In December, temperatures across the Xia Nation dropped sharply.
Whether in Hudu or the Tokyo region—two places Su Yan frequently traveled between—snow had already begun to fall.
But even during this time, the production teams for the movie 'Your Name.' and the TV drama 'Kimi ni Todoke!' had basically been fully assembled.
In the original work, the male lead of 'Your Name.', Tachibana Taki, had a somewhat gentle personality. His appearance was cleaner and more refined rather than outright handsome.
Even more difficult, the actor needed strong acting skills to portray the subtle differences when a girl's soul inhabited his body.
On top of that, Su Yan had extremely high expectations for the film. Internally, the company had approved a production budget exceeding 300 million.
Choosing the male lead naturally became the top priority.
After spending more than half a month searching, the production team finally confirmed the actor.
A first-tier film star from Xia Nation—Qi Hao, aged 23.
He had a youthful appearance and excellent acting ability. Having debuted as a child actor, he had already spent thirteen years in the film and television industry.
Though still young, he was already considered a veteran in the industry.
As for the production team of 'Kimi ni Todoke!', the process was much simpler.
Once Su Yan was confirmed as the male lead, Kazehaya Shota and Gu Qingyuan as the female lead, Kurokuma Sawako, the remaining supporting roles were mostly easy to fill.
Only the role of the second female lead, Kurumi, required a bit more effort.
After all, actresses capable of switching between scheming "green tea" vibes and pure goddess-like charm were quite rare.
But given Dimensional Pictures' current influence, 99% of actors in Xia Nation wouldn't refuse an invitation from Su Yan.
So, although it took a little effort, they still managed to invite a first-tier actress to play the role.
After all, even if it was just a second female lead role—
The popularity boost it brought was far greater than being the female lead in a self-produced drama from one of the three major TV stations.
At present, Dimensional Pictures has more than 2 billion in company funds, over 300 employees of all types, and while two production teams were filming simultaneously, the marketing department was also negotiating promotional partnerships across the industry to promote 'Fate/Zero' and 'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie'.
Once Su Yan started filming new projects, it was nearly impossible to hide the news from the media.
Naturally, it was also impossible to hide from his fans.
To avoid diverting promotional attention away from 'Fate/Zero' and the 'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie', Su Yan himself didn't publicly announce the completion and launch of the two new productions.
But within just two days, the news spread throughout the Xia Nation television industry.
["'Your Name.'? 'Kimi ni Todoke'? These titles from the old sadist's new projects are pretty unusual."]
["Just hearing the titles, they sound like romance stories. Sigh… two more tragic masterpieces are about to be born."]
["I'm already looking forward to the nationwide wailing when these two shows air."]
["Is it possible they won't be depressing this time? The titles actually sound pretty youthful."]
["Impossible. Absolutely impossible! Just look at 'Tokyo Love Story'. The title sounds romantic, but without the 'What IF' ending, that drama would've been a total life tragedy."]
["Anyway, rumors say the old sadist himself will play the male lead in 'Kimi ni Todoke!'. After so long, we'll finally see him and Gu Qingyuan acting together as the main couple again!"]
["The last time they were male and female leads together was 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners,' right?"]
["Wasn't it 'Tokyo Love Story'?"]
["The female lead in 'Tokyo Love Story' was Shen Liqian. Don't mix them up. But this time… sigh, even though the chance is small, I still hope their characters get a good ending. The 'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie' has already confirmed that Gu Qingyuan barely appears—probably only in some memory scenes. The real female lead, judging from the promotional material, is Shen Liqian playing a girl named Kamiya Kaoru… The regrets from the Kenshin drama version should at least get some closure, right?"]
["Dream on."]
["I follow the old sadist's works, but I will never believe he'll suddenly write pure romance."]
["Everyone knows the pattern: in the main endings of the old sadist's works, the male and female leads either die apart, like 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' and 'Your Lie in April'. Or there's no male lead—like 'Life is Strange' and 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica'. Or the couple breaks up—like 'Tokyo Love Story'. Stop fantasizing. As long as you watch his works expecting tragedy, you won't feel betrayed."]
