The next day, the viewership for episode eleven of 'An Ancient Love Song' continued its steady rise, closing at 3.38%.
Ten years ago, it would've been nearly impossible for a drama that debuted with average ratings to see such a significant surge later on.
Back then, viewers had very limited ways to catch up on missed episodes—usually relying on reruns from TV stations. That kind of setup had major limitations.
But with streaming platforms like SakuraNet, everything became much more seamless.
An 'Ancient Love Song' now ranks second in paid streaming numbers for the season, just behind the current seasonal ratings leader, 'The Painted One'. However, as 'An Ancient Love Song' grew in popularity, it was only a matter of time before it overtook 'The Painted One' in paid viewership on the platform.
Now that the autumn season was nearing its end, most of the dramas airing on various networks were wrapping up.
Originally, 'Night Sakura' had been hovering near the top ten. Without 'An Ancient Love Song', it might have just barely made it in.
But after 'An Ancient Love Song' entered the top ten and bumped another show down, 'Night Sakura's ratings slipped out of the top ten altogether, landing between 11th and 13th place for two weeks straight.
With only two episodes left to air, 'Night Sakura' was reaching its end.
Thus,
The rivalry between Su Yan and Kiyota Sanji, the two strongest rookie screenwriters at Sakura TV, reached an indisputable conclusion.
Thanks to the performance of 'An Ancient Love Song', Su Yan's name spread like wildfire across the entire network.
Any news related to Su Yan would travel internally within half a day.
Especially a juicy rumor that started circulating on Tuesday:
"Did you hear? That Su Yan apparently submitted a new script to the Production Department for the upcoming winter season."
"Yeah, I heard too. Section Chief Guan from the Production Department has been scrambling these past two days, trying to squeeze out a budget for it."
"Tsk. The greenlight decisions for winter scripts were basically finalized before the production meeting. Now, Su Yan suddenly throws in a new script? Some writers and producers are gonna be really uncomfortable. The total budget hasn't changed—if his project gets approved, it means someone else's funding gets cut or canceled altogether."
"Word is, several projects from Akasaka Yoshitoki's team are taking a hit. Their investment's being shaved down to make room for Su Yan's new project."
"Wait, seriously? Cutting projects from Akasaka Yoshitoki's producers? It's usually him doing that to others—since when does anyone dare do that to him?"
"Results speak louder than power. Su Yan brought in major earnings for the station with 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal' and An Ancient Love Song. Of course, they're gonna make exceptions for him."
"I heard they're scrapping one C-tier drama and a web drama from Akasaka's team to fund Su Yan's new project."
"What the heck?! Two projects sacrificed just for him? That means his new drama is starting with a B-tier investment level, right?"
"Obviously! He's proven his commercial value twice now. The network won't be stingy. Heck, he might even get an A-tier budget."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. The A-tier slot for winter was decided months ago. It's a fantasy-heavy show with lots of effects, so they pre-allocated that massive budget long ago."
"Yeah, no way they'd suddenly shift that kind of money to Su Yan's drama. Plus, the winter season usually gets even tighter budgets than autumn. Still, this is insane—a rookie writer going from a web drama in summer, to a C-tier in autumn, and now probably a B-tier for winter? That's next-level."
"Ugh, I'm so jealous. Is this what genius looks like? If Su Yan's winter drama is another hit, in another year or two, he might qualify for A-tier or even S-tier greenlight treatment."
"That's only if he keeps delivering. There have been plenty of 'geniuses' who burned bright for a year and then faded away. Xia's entertainment history is full of them."
All day long, the buzz surrounding Su Yan inside Sakura TV eclipsed that of even veteran, award-winning writers and producers.
A genius screenwriter who'd climbed the ranks by stepping over Kiyota Sanji, Akasaka Yoshitoki's own nephew—
Now, he was stepping on Akasaka Yoshitoki himself.
Of course, people were obsessed.
Even with how guarded Akasaka Yoshitoki usually was, he couldn't ignore how his authority was being chipped away.
Su Yan.
Akasaka took a deep breath, gradually calming his emotions.
On Thursday, the Production Department meeting was held.
What transpired in that meeting quickly spread like wildfire among the Sakura TV staff.
Akasaka Yoshitoki had argued during the meeting that Su Yan was just a rookie with unstable creative output. His new script showed no clear highlights, and the network shouldn't take such a big risk on someone unproven.
But Ogata Aya fired back right in his face.
She directly called out Kiyota Sanji's poor performance and criticized his reliance on family ties. Back when Akasaka pushed for Kiyota's script, he wasn't exactly worried about "taking risks." A clear double standard.
She even brought up the family connection between Akasaka and Kiyota openly.
The Production Department's higher-ups always had some bickering over budget allocations, but never had things escalated like this.
Everyone at the station was [watching the drama unfold in real time].
This was the ripple effect Su Yan's back-to-back hits had triggered.
Even if Akasaka still wanted to suppress him, Department Head Yoshizaki Shigeyoshi wasn't going to allow it.
He gave the final word in the meeting, and that was that.
On Friday, while still on set filming the final scenes of An Ancient Love Song, Su Yan heard the news from Shinozaki Ikumi:
His new script, 'To the Moon', had been approved for production with a B-tier investment from the network.
The allocated budget: 25 million yuan.
"What a shame. If the budget hadn't been cut again this quarter, we might've pushed for even more," Shinozaki said with a slightly regretful look.
"There's no such thing as perfection in this world," Su Yan replied calmly.
To Su Yan, 'To the Moon' didn't need massive scenes or huge production value. Sure, money could always be spent—but this amount was more than enough to ensure quality. It even allowed them to bring in a few well-known, skilled actors.
In fact, Su Yan had been more worried that the Production Department might reject the script because the early episodes were too understated.
But this was Sakura TV—their production team wasn't foolish. Of course, they noticed those issues.
And yet, because they had faith in Su Yan—because of the success of 'Rurouni Kenshin' and 'An Ancient Love Song'—they chose to trust him unconditionally.
"So… will you be acting in 'To the Moon'?" Shinozaki asked.
The quick approval had put her in a great mood, and she was already planning production.
"I don't have a fitting role this time," Su Yan said with a small smile.
"I won't be the lead, but there are a few minor roles in later episodes that Gu Qingyuan could cameo in. It'd be a nice way to funnel fans from 'An Ancient Love Song' and 'Rurouni Kenshin' into 'To the Moon'. Oh, and by the way—there'll be a few special effects scenes near the end. I'll mark them in the script, and you'll probably need to reach out to a VFX company to prep them in advance."
"Special effects?" Shinozaki raised an eyebrow, surprised. "Are they complicated?"
In the Xia film and TV industry, post-production was usually done alongside filming—but that only worked for dramas without VFX.
Once special effects were involved, production timelines got a lot longer—much like in Su Yan's previous life.
"Nothing too complex," he said. "Altogether, it's only a few minutes, and they're mostly in the last episode. There should be plenty of time to get it done."
The key scenes involved a rocket launch and the male lead piloting a spacecraft to the moon.
They weren't hard to make, but they were crucial—it was one of 'To the Moon's most explosive climaxes.
A few days passed.
Sunday arrived once again.
It was the premiere day of episode twelve of 'An Ancient Love Song'.
None of Su Yan's fans had any clue that he was already splitting his attention between final filming and the new drama's production setup.
By this point, 'An Ancient Love Song' had finally reached its final chapter—
The most heart-wrenching arc of the entire story.