Late at night, many of Su Yan's fans were wandering across websites.
They would click into posts about Su Yan or '5 Centimeters per Second', leave a comment, exit, and then repeat the process.
This had become the recent routine for many of Su Yan's fans.
Although '5 Centimeters per Second' had high quality and strong staying power, it was still only a film a little over an hour long.
Unlike Su Yan's previous TV dramas, which lasted an entire season.
After the movie entered its mid-to-late theatrical run, many fans began to feel the emptiness of having nothing new to watch.
Under these circumstances, the news that the trailer for 'We Made a Beautiful Bouquet' had been released swept through Su Yan's fan groups and forums in an extremely short time.
Even the investors behind competing films scheduled to release on August 20 paid attention.
On that day, 'We Made a Beautiful Bouquet' had two competitors.
The first was a fantasy xianxia film titled 'Immortal Mountain', with a total investment of 290 million yuan.
Yes—within the Xia Nation film industry, martial arts and xianxia had always been major genres.
Although few productions were truly good, Su Yan knew from his previous life that some web novels could be adapted into decent films.
But in the Xia Nation, most xianxia films relied purely on screenwriters randomly mixing mythology and history, often resembling those romantic stories about immortal beings falling in love that certain audiences enjoyed.
'Immortal Mountain' was a high-budget blockbuster.
The producers had never intended to chase artistic reputation.
From its marketing to its trailers, the message was clear:
They weren't trying to make a classic.
They were making a popcorn movie.
The second major competitor was a 310 million yuan investment mystery film called 'Truth'.
Originally, both movies had larger investments than 'We Made a Beautiful Bouquet'.
Their directors, screenwriters, and leading actors were all top-tier figures in the Xia Nation film industry.
Frankly speaking, they had looked down on Su Yan and Shen Liqian, a television drama queen who had never acted in a movie before.
In Su Yan's previous life, there had been many TV queens.
But how many of them had truly succeeded in the film industry?
In the Xia Nation, the situation was even more extreme.
However, the explosive success of '5 Centimeters per Second' in July had made the producers of those films break out in cold sweat.
The movie 'Windmill', which had looked down on '5 Centimeters per Second', had already collapsed halfway.
Its total box office hadn't even reached 1 billion yuan.
At this point, Su Yan had already proven his strength.
As for the cast lineup—
'5 Centimeters per Second' was essentially a multi-character film.
Although Takaki Tono was the protagonist, each actor portraying him had less than 30 minutes of screen time.
Yet the film still achieved massive box office success.
Under these circumstances, who dared underestimate 'We Made a Beautiful Bouquet'?
As long as Su Yan's name appeared as screenwriter, did the lead actors even matter that much?
With these doubts in mind, both the competing film crews and Su Yan's fans clicked on the trailer that night.
[Something big is about to happen…]
The trailer began with a girl carrying a backpack and a boy carrying a backpack running toward a subway station.
But due to various circumstances, they missed the last train.
That was the chance encounter that brought the two protagonists together.
Of course, for people from mainland regions, it might be hard to understand why the characters didn't simply take a taxi home after missing the subway.
Instead, the two characters chose to spend the entire night wandering around nearby areas together.
Wouldn't taking a taxi be more convenient?
But in reality, Tokyo taxis are extremely expensive.
In Su Yan's previous life, traveling a few dozen kilometers could easily cost over a thousand yuan.
So spending the night outside was actually cheaper.
This was one of the reasons Su Yan didn't want to change the setting of these stories.
The trailer continued.
Because of this encounter, the male and female leads became acquainted.
They had never met before.
But they discovered they had identical interests and experiences.
They liked the same celebrity.
They preferred the same foods.
Even that very night, the shoes they wore were the same model, just in different sizes.
A perfect couple.
The biggest conflict in relationships usually comes from misunderstanding each other.
But what if two people understood each other so deeply that—
They didn't even need words.
Not even eye contact.
They could instantly know what the other wanted to eat, what mood they were in, and what they wanted to do.
What kind of ending would such a relationship have?
From the very beginning, the trailer threw this question at the audience.
If two people truly understood each other—
Would conflict never exist?
No one knew.
No one understood.
No one could answer.
But when Shen Liqian's calm and beautiful face appeared in the film's scenes, most viewers stopped thinking altogether.
Some media outlets in the Xia Nation had questioned whether her movie might fail.
But no one doubted her appearance and screen presence.
After all, Su Yan was the investor.
