Reborn, my online friend is the real me.

When filming for "A Little Thing Called First Love" began, Beijing was already unreasonably hot.

Su Yu stood on the playground of Beijing Film Academy, sweat dripping down his nose from his forehead.

Wang Boxue peeked out from behind the camera and shouted at him, "Producer Su, can you move a little further away? The lights are irritating you standing there."

Su Yu moved two steps to the side, into the shade of a locust tree. The shade wasn't cool either, but at least there was no direct sunlight.

Lu Yang sat in front of the monitor, his expression as calm as ever.

Holding a walkie-talkie, he said to the actor on the other side of the camera, "Luo Jing, take half a step to the left. Yes, another half step. Too much, come back a quarter inch."

Wang Boxue squatted next to the camera, holding a light meter in his hand, glancing at it once, then glancing at it again.

The preparation for this production went much more smoothly than for "Our Times". Last time, Su Yu was all over the place, struggling to find locations and connections. Every step was like pushing a cart through mud.

This time was different. Lu Yang was in the director's chair, Wang Boxue was in charge of the camera, and Su Yu was given the title of producer. His daily work was to wander around the set, see where there were problems, and where coordination was needed.

There was no grand ceremony, no red carpet, and no reporters on the day filming began.

More than fifty people from the crew stood by and applauded. After they finished clapping, everyone took their positions and filmed the first scene.

........

On August 10th, Su Yu and Jing Tian arranged to meet at a coffee shop.

The coffee shop was in an alley near the Beijing Film Academy. It was quiet inside, with warm yellow lighting and several abstract paintings hanging on the walls, none of which Su Yu could understand.

When he arrived, Jing Tian was already sitting in a corner booth with a latte in front of her. The latte art on the milk foam was a swan, and she was looking at it.

Su Yu walked over and sat down opposite her.

He took out two printed sheets of A4 sheet music from his bag and pushed them in front of Jing Tian.

Jing Tian lowered his head and started reading from the first line.

"The older I get, the lonelier I feel?" Jing Tian read the song title aloud, then looked down at the lyrics: "The older I get, the lonelier I feel, the older I get, the more anxious I feel..."

She read a couple of lines, then looked up incredulously, "Director Su, you wrote this song? How come you guys, with your lyrics, understand women better than women do?"

Su Yu put down his coffee cup, the bottom of which tapped softly on the saucer. "Songwriting isn't about gender; as long as you have the feeling, that's enough. Take a look at the next one."

Jing Tian put the first sheet of paper aside and picked up the second one, "A Little Sweet".

Her gaze moved down from the title, and when she saw the chorus, the corners of her mouth slowly turned up.

She read the lyrics from beginning to end, then looked up at Su Yu, her eyes bright like two freshly washed grapes.

"Director Su, thank you; I'll take both songs." Jing Tian folded the two sheets of paper together. "They're so well written, really."

Su Yu leaned back in his chair, holding his coffee cup in both hands. "The key has been lowered. The original key was too high, and your voice couldn't reach it. You should be able to handle this key now."

Jing Tian nodded, folded the lyrics, put them in his bag, and zipped it up.

She picked up her latte and took a sip, the milk foam clinging to her upper lip like a small tuft of white beard. She licked off the foam, crossed her arms on the table, looked at Su Yu, and asked a question that left Su Yu speechless.

"Director Su, why are you willing to help me? It's one thing for President Lu to offer money, but you don't actually need the money, right?"

Su Yu picked up his Americano and took another sip. He watched an orange cat walk past in the alley outside the window, then turned to Jing Tian and asked, "Do you want to hear the truth or just pleasantries?"

Jing Tian smiled, his dimples deepening: "Listen to the pleasantries first, then the truth."

Su Yu put down his coffee cup, leaned forward, and placed his hands crossed on the table: "To put it politely, Starlight Entertainment invested in 'The Man from Nowhere,' so we're partners. Of course, we have to be attentive to the affairs of our partners."

