Sakura TV Headquarters.
"The female lead of his new drama… is Shen Liqian?"
In his office, Production Director Akasaka Yoshitoki's expression darkened as his assistant delivered the news.
Su Yan's leaving Sakura TV to work with Aozora TV was already enough of a slap in the face.
But casting Shen Liqian—a figure Akasaka had publicly blacklisted within the industry—was a direct provocation.
The message couldn't be clearer.
He'd invited Su Yan to meet three times. Su Yan hadn't responded once.
And now, the moment Su Yan's first post-Sakura project was confirmed, he'd gone and cast the very actress who once called Akasaka out live on television?
Heh.
"Su Yan's new drama is scheduled for Sundays at 9 PM in July, right?" Akasaka asked coldly.
"Yes," nodded his assistant, Okano Shigenobu.
That evening, Sakura TV made an announcement.
The B-tier fantasy romance drama 'Scarlet Love', originally scheduled to premiere on Saturday at 9 PM, has been moved to Sunday at 9 PM.
Rescheduling isn't uncommon before a show airs. But with news just breaking about Su Yan casting Shen Liqian...
And Sakura TV responding the very next day?
[Yeah. That's straight-up petty.]
TV networks in the Xia Nation had unwritten rules.
Two A-tier dramas rarely aired at the same time.
Even two B-tier dramas airing head-to-head were usually avoided.
Why fight for ratings and split audiences when there's a whole week of time slots available?
Overcrowding a single time slot helps no one. The smarter move is picking a strong weekday slot for better exposure and a solo run.
Sakura TV's upcoming A-tier school romance 'The Simplest Love!' was already slotted for Sunday at 8 PM.
Now, with 'Scarlet Love' moved to 9 PM on the same night?
The intention couldn't be more obvious.
Akasaka was gunning for Su Yan.
At the 'Your Lie in April' production office, Shinozaki Ikumi—once a Sakura TV employee herself—saw through Akasaka's move instantly.
"Hah. Only knows how to play these childish games. Not worried he's setting himself up for disaster?" she sneered.
There were still over two months before July. Plenty of great slots hadn't been claimed yet.
To forcefully drop a B-tier show into a crowded Sunday prime-time slot?
[No sane producer would make that their first pick.]
"Let him do what he wants," Su Yan said calmly.
"He's a department head now. If his little power plays backfire and the network suffers losses, he'll be the first to take the fall. Just because he's backed by Sakura doesn't mean he can do whatever he wants."
"If 'Your Lie in April' performs as well as 'To the Moon', he's going to get an earful from higher-ups by the end of the summer," Shinozaki added.
Audience numbers are limited.
If 'Your Lie in April' dominates its time slot, the other shows airing at the same time are bound to suffer.
"Exactly. I've said it before, and I'll say it again—my goal is simple: Top ratings of the season. I'll make Akasaka regret choosing to pit 'Scarlet Love' against 'Your Lie in April'."
Shinozaki opened her mouth to say more, but stopped herself.
Compared to when they shot 'An Ancient Love Song', the conditions now were way better.
And Su Yan's confidence in this drama was stronger than she'd seen with either of his previous two hits.
[Who says Aozora TV can't deliver a seasonal ratings champion?]
Working with Su Yan for this long had made even Shinozaki Ikumi start dreaming big.
The two of them sat down to go over more production details—this time focused on integrating product placements from major Xia Nation musical instrument brands, as well as budgeting for venue rentals and extras.
A regular school romance might be cheap to shoot.
But a music drama? That's another story.
Top-tier grand pianos could cost millions. Violins ranged from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. Even renting them wasn't cheap.
Concert scenes had to be shot in rented auditoriums, preferably large, well-known ones in Hudu.
Hundreds—maybe even thousands—of extras would be needed to fill those seats.
Luckily, Hudu had plenty of college students with flexible schedules.
Extras could be recruited with simple incentives—free meals, or even just the chance to see stars like Su Yan, Shen Liqian, or Gu Qingyuan perform live.
For fans, the chance to hear live music from Su Yan and Shen Liqian—rumored to be real musical talents—was incentive enough.
On top of that, Shinozaki wanted to cast actual music industry professionals in the judge roles for the in-show competitions. Those arrangements had to be made in advance.
As they talked logistics, Su Yan's head started spinning.
Looking at Shinozaki's notebook—packed with a detailed, down-to-the-hour schedule—he could only sigh.
"Yeah, being a producer is no joke."
A 20-million yuan budget might sound big, but mismanaged even a little, and you could run out of funds halfway through filming.
Soon, lunch break ended.
That afternoon, they were filming a key scene—Kousei Arima and Kaori Miyazono's first meeting.
Wearing a junior high uniform, standing on a hilltop surrounded by children playing melodicas, Shen Liqian radiated joy as she filmed the scene.
She loved music.
Working on a music-romance drama made her genuinely happy.
Under a bright sun, cherry blossoms swirling through the air—a vibrant girl meets a quiet boy for the first time.
