Reborn, my online friend is the real me.

On the first day of school, Su Yu woke up earlier than her alarm clock.

It wasn't that he was diligent; it was that Wang Boxue's alarm clock started ringing at seven o'clock, ringing every five minutes, and he didn't reach out and turn it off until 7:30.

Su Yu was so exhausted that he couldn't sleep at all, so he got up to wash up.

Photography classes are held in the multimedia classroom of Building 3.

When Su Yu and Wang Bo arrived at the classroom, it was already more than half full.

The first few rows were occupied by senior students, so Su Yu found a seat in the middle, put his bag down, took out his notebook and pen, and pretended to be studying hard.

People kept coming in, and Su Yu noticed that many of them would glance at him after entering. Some would look and then turn away, while others would look a few more times. One senior female student he didn't recognize even walked over and patted him on the shoulder: "You're Su Yu? The one with the Golden Bear?"

Su Yu nodded, a little embarrassed, "Hello, senior sister."

The senior female student looked him up and down, smiled, and said, "Not bad, quite young."

Su Yu stood there stunned, while Wang Boxue whispered beside him, "You're famous now."

"Stop fooling around, it's just one person."

"This is just the beginning."

.......

The bell rang, and Mu Deyuan walked into the classroom with a stack of lecture notes. He put the notes on the lectern and glanced at the students below.

His gaze swept from the front row to the back row, and then stopped at the middle left, which was exactly where Su Yu was sitting.

Su Yu subconsciously straightened his back.

Mu Deyuan did not start lecturing immediately. He took off his glasses, slowly wiped them with a cloth, put them back on, and then began to speak.

"Before class begins, I have something to say."

The classroom fell silent.

"Su Yu from our Photography Department, Class of 04, won the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at the Berlin International Film Festival for his short film 'Black Hole.' This is the first time a Chinese-language short film has won this award in Berlin. I've seen the film, and it's very well made. The concept is good, and the execution is clean. This shows that our photography students can not only press the shutter, but also tell stories."

Su Yu sat in the audience, his face starting to burn. Wang Boxue, trying hard to suppress his laughter, nudged him with his elbow.

Mu Deyuan continued, "Su Yu, stand up and let everyone see you."

Although Su Yu outwardly wished he could disappear into a crack in the ground, he still obediently stood up.

All eyes turned to him, from juniors, sophomores, and a few freshmen.

"This is Su Yu," Mu Deyuan pointed at him, "a freshman, nineteen years old. Do you juniors and sophomores feel any pressure?"

Some people in the audience laughed, and some applauded.

Su Yu stood there, the corners of his mouth uncontrollably turning up, no matter how hard he tried to suppress it.

He quickly lowered his head, pretending to look at the notes in his notebook.

Mu Deyuan raised his hand, gesturing for Su Yu to sit down, then changed the subject: "Winning awards is a good thing, but don't get carried away. A good short film doesn't mean you can make a good feature film; the Golden Bear is in the past, the next film is what matters most."

Su Yu nodded vigorously, and Mu Deyuan opened the lecture notes and began to talk about photography styling.

Today we're talking about the relationship between light and emotion. Front light, side light, backlight, top light, and bottom light—each type of light that hits an actor's face will convey different emotions.

Mu Deyuan explained things in a simple and easy-to-understand way, occasionally using classic movie examples. Su Yu listened intently, his pen constantly scribbling on the paper.

Halfway through his speech, Mu Deyuan suddenly stopped and glanced in Su Yu's direction again.

"Oh, right, Su Yu, I have one more thing to say."

Su Yu's pen stopped.

"If your next feature film wins an award, the school will put up a banner for you."

The audience burst into laughter. Su Yu stood up, scratched his head, and said seriously, "Professor Mu, making feature films is too difficult. If you could put up an archway, I would have more motivation."

The laughter from the audience grew even louder, and Mu Deyuan also showed a more obvious smile.

"Okay, as long as you win one of the three major European awards during your time at school, I'll talk to the school and get you an archway."

"It's a deal!" Su Yu blurted out.

"It's a deal." Mu Deyuan nodded. "Sit down, let's start class."

As Su Yu sat down, Wang Boxue leaned over and whispered, "An archway? Do you think the school is a wedding planning company?"

.......

When Su Yu returned to his dormitory, the first thing he did was turn on his computer and log into QQ.

Anxi's profile picture was lit up. Su Yu opened the chat window and sent a message: "Are you there?"

Anxi replied instantly: "Yes, what's up?"

Su Yu took out a small red box from the drawer, opened it, and inside was a Longines watch.

The silver dial and simple hands are understated yet not cheap, costing eight thousand RMB.

He took a picture and sent it to Anxi: "This is a gift. Thank you to the little rich girl for the 10,000 yuan she sponsored last year. 10,000 turned into 8,000, so I lost 2,000. Don't be upset."

