By Sunday, after two days of premieres on Friday and Saturday, most of the new dramas for the Xia Nation's autumn season had already aired.
At the 'An Ancient Love Song' production set, Su Yan and a few others gathered to study the latest viewership data.
After all, these were their direct competitors.
"'Midnight Gourmet' premiered with a first episode viewership of 2.66%, currently ranking 13th among new shows this week in Xia."
"'Under the Blue Sky!' debuted with 3.11%, placing 7th this week."
"'Night Sakura' opened at 3.01%, putting it at 10th."
These were all dramas produced by Sakura TV, so naturally, Su Yan and the others paid extra attention.
"'Midnight Gourmet' did worse than expected," Shinozaki Ikumi said with a hint of frustration.
"'Midnight Gourmet' had a budget of 29 million, a few million more than 'Under the Blue Sky!', and not only did it lose to that one, it even got beaten by 'Night Sakura', a C-grade show? At this rate, is 'Night Sakura' actually going to squeeze into the seasonal Top Ten?"
"'Night Sakura' is officially listed with a 15 million investment, but its actual production setup and promotional resources are definitely B-grade. So beating 'Midnight Gourmet' isn't all that shocking. What's more surprising is that a 3.01% premiere rating is enough to land it in 10th place. That just shows the overall quality of this season's dramas is pretty average," Shi Peihua said, scanning the data sheet.
This season, Sakura TV has produced one A-grade drama, two B-grade dramas, and eight C-grade ones—a total of eleven original productions.
Among these, 'An Ancient Love Song' debuted at 9th place within the network and 27th nationwide.
Honestly, this result had already surprised many insiders at the network.
The Sunday midnight slot had long been considered one of the worst time slots at Sakura TV. If it weren't for competition from the other major stations—Hudu TV and Zhongxia TV—who also launched new shows in this slot, Sakura TV would've abandoned it long ago and used it to re-run old, forgotten shows.
In such a weak time slot, 'An Ancient Love Song' didn't come in dead last?
And it even ranked 27th in nationwide premieres?
That was something.
"But 'The Gilded Ones' has pretty strong numbers. Just goes to show—big investment brings big returns," Su Yan said.
"'The Gilded Ones' premiered Saturday at 8 PM with a 3.89% viewership, placing second in the overall autumn season so far," Shinozaki Ikumi noted.
"That's just temporary. We won't know until tonight whether it stays second or drops to third after Hudu TV airs 'Lone Doctor', she added.
"Looking at past seasons, the Big Three networks usually have at least one or two A-grade dramas breaking the 4% mark at launch. But so far this season, we haven't seen a single one hit that. Just as Director Shi said—this season's lineup really is a bit weaker than usual."
As she spoke, Shinozaki Ikumi started to smile.
"All the better for us. If our competition's ratings weren't so low, 'An Ancient Love Song' wouldn't have been able to sneak into the Top 30 with just a 1.38% premiere. This is a solid start."
"Don't forget, our goal is the seasonal Top Ten! And most importantly, we have to beat 'Night Sakura' and Kiyota Sanji," Su Yan reminded them.
"Yes, yes, I know. No need to say it every five minutes," Shinozaki said with a sigh. "I still don't know how 'An Ancient Love Song' is going to improve its ratings, but since you—the screenwriter—are so confident, that must mean the later episodes are packed with good stuff."
The three of them reviewed their mental notes on the current rankings.
Among Sakura TV's original shows:
A-grade drama 'The Gilded Ones' — 2nd overall, 1st within the network.
B-grade drama 'Under the Blue Sky!' — 7th overall, 2nd in-network.
C-grade drama 'Night Sakura' — 10th overall, 3rd in-network.
'An Ancient Love Song' — 27th overall, 9th in-network.
For Su Yan, who was aiming for the Top Ten, this result was nothing to celebrate.
But for the rest of the cast and crew, it was absolutely worth getting excited about.
During the afternoon filming session, Su Yan could clearly feel the excitement in the team.
'An Ancient Love Song' didn't need to compete with prime-time shows.
