Amateur talent show? Top mentors are my students.

Shen Yiheng's fingers curled slightly.

"When?"

"It's not decided yet," He Xu said. "I'll think about it first."

Shen Yiheng's brows furrowed and furrowed repeatedly, finally settling on a subtle curve that was somewhere between "relieved" and "still annoyed".

He glanced at Jiang Yanbai, then looked at He Xu: "So, how long do you plan to consider this?"

"It depends on my mood." He Xu took a sip of the coffee Jiang Yanbai handed him, frowned, and said, "Damn, it's so bitter, how can you drink it?"

"I'm drinking an Americano, of course it's bitter." Jiang Yanbai reached out to take the coffee back. "If you don't like it bitter, then don't drink it."

He Xu turned away, then took another sip: "Why not drink it if it's free? Answer me first—you've been waiting for me here so early in the morning just to fool a kid?"

"Of course not." Jiang Yanbai produced a paper bag from behind his back. "I bought you breakfast—soy milk, fried dough sticks, and a box of pan-fried buns that you used to love. Knowing your throat hasn't been feeling well lately, I specifically asked the owner to put less salt in it."

As he spoke, he stuffed the paper bag into He Xu's arms, his movements as natural as if it were all perfectly normal.

He Xu looked down at the paper bag in his arms. The heat seeped through the paper and condensed into a small cloud of white mist in the cool morning air.

He didn't speak immediately, but he also didn't push him away.

Watching this scene, Shen Yiheng moved his lips, but ultimately only said, "Brother Yanbai, how did you know He Xu liked which shop's pan-fried dumplings?"

Jiang Yanbai turned her head to look at him, a smile playing on her lips: "He told me before. Do you think you're the only one in the world who knows what your teacher likes to eat?"

Shen Yiheng's eyelashes fluttered, but he didn't reply.

"Alright," He Xu said, tucking the paper bag under his arm. "You two, starting to bicker first thing in the morning? Can't you let me finish my breakfast first?"

Jiang Yanbai immediately stopped talking and turned to He Xu with a beaming smile: "Then go back and eat, while it's hot."

He Xu snorted, picked up the paper bag, and turned to walk to the other end of the corridor.

Jiang Yanbai watched him walk away until the door closed at the end of the corridor before turning his gaze back to Shen Yiheng.

Shen Yiheng was still standing there, his hands in his suit trouser pockets, his back straighter than usual.

"Brother Yanbai, did you buy this breakfast right at the last minute?" Shen Yiheng asked, his voice indifferent.

"Of course." Jiang Yanbai's smile didn't fade, and his tone carried a matter-of-fact ease. "I asked Xiao Xu's selection manager and found out that he usually gets up around this time every day, so I specially bought what he likes."

Shen Yiheng's fingers curled slightly inside his pocket: "You seem to know him quite well."

"Six years have passed, how could I not understand?" Jiang Yanbai leaned against the wall. "I know everything about him: what he eats, his temper, his ailments."

Shen Yiheng's lips pursed slightly: "So you came back this time just to bring him breakfast?"

"Would I be that heartless?" Jiang Yanbai tilted his head. "I'm here to keep him company. His ear isn't fully healed, his voice is still recovering, and the show still needs to be recorded—you know him, he says he's fine, but he's just putting on a brave face."

Shen Yiheng was silent for a moment.

"He has someone with him," he said.

"Who?" Jiang Yanbai asked knowingly. "You? Or Han Yu?"

Shen Yiheng did not speak.

Jiang Yanbai took half a step forward, reducing the distance between them from two steps to one and a half steps.

He was a little taller than Shen Yiheng, and when he looked down at him, his eyes held a scrutinizing look.

"Shen Yiheng, I'm telling you the truth." Jiang Yanbai lowered his voice, as if afraid of being overheard by others in the corridor, or as if he didn't take Shen Yiheng seriously at all. "You've been his student for six years, that's true. But do you really understand him?"

Shen Yiheng frowned slightly: "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is—" Jiang Yanbai paused, as if choosing his words carefully, "You're good to him because he's your teacher. You're grateful, you respect him, and you feel that he's done so much for you, so you have to repay him."

"But I'm nice to him because he's He Xu."

"These two are fundamentally different. Can you tell the difference?"

The corridor was quiet for a few seconds.

Shen Yiheng did not avoid Jiang Yanbai's gaze, but he clenched his fingers even tighter in his pocket.

"...What exactly are you trying to say?" Shen Yiheng's voice was finally a little deeper than before.

"What I want to say is," Jiang Yanbai's tone returned to its lazy cadence, "you treat him as a teacher, and I treat him as a friend. You care about him out of a sense of responsibility, and I care about him out of—I want to do this."

He took a half step back, leaned against the wall again, put his hands in his jacket pockets, and adopted a casual posture.

"So don't feel like I'm taking anything from you. I'm not taking anything from you, I'm just doing what I want to do. If you're unhappy about it, that's your problem."

Shen Yiheng's lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but he swallowed the words back down.

Because he knew that Jiang Yanbai was right in part.

He truly regarded He Xu as his teacher—not just the He Xu of today, but also the He Xu who had scolded him to tears in the practice room six years ago.

That identity was deeply rooted in his heart. No matter what He Xu became later, in Shen Yiheng's heart he would always be "Teacher He" standing in front of the mirror with sharp eyes and a cold tone.

But was his feeling for He Xu really just respect for his teacher?

The thought swirled in Shen Yiheng's mind, but he forcibly suppressed it.

"...How long do you plan to stay?" he asked, changing the subject.

"I don't know," Jiang Yanbai replied quickly. "We'll see. I probably won't leave until the show is finished."

Shen Yiheng's fingers clenched tightly.

"You—" he began, his voice hoarse, "You know this is the recording base for 'Absolute Debut,' right? It's against the rules for someone who isn't on the show's roster to stay here for so long."

"Rules are rules, but people are flexible," Jiang Yanbai said matter-of-factly. "I've already spoken to your director. He said I'm welcome to come and observe, and he even said he'd reserve a VIP seat for me in the audience."

Shen Yiheng's brow twitched.

Seeing his reaction, Jiang Yanbai finally laughed out loud, with a triumphant and undisguised pleasure: "Alright, PD Shen, you can go do your work. I'll wait here for Xiao Xu to finish breakfast, no need for you to worry."

After saying that, he turned around and slowly walked to the other end of the corridor.

Shen Yiheng stood there, watching his figure disappear around the corner of the corridor, and only after a long time did he loosen his clenched fingers.

A faint white mark remained on his knuckle.