Amateur talent show? Top mentors are my students.

The third public performance finally reached the stage of technical rehearsal.

The studio was expanded by one size compared to the second public performance, the stage size doubled, and four more rows of lighting rigs were added.

Even the flooring material has been replaced, and it's much more slippery than before.

He Xu stood in the center of the stage, hands on his hips, looked up at the dense row of spotlights above him, then stomped his feet twice on the floor, his expression gradually freezing.

"...Who chose this flooring?"

No one answered.

He stomped twice more, and the soles of his shoes slipped a little on the smooth surface.

I asked, "Who chose this flooring?"

A weak voice came from the side of the stage: "Teacher He, this material was chosen by the production team, who said it would enhance the stage effect—"

"Good my ass." He Xu's voice suddenly rose. "This floor is so slippery you could ice skate on it. If an athlete wears stage shoes, they could just turn around and skate right into the audience."

The sound disappeared.

He Xu looked down and circled a line on the schedule, then looked up and scanned the lighting rigs around the stage: "Lighting team, who adjusted the spotlight's location?"

There was a two-second silence on the lighting team's end, then a voice came through the walkie-talkie: "Teacher He, we've gone through the plan once—"

"I came up with the plan, but the lighting you've adjusted is way off from the plan." He Xu picked up the schedule and pointed it out to the lighting technician next to him. "For the third chorus, the main light should be on the left third of the stage, but you've placed it right in the center."

The lighting technician strode over, glanced down at the spot He Xu was pointing to, and said, "...I'll adjust it right away."

"How long is 'soon'?"

"...Five minutes?"

Two minutes.

The lighting technician turned and ran.

He Xu withdrew his gaze, then drew a line on the schedule, before looking up at the side of the stage: "Sound team, how's it going over there?"

A hissing sound came from the sound system team, followed by a voice: "Teacher He, there's a phase issue with the main speakers, we're adjusting it—"

"how long?"

"Ten minutes—"

Five minutes.

There was a moment of silence on the sound system's end: "...Received."

Xu Shutong stood in the waiting area on the side of the stage, watching He Xu yell at the entire technical team as soon as he came in. She couldn't help but whisper to Zhou Wei next to her, "He's really angry today."

Zhou Wei leaned against the wall, arms crossed, expression calm: "Today's technical rehearsal was held on a stage twice the size of the second stage, so there were bound to be more problems. If he doesn't yell, these people won't know how to get anxious."

Xu Shutong thought about it and felt that it made sense.

But she couldn't help adding, "...He's really fierce when he swears."

"You'll get used to it," Zhou Wei said. "Just you wait and see, when the contestants arrive, he'll yell even louder."

Xu Shutong's expression cracked slightly.

He Xu's efficiency, from the very first rehearsal, showed everyone what "dimensional reduction attack" meant.

When the third group came on stage, the lighting crew was still frantically adjusting the spotlight's position.

He Xu stood behind the monitoring console for ten seconds, then picked up the walkie-talkie: "Stop adjusting it, the plan is wrong. For the chorus, switch the spotlight directly to a frontal overhead shot, don't use side lighting."

The lighting technician paused for a moment: "But the plan says side lighting—"

"I don't care about the original plan, I've changed it now."

The lighting technician swallowed back what he was about to say and obediently switched to a frontal overhead shot.

The results were better than expected.

He Xu didn't say anything more, but looked down and drew another line on the program chart. Then he looked up and glanced at the stage: "Sound team, turn up the bass drum of the second verse by two notches. The current power is not enough to support the emotions of the choreography."

A scraping sound came from the sound system.

"That's enough, fix it."

The staff members exchanged glances and saw the same expression on each other's faces—"Is this even human?"

When the fourth group came on stage, He Xu only said three sentences.

The first sentence: "The stage is tilted; everyone move one step to the right."

The second line: "The pause before the chorus is too short, pause for half a beat more."

The third sentence: "Let's do it again."

Two takes.

Xu Shutong stood in the waiting area on the side, her mouth agape as she watched the group of contestants on stage complete the entire process from beginning to end.

He Xu didn't speak again during the process, only occasionally looking down to draw a circle on the flowchart.

She turned to look at Jung Jae-won beside her: "...That group just now, weren't they still practicing their choreography for the chorus a few days ago?"

Zheng Zaiyuan leaned against the wall with his arms crossed: "He Xu spent forty minutes with their group yesterday afternoon."

"Forty minutes?"

"Yes, just forty minutes."

Xu Shutong paused for a moment, then said, "...Did he secretly inject some kind of superpower into everyone?"

"It was injected with a superpower called 'He Xu Curses'."

Xu Shutong: "...You win."

Groups 5 and 6 – the progress bars are moving forward at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The original schedule was supposed to take four hours, but He Xu's pace was ridiculously fast.

Each time a group came on stage, he would glance at their positioning, listen to the music for three seconds, and then give two or three adjustment instructions, clean and efficient, without a single wasted word.

The staff, who were initially on edge preparing to work overtime, gradually relaxed, and some even started chatting quietly.

The young man from the sound team leaned against the mixing console and whispered to his colleague, "He's so efficient... I thought we'd be working until at least 9 p.m. tonight."

"It's only 4:30 now." The colleague glanced at his phone. "At this rate, we can finish work by 6."

"The recording officially starts tomorrow, so we can go home and get some sleep tonight."

"Don't be too happy yet, he hasn't finished cursing."

No sooner had he finished speaking than He Xu's voice came from the monitoring station: "Sound team, stop chatting, the next team is coming on."

The two of them shut up at the same time and returned to their respective positions in perfect unison.

But the curve of his lips just wouldn't go down.

The last few groups rehearsed faster than the earlier ones.

Because He Xu had already streamlined the lighting, sound, and camera positions in the previous dozen or so rounds of adjustments, the next person only needed to follow the already adjusted parameters to go through the process once.

When the eighth group finished, He Xu glanced down at his phone—5:43 PM.

It ended almost two hours earlier than expected.

He rolled up the flowchart, tucked it under his arm, walked out from behind the monitoring station, stood at the front of the stage, and scanned all the staff who were still on duty and waiting.

"knock off."

All the staff in the studio breathed a sigh of relief.

He stood at the front of the stage, his gaze sweeping over the group of contestants in the waiting area who were preparing to leave: "Contestants, stay."

The forty people who were about to rush out froze in place.

He Xu slowly walked to the center of the stage, put his hands in his pockets, and gestured with his chin towards the floor: "This floor is slippery. When you go back tonight, each of you should wipe the soles of your stage shoes with a damp cloth, let them dry, and increase the friction."

He paused, his gaze sweeping across each face: "Before going on stage tomorrow, everyone should warm up and stretch properly. Don't get injured. If you make a mistake, you make a mistake. I won't give you another chance."

"Did you hear that?"

"I heard it." A few scattered voices.

He Xu raised an eyebrow: "Speak louder."

"We heard you!" the forty people answered in unison, their voices echoing in the studio for two seconds before dissipating.

He Xu withdrew his gaze, turned and walked towards the monitoring station: "Alright, go back and rest. You all know better than anyone how to perform on stage tomorrow."

As he walked past Xu Shutong, she whispered, "Are you trying to scare them or encourage them?"

He Xu didn't even turn his head: "I have them all."