Jing Tian smiled slightly, his eyes fixed on Su Yu's, waiting for the truth.

Su Yu leaned back. "The truth is, you're a future junior at Beijing Film Academy. I was just helping her out."

Jing Tian paused for a moment, then burst out laughing. Her laughter was a bit loud in the quiet coffee shop. People at the next table turned to look at her, and she quickly covered her mouth, but the laughter in her eyes couldn't be contained.

When it came time to pay the bill after the meal, Su Yu insisted on paying. Jing Tian said she should treat, but Su Yu replied that she would treat him after he got into the Beijing Film Academy.

The two came out of the coffee shop and stood at the alley entrance to say goodbye.

The August evening breeze carried the lingering warmth from the asphalt road surface that had been baked by the sun all day.

......

The next morning, before Su Yu was fully awake, his computer next to him was constantly beeping on QQ.

He picked it up and saw that it was a link sent by Wang Boxue. The title was a line of text, and every word seemed to be shouting: "Newly emerging talent of Beijing Film Academy, Su Yu, is on a sweet date with a mysterious woman. His suspected girlfriend has been exposed."

Su Yu sat up in bed, rubbed his eyes, picked up the computer, and clicked on the screen to take a look.

The accompanying photo was taken yesterday in front of the coffee shop. He and Jing Tian were standing at the alley entrance; Jing Tian was waving at him, and he was smiling. The photo was taken in a tricky way; Jing Tian's face was clearly visible, and his face was also clearly visible, with the two of them very close together.

The comment section exploded: "Who is this woman?" "Wasn't Su Yu rumored to be dating Liu Yifei? Why is he dating someone else now?"

Su Yu flipped through a few pages, and another portal website had an even more outrageous headline: "Su Yu writes a song for his new love interest, the little girl is pretty."

His phone vibrated again. He picked it up and saw a message from Jing Tian, ​​followed by a laughing-crying emoji: "Senior, did you see that? They're saying we're on a date."

Su Yu replied with a single word: "I saw it."

Jing Tian replied with a long string of ellipses: "Uncle Lu has gone crazy. She said I've already started having scandals before I even debuted."

Su Yu thought for a moment, "This is my fault. I shouldn't have met you in public, especially alone."

Jing Tian replied instantly: "How can I blame you? We were just having a meal and chatting. It's the reporters who are too bored."

The rumors had been circulating for three days, but Su Yu had not responded.

......

At the end of August, Beijing was hot and humid, with low-hanging clouds.

Su Yu was watching the playback on set. Lu Yang said that the female lead's best friend's scene wasn't emotional enough. Zhu Rui was giving instructions to the young actor who was acting opposite her.

"Hey, Sisi, over here." Wang Jia's voice came from the direction of the film set entrance, loud enough for half the film set to hear in the quiet environment.

Su Yu looked up and turned around. Liu Yifei was standing at the entrance of the film set.

She was wearing a white short-sleeved T-shirt, light blue jeans, canvas shoes, her hair was tied in a low ponytail, and she wasn't wearing any makeup.

She was carrying two large paper bags with the green Starbucks logo printed on them. Her assistant followed behind her, also carrying two paper bags; the four bags were completely full.

Liu Yifei stood at the door, her gaze sweeping across the film set. Finally, it landed on Su Yu, pausing for a second.

Wang Jia jogged over, took a paper bag from Liu Yifei's hand, and pulled her arm to walk inside. "Qianqian, long time no see."

Luo Jing also walked over from the actors' rest area, smiling and waving at her: "Yifei, you're back from Japan? Finished recording the album?"

Liu Yifei smiled and nodded at him, saying, "It's finished recording."

Su Yu stood there, hands in his pockets, watching Liu Yifei being surrounded, and a smile unconsciously crept onto his lips.

He stood next to Lu Yang, who glanced at him and whispered, "What are you laughing at?"

