On the other side, the TV station's ratings department also had unusually grave expressions.
They were staring at the data from the first five minutes after the premiere: 13.6% viewership in the Lan Province region, and 0.94% across the entire Da Zhou.
What the hell was this?
Normally, a show's ratings start low and climb gradually. It's unheard of to start so high. The station had even specifically instructed them to keep a close eye on the premiere's numbers today.
And he knew full well that the Head of Production had promised the team behind 'My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday' that it would break 1% in nationwide ratings—a promise he himself had witnessed, more as a bystander eating popcorn than anything.
But what was the point anymore? There was no suspense left. The show had already hit 0.97% at launch! Unless the next scenes had the female lead Shou Aimei getting cheated on by some bleach-blond punk—and the punk was actually planted by the male lead Gao Shan...
Only then might the ratings nosedive. Or maybe not—maybe Da Zhou was full of weirdos who enjoyed that kind of drama?
Grumbling internally, the ratings analyst still distributed the early numbers to the various higher-ups.
Under normal circumstances, none of the executives would be this eager about preliminary data. But this time was different.
Xu You, Chu You, and Shi Teng all received the notification one after another.
0.97%?
Each had their own thoughts, their minds churning.
But they all understood one thing clearly: the two-hour delay in the show's airing had zero impact on the ratings.
Which could only mean one thing—this show's first episode had fully captured the audience's attention.
The TV broadcast continued, and the plot developed. The male lead, Gao Shan, after losing his temper with Shou Aimei during the day, even contemplated breaking up with her.
Scumbag?
The word flashed through Cheng Jing's mind in big, bold letters.
Gao Shan's phone had run out of battery. His handsome face was filled with confusion.
He thought back to their time together—how their timelines didn't align.
"Why is something this painful so easy for Aimei to endure?"
Easy to endure?
The screen flashed back to various key moments: when they first held hands, their first kiss, his love confession, and the night they spent together.
In each moment, Aimei had cried behind his back, then quickly composed herself and faced him with a smile.
Cheng Jing's heart trembled. She suddenly realized something.
At the same time, across Da Zhou, most viewers grasped the meaning behind those scenes.
"That wasn't the first time—for me, it was."
"But for Aimei, they were all final moments she could never return to."
Gao Shan's inner monologue voiced exactly what was on the viewers' minds.
From this moment on, 'My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday' officially entered its main storyline.
And just then, in Jing Yu's system panel, the fan point counter skyrocketed.
"No wonder the female lead kept crying for no reason in episode one."
"Tears. Just tears."
"This hurts. Am I just weak, or is this show really cruel?"
"Wow, this story's ten times better than White Lovers!"
"The actress playing Aimei is phenomenal!"
"Definitely rewatching this. Now that I think about it, everything in episode one was a tragedy. Every happy moment wasn't the start of joy—it was the end of it."
"I need to rewatch episode one. Anyone got a recording from last week's broadcast?"
The show's group chat exploded with messages, especially as Gao Shan did a dramatic late-night dash—like in those over-the-top Japanese dramas.
To Jing Yu, a viewer from a past life, it was a cliché. But to Da Zhou's viewers, it was emotionally gripping.
As the music swelled, Gao Shan sprinted home, charged his phone, turned it on, and called Aimei.
It was past midnight now.
The Aimei who answered the call was no longer the one from yesterday afternoon—the one who had endured his anger.
That Aimei, from yesterday afternoon, had already moved on to the day before yesterday, continuing to treat him with a smile and no trace of emotion.
And now, this Aimei answered.
"Yesterday—for you, it was tomorrow—I was very harsh to you. But I've already moved past it. The reason I could bear it all and come through is because..."
"I love you so deeply."
"Gao Shan, me too."
Apologizing before things even happened. That meant Aimei had already received Gao Shan's apology ahead of time, which was why she didn't get angry yesterday!
This mutual understanding and confession between the two...
Cheng Jing's eyes were already misty—but she kept watching, fully engaged.
Sweet and heartbreaking all at once.
"So all emergency-replacement dramas are this good now?"
Many viewers from other provinces who had tuned in because of Xing Tong TV's recommendation, even those who missed the first episode, were now moved to tears.
In the early hours of the morning, Gao Shan and Aimei reunited, crying and holding each other, sharing their pasts in a small room.
Aimei was saved from an explosion at age five by a 35-year-old Gao Shan.
Gao Shan, who had nearly drowned at age five, was saved by a 35-year-old Aimei.
From here, the ratings only soared.
Even viewers who hadn't seen episode one were being drawn in by the story.