Anxi sent a long string of question marks: "?????? You bought me a watch?"

"Hmm, the Berlin Bear is too small, it's not sincere enough, I'll add a watch."

Anxi: "Are you crazy? Watches are so expensive!"

Su Yu: "It's not expensive. I used your 10,000 yuan for a year, so I should pay you back 11,000 yuan based on the interest. My watch only costs 8,000 yuan, so I saved 3,000 yuan."

Anxi sent a speechless emoji: "The way you've calculated things... I can't even argue with you."

Su Yu smiled and sent another message: "Give me your address and I'll send it to you."

Anxi was silent for a few seconds, then sent an address: Xinqiao Town, Xiangshan County, NB City, ZJ Province.

Su Yu looked at the address and felt that it looked familiar.

Xinqiao Town, Xiangshan County… He searched his memory but couldn’t recall where he’d seen it before. Maybe it was some kind of film and television base? He thought he’d seen it on short videos in his past life.

"You're in Xiangshan? Isn't that by the sea?"

Anxi: Yes, by the sea. I work here, and I'll have to stay for a while.

Su Yu: "Okay, I received the address. I'll send it to you tomorrow."

"When did you become so generous? You weren't like this when you took money from me before."

Su Yu: "The past is the past, and the present is the present. I am now a Golden Bear Award-winning director, my status is different, and my perspective is different too."

Anxi sent an eye-roll emoji, "Okay, okay, Director Su has a grand vision. But I really can't accept the watch, it's too expensive."

Su Yu: "I've already bought it, so I can't return it. If you don't take it back, I'll throw it away."

Anxi sent a string of ellipses, finally giving in: "Well... okay. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Remember to hang the teddy bear on your bag and wear your watch; don't leave it at the bottom of your drawer."

.......

The next day, Su Yu went to the post office and sent the watch and the Berlin Bear by express mail.

When packing, he combed the bear's fur neatly, straightened the scarf, wrapped the watch box with several layers of bubble wrap, stuffed it into a cardboard box, and then wrapped it with tape more than a dozen times.

Even the post office lady exclaimed, "Young man, are you sending gold?"

"More precious than gold."

After sending the package, Su Yu returned to his dorm, turned on his computer, and logged into his email.

He had over a dozen unread emails in his inbox. He read them one by one, and found that most of them were spam. After deleting them, only one important email remained.

It was sent by the intermediary he commissioned: the copyright registration certificates for ten songs have been issued, a PDF attachment, one certificate for each song.

Su Yu downloaded them and read through them one by one. Each one had the official red seal of the National Copyright Administration, which looked reassuring.

With the certificate in hand and the song written, the next step is to find a buyer.

Su Yu burned the demos of the ten songs onto CDs, printed a stack of lyrics and sheet music, and put them into a file bag.

Then he went online to look up the addresses of several record companies: Warner Music, Universal Music, EMI, and Taihe Rye Music.

They sent registered letters to each household, including their contact information.

After sending it out, Su Yu began to wait.

One day, two days, three days.

A week has passed, and there has been no response.

Su Yu refreshes his email five or six times a day, even going through all the spam.

No, there's nothing at all.

........

"That's impossible," Su Yu slumped onto the table, staring blankly at the computer. "Which of these songs isn't a hit? How come there hasn't been a single reply?"

Wang Boxue walked past him from behind, glanced at the screen, and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I submitted songs to record companies, but nobody paid any attention to me."

Wang Boxue leaned closer, looked at the titles of the ten songs, and read them aloud: "Blue and White Porcelain? You wrote that?"

"right."

Wang Boxue picked up the lyrics on the table, glanced at them, and read a couple of lines: "The sky is the color of rain after a storm, and I am waiting for you... These lyrics are quite good. Did you really write them?"

Su Yu nodded without changing his expression: "I wrote it."

Wang Boxue looked at him suspiciously: "You usually talk so frivolously, how could you write such words?"

"What do you mean? Can't I be educated?"

Wang Boxue put down the lyrics and shook his head: "It's not that you're uncultured, it's that these lyrics are too cultured, unlike what you wrote."

Su Yu was too lazy to explain to him and took back the lyrics: "Forget it, I can't explain it to you."

Wang Boxue then asked, "What are you going to do if the record company ignores you?"

Su Yu leaned back in his chair, stared at the ceiling, and thought for a moment: "Forcing me to come out of seclusion."

"What kind of mountain is there?"

Record it yourself, and post it yourself.

Wang Boxue's eyes widened: "You want to be a singer?"

"It's not about being a singer, it's about releasing songs. As long as the song becomes popular, you can make money from ringtone downloads. I don't need to be a singer, I just need to be a songwriter."

(Handsome guys and beautiful girls, please help vote!)