Su Yan stared at the three Xia Flame Awards nomination letters in his hands.
It was January 31st.
"Why do you look so calm, Su Yan? Aren't you even a little excited?" Shinozaki Ikumi asked.
"Hmm… I'd say I expected it," Su Yan replied. "Except for the nomination for Best Original Music in a Drama, I already had a good feeling I'd be nominated for the other two. I'm not completely indifferent, but at most I'd call it a ripple of emotion."
"And what about you, Qingyuan?" Shinozaki Ikumi turned to Gu Qingyuan, who looked as cool and composed as ever. "This is a Best New Actress nomination—we only get one shot at this. You could win Best Actress seven or eight times in the future if you're good enough, but you only get one shot at a newcomer award."
"It's only been six months since I graduated from school last July. Getting a Best New Actress nomination already… honestly, it feels more surreal than the dramas I've acted in," Gu Qingyuan said.
"It's not that I'm not reacting. I'm just so happy that I don't know how to express it."
"So playing a quiet beauty like Tomoe in 'Rurouni Kenshin' was just you being yourself, huh?" Shinozaki teased.
"I'm a different story," she added, grinning. "The first half of last year, I was on the brink of losing my career as a producer. And now, at the start of this year, I get a nomination for Best New Producer."
"I'm going to go home and blast this news in all my middle school, high school, and college group chats—ten times each. And I'll brag about it in the office chat too. I need to make up tenfold for all the humiliation and ridicule I got after 'Sakura Island Love Song' bombed."
"Qingyuan, your win is basically locked in. No other new actress from last year comes close. You debuted as a lead, and your show, 'An Ancient Love Song,' made it into the top three in its final week. Su Yan's nomination for Best New Screenwriter is also basically guaranteed. Compared to him, all the other new screenwriters this past year are irrelevant."
"I'm going to promote you both to everyone I know."
When she spoke about Su Yan, a natural note of pride came into Shinozaki Ikumi's voice.
"It's just a nomination," Gu Qingyuan said. "Nothing's been decided yet."
"It'd be even more awkward if we end up losing."
"No point thinking about that," Su Yan smiled.
"If the two of you do lose, time and history will prove that it wasn't your loss—it was the Xia Flame Awards' loss. The judges just didn't have the vision."
Gu Qingyuan and Shinozaki both turned to look at Su Yan.
Sure, he was praising them—but somehow, it felt... off.
They were his partners. Their achievements were tied together. But what he just said basically meant: If the judges don't award us, it's their problem.
It was a bold thing to say.
And yet… it didn't feel arrogant.
Or maybe—it was just perfectly in line with their image of Su Yan.
After the crew wrapped for the day, Su Yan, Shinozaki Ikumi, Gu Qingyuan, Shi Peihua, and the acting couple Takezawa Kayano and Qiu Junlin had dinner together at a hotel near the studio.
Over the meal, they discussed the next day's shoot.
The 'To the Moon' crew's production continued smoothly over the following days.
Su Yan and Gu Qingyuan's acting was decent—not on par with Qiu Junlin and company—but steadily improving. And their characters, Dr. Cheng Li (Neil) and Dr. Shen Yi (Eva), didn't require overly complex emotional performances.
Soon, filming for Episodes 1 and 2 was completed.
During the second week of the winter season, starting on weekdays, a wave of C-grade dramas—and even some B-grade ones—began to air.
Most stations chose not to broadcast their key shows at the same time as the Big Three networks' major titles. Competing directly would just backfire, with everyone dragging each other down.
But as one drama after another premiered, a new viewership ranking began to take shape.
By Friday, four shows had broken the 3% viewership threshold.
The top spot was held by a B-grade drama produced by Zhongxia TV, which aired on Thursday at 8 PM, with a rating of 3.52%.
Then came Friday, 8 PM.
Sakura TV's A-grade fantasy drama 'The Gate' premiered.
At 9 PM, Zhongxia TV's A-grade family drama 'Imperfect Divorce' also launched.
Saturday: The ratings were released.
'The Gate' – Premiered with 4.02% viewership.
Thanks to a larger budget, aggressive promotion, a reliable producer, and one of the station's best writers and directors, it achieved something 'The Gilded One' failed to do over an entire season—break 4% on Day 1.
'Imperfect Divorce' – Premiered with 3.84% viewership.
That day, Sakura TV erupted in celebration.
At least in the winter season rankings so far, 'The Gate' had taken first place.
The result let Akasaka Yoshitoki breathe a huge sigh of relief in his office.
During the final week of the last season, 'An Ancient Love Song' had actually surpassed 'The Gilded One'—a slap in the face for him.
'The Gate', also produced under his supervision, was his shot at redemption.
And now, with its premiere breaking 4%, it helped restore some of his reputation.
"Genius screenwriter, huh?"
Akasaka Yoshitoki scoffed.
There were tons of "geniuses" in this industry.
But none of them understood the truth—connections and capital were the keys to survival.
Every genius had their highs and lows. And once a genius hit a creative slump and released one or two flops, they'd be tossed aside by the industry.
Without strong personal networks and support, they rarely came back from that.
Akasaka had once considered bringing Su Yan into his circle.
But sadly, this young man wasn't very smart.
He had personally read the script for 'To the Moon'.
To be honest, if Su Yan hadn't made the network a ton of money in the last two quarters, there's no way a slow-burning, artsy drama that takes three full episodes to even explain its premise would've made it through the production board.
"So you like slow pacing and literary themes, huh?
Kid, you don't understand a thing—this is Sakura TV, a commercial network."
Akasaka lit a cigarette and glanced at a second file buried under the ratings report.
It was a medical leave form from Production Department Director Yoshizaki Shigeyoshi, who had recently been hospitalized.
Akasaka would be delivering this leave request to the higher-ups soon.
"Old man better just stay sick and never come back," he muttered.
"If 'To the Moon' doesn't hit its target ratings, I'm never letting Su Yan touch another investment.
And that daughter of Shinozaki Aki—Shinozaki Ikumi—
She'll be out with him.
Retired and still meddling in my affairs? I'll deal with both of them."
Yoshizaki's health had been poor for years. He'd taken time off before—sometimes for a week or two, sometimes a month or more.
But he was still one of the station's veteran employees. Unless he chose to retire, the higher-ups wouldn't force him.
Still, age was catching up.
And no one could defy the laws of biology forever.
One day, Yoshizaki would step down.
And when he did, Akasaka Yoshitoki would take his place.
He had the patience to wait.
8 PM, Saturday
Hudu TV's only A-grade drama this season, the horror-thriller 'The Crimson Magician', premiered.
Shows like this usually receive great first-episode buzz due to their novelty and dark aesthetic.
Online forums exploded with discussion about it.
But at the same time, as 9 PM approached, viewership on Sakura TV began to climb steadily.
The massive fanbases of 'An Ancient Love Song' and 'Rurouni Kenshin' had already gathered.
Middle-aged fans of Qiu Junlin and Takezawa Kayano were also eagerly waiting.
Though Episode 1 didn't include the childhood scenes of the leads, Cao Shou and Gu Yingjie—two of the top child actors in Xia—had their own dedicated fans tuning in.
And during this timeslot, neither of the other Big Three networks had any major premieres, as if they were showing Su Yan and Sakura TV some courtesy.
Su Yan's 'An Ancient Love Song' had achieved such an absurdly high rating in its final week that many competitors deliberately avoided confrontation when choosing their own premiere slots.
As a result, the 9 PM slot saw a large number of casual viewers tuning into Sakura TV, wondering—
"What is this 'To the Moon' drama, really about?"