Late at night, Sakura Net and Sakura TV's official website were stormed by furious fans.
["Writer, what the hell?! Are you even human?"]
["Su Yan, stop playing dead. Can you even write? If you can't, hand the pen to Kiyota Sanji. I'd rather trust that idiot than ever trust you again. How can you arrange a plot like this?"]
["I can't take it anymore. It's been half an hour since Episode 10 ended, and I still feel sick. If you were going to make Shen Buyan hurt Lu Yuan like this, why give her hope at all? Talking about entering the palace together, staying with her in the deep palace, and then returning to the modern era in less than two minutes. Did you ever think about how desperate Lu Yuan would feel?"]
["The next time they meet is five years later. Lu Yuan knows nothing—she just experiences Shen Buyan disappearing suddenly and waits for him for a full five years."]
["Just thinking about the earlier episodes makes my whole body tremble. This is seriously too cruel."]
["Damn it, I thought 'Rurouni Kenshin' was already the peak of emotional devastation. I never expected it to be only the beginning of Su Yan's depression marathon. Is something wrong with his head?"]
["I can't criticize the drama anymore. I can only go curse Su Yan."]
["Why is it that when I watch other tragic dramas, I can just drop them and call them trash—but with 'An ancient love song', I can't do that? I can only curse the writer like an idiot, and I still feel awful."]
["Because 'An ancient love song' isn't tragic just for the sake of being tragic. Every character's choice comes from the heart. The writer didn't force their lives into misery just to squeeze out tears. Lu Yuan has choices—but because she is Lu Yuan, she firmly chooses to save the nation. The characters are innocent. The guilty one is the writer. Even if everything makes sense logically, the one who made this fate 'reasonable' is Su Yan. He deserves the scolding."]
["I can't accept this. I genuinely don't know how I'm supposed to keep watching the remaining episodes."]
["I don't care what happens. I absolutely refuse to accept Lu Yuan dying at 36."]
["If Su Yan thinks he can spend over ten episodes just to tell me that fate can't be changed, I'll make sure he never succeeds in the screenwriting industry. Failure will be his destiny. Everyone boycott his future works."]
["Yeah, I support this. He's been playing dead since the premiere—not even opening a writer account on Sakura Net. I've never seen such a 'high-and-mighty' writer."]
["He's scared of getting cursed, that's why."]
["Playing dead won't stop the cursing. If you knew you'd be cursed and still wrote this, that's an even worse crime. From today on, I'm going to curse him on the official site every day until he brings 36-year-old Lu Yuan back to life."]
["But curses aside—Lu Yuan is written so well. This is what a real female lead should be like: flesh and blood, responsibility for her country, a broad vision. Not some love-brained heroine who forgets everything once romance starts."]
On the night Episode 10 of 'An ancient love song' aired, four related topics surged into Sakura Net's top ten trending list.
Opening the comment section felt like being hit head-on by a tidal wave of resentment.
Yet paradoxically, the show's rating didn't drop at all. Among the countless posts cursing Su Yan were many praising how moving Episode 10 was.
At this point, all viewers had accepted reality.
This drama was a thoroughly depressing one.
Changing fate? Changing history?
All lies.
Shen Buyan was the closed loop of history.
He wasn't changing history—history was the way it was because he participated in it.
Now, everyone knew there was only one transmigration left for Shen Buyan.
That was the first meeting between Lu Yuan and Shen Buyan.
And likewise, it would also be their final farewell.
But if none of the previous transmigrations changed history in the slightest, what could the fourth possibly do?
By this point, the suffocating atmosphere of 'An ancient love song' had reached its peak.
Its topic heat and discussion volume on Sakura Net even surpassed 'The Gilded Ones'.
At noon, the ratings for Episode 10 were released.
3.28%.
Another significant increase from the previous week.
Inside the production team, Su Yan, Gu Qingyuan, and Shinozaki Ikumi finally relaxed after seeing the number.
Still rising.
That meant the show's top-ten ranking wasn't a one-week fluke.
This rating practically confirmed that 'An ancient love song' would remain in the weekly top ten—only the exact ranking was uncertain.
"If we're lucky, we might even surpass the ratings of 'Under the Blue Sky!'," Shinozaki Ikumi said, her blood rushing at the thought.
"If that happens, 'An ancient love song' would become Sakura TV's second-best drama this season—second only to the A-level drama 'The Gilded Ones'."
The thought felt unreal.
Before the premiere, she had only hoped for a 1.4% rating.
"But the premise is that the audience holds steady—and the ratings stay stable," Shi Peihua said thoughtfully.
"I'm worried the last episode was too emotionally brutal. Some viewers might not dare to continue."
"There's no need to underestimate the audience's tolerance," Su Yan said with a smile.
"Anyone who's still watching by Episode 10 won't leave before seeing all fourteen episodes and the final result."
He was confident about that.
After a moment of thought, Su Yan added,
"Miss Shinozaki, I want to open a writer account on Sakura Net and have the TV station verify it."
"Why would you do that?" Shinozaki Ikumi asked, puzzled.
"As many fans have said, it's not good for me—as both lead actor and writer—to be too aloof," Su Yan said lightly.
"I should interact with the audience a bit."
Interaction was just the excuse.
The real reason was simple: the drama couldn't keep growing if casual viewers opened the comment section and saw nothing but people cursing the writer.
That evening.
On Sakura Net's official playback page for 'An ancient love song', the cast and crew list changed.
Su Yan's name—previously plain text—became a clickable link leading directly to the verified account of Sakura TV's contracted screenwriter "Su Yan," complete with a follow button.
Most viewers didn't notice this detail.
So Su Yan used that verified account to post an announcement directly in the comment section and pinned it to the top.
[Thank you all for your love and support for 'An ancient love song' and for me personally.]
He greeted fans in a very official, polite tone, then went on at length about the drama's achievements and the audience's contributions.
Finally, the most important message appeared:
['An ancient love song' is absolutely not a story where Shen Buyan's actions are meaningless. Lu Yuan will not die on the Shangsi night at age thirty-six. Her and Shen Buyan's dreams will be realized in the final episode!]
Just like how Su Yan had previously "reassured" Shinozaki Ikumi.
It was a highly misleading kind of spoiler.
The male and female leads achieve their dreams.
Naturally, all viewers would assume it meant the dream of living together at South Dream Lake.
They would assume a happy ending.
As for the truth…
Well.
At least for now, this statement from Su Yan's verified account was seen by countless viewers of 'An ancient love song'.
And inevitably, these viewers would spread the message to fans outside the platform.
In an instant, hope surged back.
The entire comment section exploded.
The writer and lead actor, Su Yan, had personally spoken.
Who still dared to say the ending would be tragic?
Who dared?
Everyone knew it—Su Yan still had a heart.
How could he possibly give Shen Buyan and Lu Yuan a tragic ending?
They were his creations.
Surely, he loved them more deeply than anyone else.
Very quickly, the posts that had been furiously cursing Su Yan the night before were drowned out by waves of praise.