Compared to the other Sunday midnight shows from previous seasons, its debut had far surpassed those "predecessors."
And when stacked against Hudu TV and Zhongxia TV's new midnight Sunday dramas, 'An Ancient Love Song' had the highest viewership in that specific slot.
At this rate, there might even be a small bonus waiting for them at the end of the season.
On set, Su Yan was coaching Gu Qingyuan on her fight choreography.
"Mr. Su Yan, what do you think the viewership for tonight's Episode 2 will be?" Gu Qingyuan asked while adjusting her costume armor.
She knew full well this wasn't a question anyone could answer. What she really wanted to know was whether Su Yan, after seeing the Episode 1 numbers, still believed the show could break into the seasonal Top Ten.
"Episode 2?" Su Yan thought for a moment.
The show actually followed a sort of mysterious 'Three-Episode Rule.'
The real turning point—where the plot takes off—was Episode 3.
Episode 1 planted the major mysteries.
Episode 2 kept setting up smaller ones and even introduced misleading elements.
But Episode 3... was where the puzzle-solving truly began.
How did Lu Yuan know Shen Buyan?
Why, despite loving him, did she end up becoming the infamous Demon Queen in history?
Why did Prime Minister Li Yong betray the country?
Why did Lu Yuan and Li Yong become enemies?
What role did Shen Buyan play in all of this?
How would the story between Shen Buyan and Lu Yuan spiral into ultimate heartbreak and emotional devastation?
"No one can predict exact ratings," Su Yan said. "But Episode 2 will definitely have a rise."
"And I'm confident—when 'An Ancient Love Song' Episode 1 gets uploaded to SakuraNet next week, its user ratings and paid view count will blow expectations out of the water."
Sakura TV typically uploads its shows to SakuraNet with a one-week delay, giving fans a chance to rewatch and support the show online.
Normally, once someone finished a show on TV, they wouldn't spend extra money to rewatch it online.
Unless it was a massive hit—A-grade or even S-grade level.
Only those blockbusters could maintain tens of millions of paid streams per episode even after switching platforms.
Why? Because when a drama goes viral, new viewers who missed the original airing have no choice but to catch up online, which boosts the platform's numbers.
In the case of 'An Ancient Love Song'…
Su Yan was certain—no matter where its final ratings landed, there would be a lot of people rewatching it on SakuraNet.
Because this was the kind of show that didn't truly shine until the second watch.
Especially Episode 1.
Once a viewer reached Episode 14, then returned to rewatch Episode 1, they'd finally understand:
How much pain Lu Yuan was in.
How much courage and resolve it took for her to meet Shen Buyan—who didn't even recognize her—as if it were their last moment in life.
"So you still believe 'An Ancient Love Song' can climb into the seasonal Top Ten?" Gu Qingyuan asked directly.
"Of course," Su Yan replied with a smile.
"I'm the screenwriter. I have ten thousand percent faith in this story."
He left it at that.
Then smoothly changed the topic, redirecting Gu Qingyuan's focus back to the fight choreography.
"Alright, enough chit-chat. Time to get serious."
"Gu Qingyuan, stretch your arm out—higher. That's it. Now watch me demonstrate. Engage your core at the right moment, and you'll land in a perfect spin like this."
Gu Qingyuan stood there, stunned, watching Su Yan effortlessly spin through the air and land gracefully.
Her thoughts were indeed pulled in another direction.
What kind of core strength was that?
"How can you jump that high?"
"Don't worry, you'll be wearing a harness when we film. It'll be easy," Su Yan said, chuckling.
Gu Qingyuan gave him a strange look.
Why did Su Yan always say things like that so casually?
What we needed were wires to pull off… he could do barehanded.
What was "easy" for him wasn't remotely the same for them.
Gu Qingyuan had always considered herself bright—one of the most talented among her peers.
But after filming with Su Yan for a few months, she was feeling an unprecedented sense of inadequacy.
Just what kind of training did Su Yan go through in his daily life?
Flute, konghou, martial arts, screenwriting, composing, lyrics writing...
What didn't he know?
What other hidden skills was he still holding back?