the doorway, one hand already on the curtain, but he didn't push it open.

He stood there, his back to He Xu, his shoulders slightly tense, as if he were having some kind of difficult struggle with himself.

He Xu didn't rush him. He just leaned back in his chair, slowly unscrewed the thermos, took a sip of warm water, and waited for him to come back.

The rest area was quiet for about ten seconds.

Then Han Yu lowered his hand, his voice much lower than before: "...Stop flattering yourself. Who's jealous of you? You're nobody to me."

He Xu raised an eyebrow, and the corners of his mouth widened even more: "Then turn around and talk to me."

Han Yu's back tensed, and then he actually turned around.

His face was still red, and his ears were still burning, but he forced out a "I'm very calm" expression.

"You're blushing," He Xu said.

"..." Han Yu raised his hand and touched his cheek with the back of his hand. "It's hot. The air conditioning in this lounge is set too high."

"The air conditioner is set to 23 degrees Celsius."

"It's hot even at 23 degrees!"

He Xu looked at him for a few seconds, then chuckled, put down the thermos, and stood up from the chair.

He walked up to Han Yu, the two of them less than half a step apart.

Han Yu's gaze involuntarily drifted to the side, as if he didn't know where to look to avoid feeling guilty.

He Xu raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder, not hard. "Alright, I'm not teasing you anymore."

Han Yu's eyelashes trembled rapidly as she turned her head to look at him.

He Xu had already withdrawn his hand and tilted his head towards the door: "Let's go, let's go back."

Han Yu watched him for a long time before finally following him.

As Han Yu turned the corner in the corridor, he looked down at the tips of his shoes and said in a muffled voice, "...Don't ask that again next time."

He Xu didn't even turn his head: "Then you're not allowed to watch that kind of stuff again next time."

"I didn't see it! I just saw it on the screen!"

"If you see it and read it to me, isn't that still just watching?"

Han Yu opened his mouth, but found that he really couldn't refute it, so he simply shut up.

The two walked side by side down the corridor without saying a word, but Han Yu's ears were still burning with unease even after they got into the car.

-

Outside the base, the world is experiencing wave after wave of revelry.

The day after the animal sculpture special aired, the production team quickly released a compilation of behind-the-scenes footage from the contestants' rehearsals.

The editor clearly understands the secrets of online traffic, cutting He Xu's scenes into a dense and fragmented manner.

Each shot is short, but each one precisely strikes a nerve with the audience.

The first thing to go viral was a clip from a short video platform.

The title is extremely straightforward: "The Daily Life of Mentor He Xu: Swinging Between Devil and Angel".

The video opens with a scene of him scolding someone with a dark expression, his voice deep and hoarse. The line "What the hell are you dancing?" immediately caused the screen to explode with comments like "So fierce but so handsome".

The next second, the scene seamlessly switches to him sprawled on the sofa in the lounge—his coat was half off and draped over his shoulders, his hair was messy, and he looked as limp as if he had no bones.

The comments section completely went out of control at that moment.

"???? This is the same person????"

"One second he's yelling at a player until they cry, the next he's completely paralyzed like a cat. Is this contrast reasonable?"

He Xu: Going to work is like going to a funeral, leaving get off work is like going home.

"Help! He looks so cute lying there...it's like he's saying, 'I'm tired of yelling, let me rest for a bit...'"

"The quintessential leopard cat!! Furious and agitated at work, then lying flat and relaxed after get off work!!"

The second bombshell was He Xu's demonstration of "White Waves, White Waves" in Li Bufan's practice room before he withdrew from the competition.