Su Yu suppressed his smile and said, "I wasn't smiling."

.....

Liu Yifei shook off Wang Jia and Luo Jing's pleasantries and turned to look at Su Yu. Her gaze passed over the lighting equipment, the folding chair, and the haphazardly laid wires on the ground, landing on Su Yu.

As Su Yu watched her walk over, he unconsciously raised his hand slightly, then lowered it again.

Liu Yifei walked up to him and stopped, tilting her head slightly to look at him. She was about eight centimeters shorter than Su Yu. From this angle, her eyes were bright, and her lips were slightly pursed, carrying a hint of a half-smile.

Su Yu looked down into her eyes, feeling that this scene was somewhat similar to their first meeting a year ago at the school coffee shop, but not quite. Back then, he didn't know who she was; now he did.

"Senior sister, you're welcome to visit the set."

Liu Yifei pinched the little bear's round face with her fingers, seemingly unintentionally, yet also with a bit of force.

"I heard Director Su has been very busy lately." Her tone was light and casual, her gaze sweeping across Su Yu's face.

She looked down and took two cups of coffee from the paper bag, handing one to him and keeping the other for herself. "You have to produce, write songs, and go on dates all at once?"

Su Yu took the coffee, switching the handle to his other hand. "What date? That was work. I spent money to buy songs for someone, and I wrote two songs for them. We met at the coffee shop to chat." He spoke a little faster than usual.

Liu Yifei lowered her head and took a sip of coffee, the rim of the cup obscuring half her face. After swallowing, she looked up at Su Yu, her lips curving slightly, as if she were holding back something.

"Really? I saw on the news that you two are quite sweet together." She picked up her coffee cup and took another sip, this time for longer than before. When she put the cup down, there was a faint lipstick mark on the cup.

Her gaze fell on Su Yu's face, her tone indifferent, "Some people say you're her boyfriend. That girl is quite pretty, isn't Director Su tempted?"

After saying that, she looked away and down at the Berlin Bear on her bag. She reached out and straightened the bear's scarf, which was already straight, but she straightened it three times.

Su Yu held his coffee cup, tapping his fingers on the rim twice. "You believe what the reporter said? The reporter even said you're transgender, do you believe that?"

Liu Yifei paused, her hand holding the scarf twitching; she looked up at Su Yu, her lips moving as if to speak.

"Su Yu, you really have a sharp tongue."

......

It was almost dark when they finished work. Su Yu dropped Liu Yifei off at the entrance of the film set. The driver had already pulled the car over to the side of the road with the headlights on.

Liu Yifei stood by the car door, her hand on the handle, but she didn't open it. She turned to look at Su Yu, her eyelashes casting a small fan-shaped shadow under her eyes.

"I know that rumor is false." She paused, her finger on the doorknob.

She spoke again, her voice even softer than before. Su Yu was close enough to hear every word.

"But next time you meet another girl alone, could you please bring your assistant?"

Su Yu stood under the streetlamp, the light shining down on him and casting a long, long shadow. He looked at Liu Yifei, and the light from the streetlamp flickered in her eyes.

"it is good."

Liu Yifei lowered her head, her whole face relaxed, and the curve of her smile slowly widened.

She didn't look up again, opened the car door, and got in. Before the door closed, she peeked out again at Su Yu.

"I still think the songs you wrote for me are better, especially 'A Little Happiness' and 'Slowly Falling in Love with You'."

When they returned to the set, Lu Yang was tidying up the monitor. Wang Boxue was squatting on the ground chatting with Zhu Rui about tomorrow's scenes.

Su Yu walked in and stood in the center of the set, scanning the area.

Wang Boxue looked up and asked, "They've been seen off?" Su Yu replied, "They've been seen off."

Wang Boxue looked up and asked, "Why were you smiling when you came back?"

Su Yu touched his face. "No, right?"

Wang Boxue and Lu Yang looked at him at the same time, and after two seconds they both looked down at each other.