Reborn, my online friend is the real me.

At 2 a.m. Berlin time on the 15th, Su Yu was awakened by a classic Nokia ringtone.

The ringtone was "beep beep beep...beep beep beep...", an old-fashioned sound without any melody, which sounded particularly jarring in the quiet hotel room.

Su Yu pulled his phone out from under his pillow, squinted at the caller ID, and read Lu Yang.

He held the phone to his ear, his voice hoarse: "Feed?"

"Su Yu!" Lu Yang's voice boomed from the receiver, carrying an excitement that Su Yu had never heard before.

This man, whose emotional fluctuations were usually negligible, suddenly raised his voice by at least two octaves, almost shaking Su Yu's phone off his phone.

"How much?" Su Yu switched the phone to his left ear. His right ear was still ringing from the loud noise, and he rubbed it to calm down.

"Six million four hundred and twenty thousand! Six million four hundred and twenty thousand on the first day!" Lu Yang gasped for breath on the other end of the phone, as if he were stating a number he himself could hardly believe. "Su Yu, did you hear that? Six million four hundred and twenty thousand! That's more than three million more than 'Our Times'!"

Su Yu sat up in bed and leaned against the headboard, the blanket sliding down to his waist.

He mentally reviewed the figures reported by Lu Yang: 6.42 million, more than double his own first-day record.

His lips slowly curled up, his voice hoarse from just waking up and brimming with barely concealed laughter: "Damn, Lao Lu, you've struck it rich."

Lu Yang burst into laughter on the other end of the phone, his laughter sounding like that of a fool, and he was panting heavily.

There was someone talking nearby, and it sounded like Wang Boxue's voice. You could hear him shouting "I told you it could work" even through the phone.

"The PR team is all right next to me, they're going crazy with excitement." Lu Yang's laughter finally subsided a bit, but his voice sounded like a completely different person. "You didn't see it, but when the numbers came out, Wang Boxue burst into tears, hugging Zhu Rui and crying. Zhu Rui looked disgusted but didn't push him away. Luo Jing was shouting from the side, 'Hot pot! Hot pot tonight!'"

Su Yu pulled the blanket up a little higher, leaned against the headboard, and the smile on his lips never faded.

"China Film Group released 800 copies, 200 more than last time. They spent 5 million on publicity and distribution, the marketing was good, and the theaters gave them face. Lu Yang, you were even more impressive than me on the first day."

Lu Yang was silent for a moment, as if organizing his thoughts, before finally speaking. His voice was a bit deeper than before, and his words of thanks were somewhat clumsy, as if he wasn't used to saying such things.

"Su Yu, thank you. This film couldn't have been made without you."

"You're responsible for your own film. I brought you in as a director not so you could work for me, but so you could stand on your own two feet."

Lu Yang didn't answer, but Su Yu heard him sniffle.

"Alright, enough with the sentimentality." Su Yu's voice carried a hint of amusement. "Let's get down to business. Six million four hundred and twenty thousand. You'll definitely be making headlines today. Get ready for interviews, or you'll be speechless in front of the camera."

Lu Yang's voice returned to normal. "I asked Luo Jing to do the interview for me; he talks too much."

The film has caused a sensation in China. Sina Entertainment posted a headline in the early hours of the morning: "First Love 642 million yuan at the box office on its opening day, a dark horse born for the Valentine's Day season."

The article states: "The youth film 'A Little Thing Called First Love,' directed by Lu Yang and produced by Su Yu, was released on Valentine's Day. It grossed 642 million yuan on its opening day, surpassing the record of 312 million yuan set by Su Yu's 'Our Times' on its opening day. The film's positive word-of-mouth continues to grow, and theaters have stated that they will increase screenings based on its opening day performance."

The imported film "Night at the Museum" did well at the box office, but it still lags behind "First Love".

Several distribution company executives said in a private group chat, "Su Yu and his team are good at making youth films, so don't clash with their release dates."

.......

Waiting for news is a very agonizing process.

Su Yu used to disbelieve in "auditory hallucinations," always thinking they were just something pretentious portrayed in TV dramas.

Han Sanping has been very busy since arriving in Berlin, personally leading the team to select films.

The domestic market is huge and has attracted the attention of many foreign filmmakers. Han Sanping was very stingy this time, trying to buy out the broadcasting rights with the least amount of money. He frowned more often than usual when spending money.

Su Yu followed him around for a while, mainly because he couldn't calm his mind.

He walked around the film distributors' area of ​​the Berlin Film Palace, holding a stack of brochures in his hand. He flipped through a couple of pages and put them down without reading a single word.

In the morning, Su Yu had tea with Han Sanping in the hotel lobby; Han Sanping had also received news about the domestic box office, and this time China Film Group had a 25% share, which meant they were going to make money; he was happy.

Han Sanping, wearing a dark gray jacket, leaned back on the sofa with a teacup in his hand, legs crossed, his gaze sweeping over Su Yu's face.