["Let me ask you something. If you watch expecting tragedy, but one day discover the old sadist actually made pure romance… wouldn't that be another kind of betrayal?"]
["If that happens, I'll eat ten kilograms on the spot. I'm leaving my words here. Bookmark this thread and dig it up next year! If the old sadist's two new works aren't depressing, come find me—I'll livestream it!"]
["Even though your arrogance annoys me, considering it's the old sadist, the chance of you getting slapped in the face feels slim… Fine, I'll bookmark it. If your prediction fails, I'll come back and supervise you eating."]
Throughout December, most Xia Nation drama fans still weren't paying much attention to the currently airing seasonal dramas.
Fans had already analyzed every detail of the 'Fate/Zero' promotional materials and trailers to exhaustion. With nothing new left to discuss, they could only shift their attention to news about Su Yan's new productions.
Even though the public only knew the two titles—
'Your Name.' and 'Kimi ni Todoke!' still stayed in the top ten trending searches on major video platforms for three straight days.
Their popularity even surpassed some of the season's A-tier dramas.
Seeing this situation, Su Yan's peers in the industry felt completely hopeless.
Even Hudu TV—normally the most laid-back of the three major TV stations—could no longer sit still.
They didn't know what the scripts looked like or how the final productions would turn out.
But since Su Yan had already started filming, the three major TV stations were preparing negotiation teams to fly to Tokyo and compete for broadcasting rights.
In the past, Su Yan had to approach them to broadcast his works, and the licensing fees weren't particularly high.
Now the situation was the opposite—
They were the ones competing against each other.
Each station had insiders within the others, so everyone knew what the others were doing.
But they also understood that whoever secured the broadcasting rights to 'Kimi ni Todoke!' would ultimately depend on how much budget their station was willing to allocate.
Competition—
Didn't just exist among ordinary employees.
The executives of the three major TV stations were starting to feel it too.
Time passed quickly, and soon it was late December.
From that moment onward, the entire market grew tense.
Across the Xia Nation, the promotional intensity for 'Fate/Zero' reached its peak.
On Sakura TV, whenever there was advertising time, the very first thing shown was always the broadcast announcement for 'Fate/Zero'.
Su Yan, Zhuang Yuxin, and other main cast members also traveled to Hudu, participating in variety shows, interviews, and commercial events arranged by Sakura TV.
For several days in a row, entertainment news in the television industry reported on Su Yan almost daily.
Especially during a promotional event near the end of the month—
When Su Yan appeared wearing golden armor, holding the Sword of Rupture, with a cold expression—
The look immediately topped trending searches across major websites that very day.
Even now, most people still don't fully understand the setting of this strangely titled drama featuring many Western-looking actors.
But no one doubted its quality.
That confidence came from the reputation Su Yan had built through all his previous works.
Soon, December ended.
January arrived.
During the three-day New Year holiday at the start of the month, no new television dramas premiered.
Starting from January 4th, self-produced dramas from the three major TV stations and many other channels began airing one after another.
By the first Friday and Saturday of January, A-tier and B-tier dramas from Zhongxia TV, Sakura TV, and Hudu TV were densely scheduled for broadcast.
Although the schedule was crowded, the executives of the three major stations understood something clearly.
At least during this time slot, competing with each other might still earn them some ratings.
But once Sunday at 8 PM, when 'Fate/Zero' premiered—
Every show airing in the same or adjacent time slots across other networks would experience terrible ratings.
Aside from Sakura TV—
Every drama and variety show in that period would become mere supporting actors.
And just like that—
Sunday arrived.
The day 'Fate/Zero' premiered.
On this day, Su Yan's fans finally stopped pretending.
From daytime onward, they flooded forums with posts.
Across major video platforms, trending topics like "FZ Premiere" and "Su Yan New Drama" dominated the top of the charts.
Media outlets also started publishing articles early in the day, chasing the traffic.
The entire Xia Nation television industry—
I was waiting for 8 PM tonight, when 'Fate/Zero' would finally air.