Late January—
Su Yan and his group made a grand trip to Hudu.
Strictly speaking, attending the Xia Flame Awards ceremony was only a side objective for Su Yan. His real goal was to begin early promotions for the 'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie'.
With only about half a month left until the Spring Festival release window, the lineup of competing films was already clear.
Just like the TV industry, the Xia Nation's film industry also had several dominant giants at the top.
And every year during the Spring Festival season, these companies would release their most anticipated projects.
Much like in Su Yan's previous life, many people watched movies during the Spring Festival simply for the atmosphere, following the crowd. With time and money to spare, attendance during this period far exceeded normal seasons.
Among the nine films releasing this Spring Festival, Su Yan was mainly concerned about three.
The first was Tianyu Pictures' historical epic 'Breaking the Formation', with a claimed investment of 510 million.
From the trailer alone, its style wasn't much different from historical dramas in Su Yan's previous life—
a star-studded cast packed with big names, directed by Teng Xi, one of the top ten directors in the Xia Nation in both reputation and achievements.
Before release, it was already considered a strong contender for the box office champion.
The second was the 430-million-budget comedy detective film 'Fake Detective'.
Its casting strategy was similar—stuffed with well-known actors. The idea was simple: with enough stars, at least one would attract audiences.
These two films had the highest investments in the Spring Festival lineup.
Next came Su Yan's 'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie'.
With over 400 million invested in production and marketing combined, it was the largest project his company had undertaken so far.
And this time—
No haters could claim that Su Yan, as a TV screenwriter, could only produce subpar films.
The success of '5 Centimeters per Second' last summer—and its status as the highest-rated romance film in the Xia Nation in nearly a decade—had silenced them.
The only angle left for criticism was that Su Yan's 'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie' team lacked major award winners compared to the other two films.
And as competitors, Su Yan's rapid rise in the film industry over the past couple of years had indeed made many uneasy.
Actors like Ying Rui and Xi Xiaoling from 'Breaking the Formation', and Lü Yu and Meng Ningtian from 'Fake Detective', were now in direct fan wars with Su Yan and Shen Liqian's fanbases.
As nationwide promotions ramped up, online forums were flooded with arguments between the three camps.
Fan culture in the Xia Nation was just as intense as in Su Yan's previous life—and Su Yan's fanbase was among the most combative.
Media outlets also began aggressively covering the Spring Festival films.
Some competitors even paid for smear campaigns against Su Yan.
Trending topics related to these films appeared almost every other day, fueled by capital behind the scenes.
As for Su Yan—
He and his team were traveling nonstop, holding press conferences and fan meetings in different cities almost every day.
After several days of this schedule, even Shinozaki Ikumi—normally a workaholic—started to feel exhausted.
Watching Su Yan stay busy from morning to night, and still find time in the evening to practice sword movements alone in the office using a prop sword from 'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie'—
She couldn't help but feel a bit envious.
"No wonder your action scenes look so good. Your stamina is insane."
"Just practice more," Su Yan replied. "At these fan meetings, a lot of fans want me to demonstrate Kenshin's Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu in real life. I need to work on that."
Filming and real-life performance were two different things. If he wanted to use it for promotion, he could only perform visually impressive but non-lethal movements.
"Since you have so much energy, you should participate in more promotional events regularly. Other celebrities in the Xia Nation appear every few days to maintain visibility. But you? You only show up when a new project is released. Reporters can't even find you normally. Look—after just a few days of activity, your popularity rankings among TV and film stars are already skyrocketing."
"People have limited energy. Work is important—but it's not the only important thing," Su Yan said with a smile.
"You're single—what else could be important?" Shinozaki Ikumi shot back.
"And you're not?" Su Yan smiled.
He always responded to questions like this by firing back.
Shinozaki Ikumi paused, momentarily speechless.
Back in Tokyo, she lived at home, and her mother constantly nagged her about these things.
"I at least have more plans for my future and family than you do," she said after a moment.
"Such as?" Su Yan spread his hands.
"When I first met you, your goal was to become a well-known producer. Now you're basically at the top of the TV industry. So what's next for you?"
"When one of our films wins the annual box office championship in the Xia Nation," Shinozaki Ikumi said with a grin, "I'll shift my focus to other areas."
"Like?"
"Watch me. With my charm, I can find the perfect partner within a week."
"Then you'd better hurry," Su Yan chuckled. "In half a month, when 'Rurouni Kenshin' releases, it might take the Spring Festival box office crown. And usually, that means the annual champion. Including the release window, you've got about a month and a half."
Shinozaki Ikumi froze.
As the film's producer, she couldn't exactly argue that 'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie' wouldn't win.
After a long pause, she muttered:
"You sure aim high—going straight for the annual box office champion."
"A soldier who doesn't want to be a general isn't a good soldier," Su Yan smiled.
In truth, he wasn't entirely confident.
Pre-release buzz for 'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie' was comparable to its main competitors—
But that was just hype.
No one knew how good the other films actually were.
And besides 'Breaking the Formation' and 'Fake Detective', there were six other films released at the same time.
Even if they were currently seen as underdogs, dark horses were always possible.
Still—
since his film was entering this competition, his goal was clear:
first place.
"And don't try to change the subject," Su Yan added, taking a sip of water.
Realizing she couldn't win the argument, Shinozaki Ikumi quickly excused herself and left to rest.
Su Yan stretched, then left the Hudu office and drove back to his home in a nearby villa district.
The next day, Sunday—
Among Su Yan's fanbase, 'Fate/Zero''s popularity once again overtook 'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie'.
At 8 PM, episode 4 aired.
The first three episodes introduced the main cast.
Starting from episode 4, the focus began shifting toward supporting characters.
For example—
The growing friendship between Kiritsugu's wife, Irisviel, and Saber.
Or—
The subtle, ambiguous tension between Kayneth's wife, Sola, and his Servant, Diarmuid—the Lancer with the tear mole beneath his eye.
Kayneth, who looked down on Waver in class and mocked his inferior lineage—
He was constantly criticized at home by his wife.
And it was clear—
She had taken quite an interest in Diarmuid.
Yes—
She had fallen for the Lancer.
Meanwhile, in other storylines—
Gilgamesh's dissatisfaction with Tokiomi Tohsaka,
and the strangely overlapping values between him and Tokiomi's disciple, Kotomine Kirei.
Finally, episode 4 ended with—
Kiritsugu Emiya is infiltrating Kayneth's base and confronting him directly.
Of course, in this episode, Kiritsugu's completely unorthodox methods—
which didn't resemble those of a traditional mage at all—
also drew plenty of complaints, both from characters within the story and from viewers.