Su Yu sat opposite him and explained the co-production plan for "The Man from Nowhere"; the budget was 20 million US dollars, but China Film Group had only invested 5 million RMB, which was too small a share.

After listening, Han Sanping neither agreed nor disagreed, put down his teacup, and said, "How much more can you ask China Film Group to add? Name your figure first."

Su Yu leaned forward half an inch and held up one finger: "At most 15%, domestic distribution goes to China Film Group, copyright belongs to me. Lionsgate will handle the label."

Han Sanping tapped his fingers on the sofa armrest, looked away, and his lips twitched slightly. "We'll talk about it in detail when we get back."

........

The phone vibrated on the table, and Su Yu's nerves tensed up instantly, like a fully drawn bowstring. His fingers moved before his brain could react, and he had already picked up the phone.

The name on the screen wasn't David; it was an unfamiliar number, and the location was listed as Germany.

Su Yu held his phone for two seconds before swiping to answer. The other person spoke a long string of words in English, very fast, with a heavy German accent. Su Yu only understood "press" and "interview".

He said "not interested" and hung up.

Han Sanping held his teacup and looked at him, his gaze carrying a meaning that seemed to say, "Have you been driven crazy by phone calls lately?"

"Bad news?" Han Sanping asked.

Su Yu shook his head, placed his phone face down on the table, frowned, and put down his teacup.

Buzzing. Buzzing.

This time it was for real; David's name popped up on the screen, and Su Yu answered the call.

"Boss!" David's voice boomed like firecrackers on the other end of the phone. "They're here! The organizing committee came to the hotel in person to tell you! They invited you to the awards ceremony, you absolutely have to be there! Donnie's ecstatic, he said he's coming today! Can you hear me, boss? Are you still there?"

Su Yu stood in the corridor holding his phone. The window at the end of the corridor was open, and the cold wind from Berlin was blowing in from outside, making his shirt collar turn up.

He could hear his own heartbeat in his ears, thump, thump, thump, louder than David's.

"Okay. I understand."

David was still saying something, but Su Yu wasn't listening.

He took the phone away from his ear; the screen showed a call duration of forty-seven seconds.

He hung up the phone, stood in the corridor for a moment, pressed down his collar which had been blown up by the wind, and turned to walk back to the tea house.

Han Sanping was drinking water from his thermos when Su Yu sat down, put his phone back on the table with the screen facing up, took a deep breath, and tried to make his voice sound calmer.

"Mr. Han, the organizers went to the hotel to inform us; they didn't call."

Han Sanping paused for a moment as he twisted the lid of the thermos, then tightened it, placed the thermos on the table, and his gaze swept over Su Yu's face, a slow smile spreading across his lips.

He removed his hand from the cup lid and tapped it lightly on the table. "There's a prize."

Su Yu nodded and smiled, not the restrained smile he had shown before, but a wide grin that stretched from his lips to his ears.

Han Sanping looked at himself and smiled, "Alright, alright! Then I wish you success in winning that Golden Bear."

.......

That evening, Su Yu returned to the hotel. When he opened the door, a smell of red wine and champagne wafted out.

Donnie and David sat on the sofa, with three empty wine bottles on the coffee table: one bottle of red wine, two bottles of champagne, and one that had been opened but not finished.

Donnie's face was as red as a boiled shrimp, while David's face wasn't as red, but his eyes were unfocused, his pupils not coordinating with his gaze. The two were drinking from bottles, taking turns sips, as if afraid the other would drink less than them.

"Boss! Come on, let's have a couple of drinks!" David raised the bottle and shook it at Su Yu, a few drops of liquor spilling from the bottle opening.

Su Yu walked to the sofa, glanced at them, hung his coat on the hanger, and sat down on the single sofa.

Downey pushed another unopened bottle of champagne towards him, looked into Su Yu's eyes and said, "Director, have a couple of drinks, I'm really happy today."

Su Yu picked up the bottle of champagne and looked at the label. It wasn't cheap; they must have gone all out today.

"We still don't know what the prize is." Su Yu put down the bottle, looking at Donnie's flushed face. "Isn't this premature celebration a bit too much?"

David's tongue was a bit slurred, and he said, "Anyway, as long as there's an award, that's fine. Downey's resume will have another line... 'Nominated for the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the Berlin Film Festival,' right? Maybe he'll even win it? Haha..."

After he finished speaking, he laughed first, laughing so hard he almost fell over, and Donnie laughed along with him.

Su Yu picked up the bottle of champagne and slowly unscrewed it with the corkscrew.

The cork popped out with a "pop," he poured himself a glass, picked it up and looked at the two guys who were already quite drunk. The corners of his mouth slowly turned up, and he clinked glasses with them.

"Alright, don't get too drunk. You have to walk the red carpet tomorrow."

Donnie waved his hand and took another swig.