1.21%, 1.26%, 1.32%...
In Lan Province itself, ratings quickly broke the 18% mark.
"No way it's climbing this fast..." Xu You muttered with a dark expression.
He knew White Lovers Season 2 had safely broken the 1% mark nationwide. But this show—
This show had clearly hit the exact taste Da Zhou's audience craved.
Now the question was, how high would the ratings climb by the end of episode two?
Would it threaten White Lovers' top spot for the year?
After all, the station didn't care whether a show was short or long—the only metric was ratings.
The story continued. Gao Shan and Aimei visited their parents together and took a family photo—the same one stored in that keepsake box.
Then came the pivotal day: the end of their shared month, when both were twenty years old.
For Gao Shan, it was the last day.
For Aimei, it was the first day.
Gao Shan dressed sharply and handsomely, his face beaming with a brilliant smile as he drew a portrait of Aimei by hand.
They chatted happily, smiling.
But Cheng Jing only felt her heart grow heavier the longer she watched.
After this day, Gao Shan wouldn't see Aimei again for five years.
If you added up all their meetings across time—from when they were five or ten years old—
They had only ever spent four months together in this lifetime, with only one month of romance.
That night, at the same train platform where they had first met—
"This is the best moment," Aimei said. "From here on out, we'll gradually stop being lovers. We'll just pass each other by."
The subway rumbled past. The clock struck midnight.
Gao Shan turned to hold Aimei's hand—but she was gone.
All that was left in his palm was empty air.
She had returned to his past.
Cheng Jing finally broke down in tears.
"Whoever wrote this is a monster!"
The Lan Province drama chat group was full of wails and despair.
Everyone had held onto a sliver of hope that screenwriter Jing Yu might come up with a way to break the time loop.
But the brilliance of this show didn't lie in Gao Shan's perspective—it lay in Shou Aimei's.
They both had thirty days.
For Gao Shan, he started not knowing a thing, so at least in the beginning, he was happy. Even near the end, he was still happy.
But from Aimei's perspective—
She had known the entire truth since she was five, when a 35-year-old Gao Shan had told her everything.
At fifteen, she had already fallen in love with 25-year-old Gao Shan.
Finally, she met the man destined to be her lover at twenty.
On Day 2, they visited their parents.
At the start of her timeline, Gao Shan was always kind and gentle.
She had even received his apology in advance from that phone call.
On Day 15, they made love.
Their last handhold.
The last time she heard him say "I love you."
Even though she had loved this man for so many years, by Day 29, she had to pretend to be a stranger and casually "bump into" him.
On Day 30, after Gao Shan confessed love at first sight during a chance meeting, he asked:
"Will we… see each other again?"
"Yes," she said, tears in her eyes. "See you tomorrow."
She walked into the subway.
From then on, in this lifetime, she and Gao Shan would be nothing more than strangers.
At this point, the ratings analyst at Jin Hui TV had a dazed expression.
Because as the story reached this emotional climax, 'My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday''s ratings in Lan Province had already soared past 19.3%, just a hair away from the 20% milestone.
But nationwide, the show had reached 1.87%.
"Something's off. These numbers aren't normal."
Worried the equipment might be faulty, the analyst double-checked everything—only to see that the ratings had climbed even higher.
In the past five years, Jin Hui TV's record-high nationwide rating has been 1.89%.
For a mid-tier TV station like Jin Hui, that was already incredible.
After all, their viewer base and audience volume were limited. Just like in Jing Yu's past life, even a great drama broadcast on an unpopular network would cap out at a certain rating. You couldn't compare it to the national juggernauts like CCTV.
Still, once every few years, or once a decade, a breakout hit could reach those numbers.
But those shows had long, aggressive promotion campaigns, ads across provinces, big budgets, and full teams backing them.
But this?
My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday?
What even was this show?
This was just episode two—with no pre-existing popularity, no hype.
And it had retained casual viewers purely on quality, with no prior fanbase!
At the end of 'My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday's story, the final scene returned to the subway where they first met.
Shou Aimei stood not far from Gao Shan, holding a book, a gentle smile on her pure, pretty face.
She even adjusted her posture slightly—to make sure Gao Shan could notice her.
In the noisy subway car, with the rhythmic clatter of the train, Aimei pretended to gaze out the window.
Then, Gao Shan finally noticed her. His pupils dilated.
And Aimei's inner monologue played:
"I've finally…"
"...made it to his side."
There was no opening theme song.
Only an ending theme.
The logo appeared:
[My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday – The End]