If the makeup and styling were bad, he would be the first to fire the makeup artist.
Just like the trailer released earlier for '5 Centimeters per Second', this one-minute trailer mostly showed positive, smiling moments between the two leads.
However—
Su Yan's fans would not be fooled so easily anymore.
[I have a bad feeling.]
[Danger.]
[The old sadist is about to start the emotional torture again, right?]
[What's the point of destroying unhappy relationships? True tragedy is destroying something beautiful. I understand the old thief's style now.]
[But this trailer is really attractive.]
[Seeing Shen Liqian in the trailer reminds me of Kaori Miyazono, Rebecca, Chloe, and Rika Akana… my heart hurts.]
[Come to think of it, except for the 'What IF' ending, has the old thief ever given a happy ending to a character played by Shen Liqian?]
[What about Homura Akemi in 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica'?]
[You call that happy? The ending is dark and tragic. Homura basically becomes completely corrupted.]
[I can already feel the depressing atmosphere leaking out of the trailer.]
[Take a deep breath. The movie will be released in two weeks. By then, we should be mentally prepared.]
[I want to see who dares to bring their partner to watch this movie on August 20.]
[Hahaha, the '5 Centimeters per Second' disaster again. A bunch of people online cursing Su Yan are those who took their partners to watch that movie last month. They broke up immediately afterward and now come online to vent their anger.]
[Hurry up and release already. Having nothing to watch is painful.]
That very night, the trailer for 'We Made a Beautiful Bouquet' climbed to the top of trending searches across several video platforms.
Just like '5 Centimeters per Second', the promotional effect was nearly identical.
The pre-release discussion heat was almost the same as before.
And the more tolerant attitude of fans made many people in the film industry feel uneasy.
Previously, Su Yan's fans often said they would stop watching if a work became too depressing.
But now the new attitude was:
As long as it isn't too cruel, we're still friends.
The media also discovered the traffic formula and began actively promoting Su Yan.
📰Trailer for 'We Made a Beautiful Bouquet' Released — Warm, Healing, and Safe for Su Yan Fans. Same recipe, same flavor!
📰The Dark and Depressing Film 'We Made a Beautiful Bouquet' Drops Its Trailer. A Reminder to Casual Viewers: Reverse the Warm Scenes in the Trailer and You'll Probably Get the Real Ending.
📰Within One Night of Release, the Trailer for 'We Made a Beautiful Bouquet' Surpasses 10 Million Views — Su Yan's Fan Influence Shocks the Film Industry!
📰'5 Centimeters per Second' Surpasses 1.3 Billion Box Office, Likely to Exceed 1.4 Billion. Currently the Summer Champion. Can 'We Made a Beautiful Bouquet', 'Immortal Mountain', or 'Truth' Break That Record?
📰The Popularity of 'We Made a Beautiful Bouquet' Before Release Rivals That of '5 Centimeters per Second'. It May Become the Biggest Challenger for the Summer Box Office Crown.
📰Just like in the TV industry, Su Yan is putting immense pressure on the film industry. Both the Summer Box Office Champion and Runner-Up Might Belong to His Works.
📰Famous Director Cheng Zhenghong Criticizes Su Yan: "Only garbage audiences watch his films."
📰Famous Actress Li Li Supports 'Immortal Mountain', Calling It a Milestone for Xianxia Cinema While Criticizing '5 Centimeters per Second' as a Tragedy for the Film Industry.
📰Best Actor Liang Bing Publicly Supports 'Truth' and Expresses Disdain for '5 Centimeters per Second' and Su Yan in a Press Conference.
As mid-August approached, criticism and attacks against Su Yan increased across the market.
But Su Yan understood why.
He had few friends in this industry, but many competitors whose profits he had taken away.
For rising newcomers like him, the older generation of filmmakers rarely welcomed them.
So if nine out of ten people said they disliked him—
That was perfectly normal.
But their opinions didn't matter.
As long as fans liked him, that was enough.
On the second day after the trailer release, Su Yan posted a message on his social media account.
"Fans who loved '5 Centimeters per Second' will love 'We Made a Beautiful Bouquet' even more.
The answers you couldn't find in '5 Centimeters per Second' will definitely be found in 'We Made a Beautiful Bouquet'."
Once again, Su Yan spoke in mysterious riddles.
But because he rarely engaged in marketing like this, his fans became even more excited.
What did Su Yan mean?
Was he implying that the core themes of '5 Centimeters per Second' and 'We Made a Beautiful Bouquet' were opposite?