Off to the side, Shinozaki Ikumi watched Su Yan, in full costume with black-rimmed glasses, pull out his phone to snap a photo of Shen Liqian's skirt fluttering in the breeze.
In the script, Kousei snaps a picture because the scene is so peaceful and charming.
But Kaori sees him and—mistaking him for a pervert—flips out.
In anyone else's hands, this scene could've felt sketchy.
But with Su Yan and Shen Liqian, it just worked.
The chemistry was real.
It wasn't uncomfortable—it felt sweet.
Like something straight out of a youthful romance.
[A boy meets a girl. The wind stirs. Something is about to begin.]
[That's the power of good looks. When you're hot, even "accidental upskirt photo" scenes look wholesome,] Shinozaki thought with a sigh.
Also, Su Yan's acting has seriously improved. Not a single retake from Shi Peihua today? That's a first.
April flew by, and production on 'Your Lie in April' moved smoothly into full swing.
By May, networks began officially announcing their lineups for the July summer season.
Xia Nation's previous fall and winter seasons had been fairly quiet.
Top shows barely hit 4.2–4.3% viewership.
In fact, Sakura TV had almost gone an entire quarter without a single show breaking 4%—until 'An Ancient Love Song' pulled a miracle comeback.
But like the stock market, the entertainment industry had cycles.
After the slump came the rally.
And now, heading into the summer season, all the major networks were pulling out their big guns.
Sakura TV invested 44 million yuan into 'The Simplest Love!', starring A-listers Bian Jingying and Yan Jiuwen—buzz was already massive.
Hudu TV dropped 47 million into a period drama called 'Summer Splendor', which shot to the top of trending searches the moment the character posters dropped.
Zhongxia TV didn't have a single mega-budget drama, but fielded two A-tier shows:
The workplace drama 'The Hopeful.'
and the romance office drama 'Single Men & Women'—both with budgets around 35 million.
Add in the five major non-Big Three stations and their B-tier dramas, and you have more than a dozen new titles battling for attention.
All signs pointed to a very competitive summer season.
Even so, among all the upcoming shows, 'Your Lie in April' remained one of the most talked-about.
Why?
Because of Su Yan.
His track record was too good.
Su Yan's fans had unconditional faith in his writing.
B-tier or not, his scripts consistently outperformed the A-tier competition.
Many media outlets were already saying what Su Yan hadn't:
📰Could Su Yan's 'Your Lie in April' defy the odds, air on Aozora TV… and still take the crown for seasonal viewership?
No drama outside the Big Three had achieved that in over 13 years.
And back then, the Big Three—Sakura TV, Zhongxia TV, and Hudu TV—hadn't yet pulled this far ahead.
Their dominance was the result of years of consolidation.
Nowadays, no one expects a smaller station to top the ratings.
Not unless your name was Su Yan.
He'd already made the impossible happen once—breaking 4% ratings in a midnight time slot.
Between that and topping the seasonal charts at Aozora TV?
Most agreed: breaking 4% in a midnight slot was the harder feat.
Su Yan had already done the harder thing.
So why not believe?
May.
At the filming base on Hudu's outskirts, multiple drama crews had set up.
But 'Your Lie in April' had a unique shooting schedule.
Many key scenes weren't shot at the studio, but in rented concert halls.
As originally planned, several competition scenes featuring the leads playing piano and violin took place in formal venues.
Shinozaki Ikumi recruited plenty of fans to fill the seats—Su Yan fans, Shen Liqian fans, and Gu Qingyuan fans alike.
They all signed NDAs to avoid spoiling plot points.
But stuff outside the script?
Hard to keep that under wraps.
By mid-May, one article went viral online:
📰"Genius Screenwriter Su Yan—Secretly a Piano Virtuoso?"
The writer? A Shen Liqian fan who had acted as an extra.
The first half praised Shen Liqian's insane violin performance.
As a top music student at Hudu's elite arts university, the author backed her claims with ID and credentials.
The second half?
Described Su Yan's mind-blowing piano performance during the filming.
Words like "terrifying" and "unreal" were thrown around.
She even claimed Su Yan corrected Shen Liqian's violin technique on set.
Her conclusion?
"Su Yan has professional-level skill in both piano and violin."
Had it just been her alone, the article might've gone ignored.
But in the comments—wave after wave of extras from the set confirmed everything.
[It's all real. Nothing exaggerated. That duet was insane.]
Fans were hooked.
But skeptics pushed back.
[Okay, we get it—he's a genius writer.
We know he composes music.
We even know he plays guzheng and flute.
But now he's a professional pianist and violinist too?
At 21? From the womb, maybe?]
[You stans are seriously losing it.]
[Is this some kind of marketing campaign from the 'Your Lie in April' team?]
Soon, Su Yan fans, Shen Liqian fans, and drama fans who'd seen it in person were clashing with skeptics in full-on flame wars across the internet.