Su Yan hung up the phone.
Outside the window, a light rain had started falling, with dark clouds looming low over the city.
For many well-established screenwriters in the Xia Nation, after a project succeeds, it's completely acceptable to take a break for a few months, even half a year.
No one is a nuclear-powered donkey—creative inspiration is like the ocean: vast, but not endless.
But Su Yan couldn't afford that luxury. Akasaka Yoshitoki clearly had issues with him. If he didn't strike while the iron was hot—while people in the screenwriting and production departments still remembered his recent success—and quickly deliver a new script, then once the buzz around 'Rurouni Kenshin' died down, Akasaka Yoshitoki would definitely strike hard to block any new project proposals.
Although 'Rurouni Kenshin' was still providing him with a huge amount of emotional value every day—and by the end of the month or maybe next month, that emotional value could accumulate to seven or eight million—there was no choice but to spend what he had now. Otherwise, it would be too late to make the fall broadcast schedule in October.
Su Yan took a deep breath and turned his attention to the system.
With a single thought, the 5.1 million emotional value points he had stored in the system space were instantly consumed. He felt a stream of information begin surging in his mind.
Thirty seconds later, a massive influx of data poured into his consciousness.
Script, music, storyboard, directing notes—all this material suddenly appeared out of thin air.
The title 'An Ancient Love Song' floated before Su Yan's eyes.
"...?"
Su Yan looked utterly confused.
It was that one.
And right after that, another system message popped up:
[Congratulations, Host. You have acquired Flute Performance Mastery.]
[Congratulations, Host. You have acquired Konghou Performance Mastery.]
Su Yan's eyes narrowed.
The flute and the konghou were the signature instruments of the male and female leads in the story.
The system really knew how to pick its bonus skills.
This actually worked out well—Su Yan had little knowledge of music theory. But in film and TV, background scores and musical motifs are critically important. If he wanted to adapt the excellent theme songs and insert tracks from his past life's shows accurately, this knowledge would come in handy.
Clearing his mind, Su Yan focused on the script itself.
'An Ancient Love Song' was a web drama produced in his previous life by a certain site on the B platform.
It had cast a group of virtually unknown rookie actors and had a total production budget of just over four million yuan. A shoestring setup by all accounts.
Yet, after airing, this costume drama managed to dominate the anime-heavy, second-dimension crowd on the B platform with its sheer quality and heart-wrenching plot. It racked up over 200 million views and topped the site's drama hot search rankings for a long time.
And since it was only available to subscribers, that figure represented paid views from members.
If you added pirated views, the real number might've been double.
Of course, in Su Yan's past life, the B platform wasn't considered a major player among video sites—it catered mostly to anime fans. Compared to giants like iQIYI, Tencent Video, and Youku, its traffic was relatively modest.
That's why 'An Ancient Love Song' remained mostly unknown to users outside the B platform.
After all, whether a show becomes a breakout hit depends not only on the quality of the script, but also on the distribution channel.
But tens of millions of viewers gave it a 9.9 rating—clear proof of its quality.
At least for Su Yan, it was an unforgettable gem.
Though technically a time-travel romance, it wasn't the clichéd kind—it was a reverse timeline narrative.
Its core concept was identical to the classic Japanese film 'My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday'.
But in Su Yan's opinion, 'An Ancient Love Song' surpassed it in emotional impact and storytelling excellence.
Though it shared romantic themes with 'Rurouni Kenshin', this one wasn't limited to just personal love—it also dealt with choices tied to nation and duty.
The male lead met the female lead for the first time at the moment of her death—he looked at the woman who had waited for him her entire life with the eyes of a stranger.
And the last time he saw her… was when she met him for the first time, not recognizing him at all.
When Su Yan first watched this drama, he was emotionally wrecked for days. The sorrow lingered with powerful aftereffects.
Seeing the title 'An Ancient Love Song' brought all those sealed-away memories flooding back.
It had similarities to 'Rurouni Kenshin'—a historical drama, romance, and heavy emotional tone.
And it had already proven, in his past life, that you didn't need A-list stars or a massive budget to achieve popularity and acclaim.
Su Yan didn't believe that the success of 'Rurouni Kenshin' would suddenly earn him generous funding from the production department.
Why?
Simple—Akasaka Yoshitoki would absolutely cause trouble.
With that in mind, drawing 'An Ancient Love Song' turned out to be surprisingly fitting.
"…Well, it's not like I had a choice anyway," Su Yan muttered after thinking for a moment, then chuckled.
"At this stage, I don't have the luxury of being picky. I can only make what I draw, not draw what I want to make."
Su Yan was a man of action.
In the days that followed, he fully immersed himself in working on the script.
Not that the drama was flawless, just because it was a hit in his past life.
For starters, the male lead's backstory could use some strengthening.
If he knows military strategy and later teaches the female lead survival skills in times of chaos, then logically, his character should have a background as a widely read polymath.
The political conflicts between nations in the story also needed more rigor.
How could the Empress Dowager jump off a wall and die?
Even if the Emperor publicly ordered her death, it had to follow proper ceremonial protocol.
Also, while writing the script, Su Yan had to consider scene design and budget constraints.
If there were war scenes, could they be filmed convincingly within the budget?
If not, better to avoid writing elaborate battle scenes that might turn into village skirmishes on screen—turning epic wars into laughable parodies.
While Su Yan was buried in creating the script for 'An Ancient Love Song'...
The summer season in September was still ongoing.
Besides 'Rurouni Kenshin', which had already wrapped and topped the quarter's average view and rating charts, most other online dramas for the season were in their final stretch.
The tenth episode of 'Pure Breeze' aired to lukewarm reception. Many viewers bluntly called it another show that started strong but collapsed at the end.
Still, its total view count hadn't dropped much. After all, the plot was mediocre—not outright bad.
Meanwhile, the paid average view count for 'Rurouni Kenshin' surpassed four million this week.
Even though the series had ended, many fans remained emotionally attached. They continued to leave comments not only on the drama's own page but also on Sakura TV's official site—urging both the station and Su Yan to produce a sequel.
Su Yan took note of all this. Besides 'Trust & Betrayal', 'Rurouni Kenshin' still had a long manga main story.
Even without the manga, it had four or five live-action movies with combined box office earnings close to 30 billion yen.
But since the system hadn't let him draw those, there was nothing he could do.
And so…
Monday, September 9th.
Shinozaki Ikumi, who hadn't seen Su Yan in over a week, arrived at the screenwriting department wearing a sleek black suit. Her long legs in black stockings moved confidently, exuding both beauty and intelligence.
Outside his office, she took a deep breath.
"Alright, let's see what kind of script Su Yan was so confident about on the phone—the one he said would probably be a hit."
She knocked three times on Su Yan's door.
-------------------
Author's Note:
Early on, I'll have the protagonist work on lesser-known but really good works.
This fits with where he is in his career and the kind of scripts his current emotional value can draw.
These could include Japanese anime, games, or excellent domestic titles.
For example, 'To the Moon'.
I'm also considering 'Life is Strange'.
That game had me emo for two or three days after finishing it.
Though many of you probably know it, it's kind of a milestone in story-driven games.
As for 'An Ancient Love Song', maybe many readers haven't seen it, but it's really good.
At least for me, it left me feeling hollow for an entire week after watching it.
I think it holds up to many classic, depressing anime.
And don't worry if you haven't seen the shows mentioned in the novel.
In my experience, most readers hadn't seen the works I wrote about, but they kept reading anyway.
Just like with 'Rurouni Kenshin'—I'm sure many hadn't watched it either, but here you all are.