The production of 'Your Lie in April' was moving at full speed, and many within the network were keeping a close eye on it.
In January, Jin Hui TV had three in-house dramas lined up for broadcast:
'Your Lie in April' by Jing Yu
Dangerous Girlfriend by Jiang Shiqing
Lancheng Police Files, a provincially commissioned procedural drama written by Qi Shi, an old-school screenwriter and long-time friend of Jing Yu's father.
Among them, Dangerous Girlfriend was without a doubt the most talked-about show among Lan Province drama fans—mainly because Jiang Shiqing had managed to cast Xu Xiangwen, a well-known actress from the Da Zhou entertainment scene, as his female lead.
Though Xu Xiangwen wasn't quite top-tier in national fame, she was definitely a household name and had played second-lead roles in several nationwide hit dramas.
Actors of her level typically wouldn't even consider taking on a show from a provincial-level station like Jin Hui TV. After all, once your career's on the rise, dropping down is easy—but crawling back up? Not so much. A misstep in choosing roles could tank a reputation.
But there are always exceptions.
Xu Xiangwen had made a series of poor investments and was now deep in debt. So, for the time being, she wasn't exactly picky about her gigs.
Before Dangerous Girlfriend even began production, Jin Hui TV had already started a blitzkrieg-style marketing campaign across all their timeslots.
Even just flashing a poster of Xu Xiangwen would be enough to run a 30-second promo for the show.
Naturally, the station's core viewership took notice—and so did drama fans across Da Zhou who followed Xu Xiangwen's work. The hype was real.
Thanks to Xu You's maneuvering, the additional funding application was approved without issue. The station even saw this as a golden opportunity to make Dangerous Girlfriend their new flagship show.
In that context, 'Your Lie in April' quickly began losing traction within the network.
Once, there had been some hopeful chatter at the station: Could Jing Yu's new show compete with Jiang Shiqing's?
Now? That idea had all but vanished.
Xu Xiangwen's past shows—where she hadn't even been the lead—had pulled in nationwide ratings as high as 5%. Even if Jing Yu had potential, how was he going to compete against that level of star power, especially with Jiang Shiqing's own solid writing skills backing her?
After seeing the cast lineup for Dangerous Girlfriend, Chu You, a producer at the station, also gave up on the idea of 'Your Lie in April' surpassing it in the ratings.
But he didn't blame Jing Yu. A fair competition requires equal conditions. When one show's total budget is three times the other's (after the latest funding boost), what's there to compete with?
Chu You had originally planned to fight for more resources for 'Your Lie in April', but now he was reconsidering and ready to scrap those plans.
What's the point in pouring more resources into something that, at best, might place second in the spring drama season?
And why second?
Well, 'Your Lie in April' wasn't likely to perform worse than Lancheng Police Files. That kind of provincially-mandated procedural typically pulled around 0.4% ratings if it was lucky—mostly watched by older viewers.
But if 'Your Lie in April' couldn't even outperform Lancheng Police Files?
Then that would be catastrophic. Jing Yu would get axed by the station, and his future opportunities would dry up completely. In that case, giving him more resources would be a waste.
Chu You picked up his phone and called Jing Yu.
After a few minutes of small talk, he got to the point:
"So that's where things stand. The promotional resources we'd secured for 'Your Lie in April' are being reassigned to Dangerous Girlfriend. And the funding boost I proposed for your show—well, that's been shot down too. Dangerous Girlfriend already went over budget, and the network decided to reallocate.
But don't worry—the original 11 million yuan investment is still locked in. No matter how tight the station wants to be with spending, I'll make sure that funding stays put."
What else could he do? If 'Your Lie in April's funding were cut further and the show's quality took a nosedive, then even if it still placed second in the season lineup, he, Chu You, would take the blame for its failure.
Since it no longer looked like they could beat Dangerous Girlfriend, Chu You's mindset had shifted from "take a risk" to "play it safe."
They spoke for a few minutes longer before hanging up.
Jing Yu could clearly tell that Chu You's enthusiasm for 'Your Lie in April' had cooled.
It was obvious—at first, Chu You had hoped Jing Yu would repeat his miracle run from 'My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday', outshining his old rivals Xu You and Jiang Shiqing in the January drama war.
Now that even he didn't believe that was possible, it was natural he'd back off.
"So in the end, whatever you do, you can only rely on yourself," Jing Yu muttered, gazing at the set.
Chu You's attitude had been impossible to miss.
From his perspective, Dangerous Girlfriend was already locked in as January's ratings champion. In that case, whether 'Your Lie in April' performed a few tenths of a percent higher or lower didn't really matter.
No one remembers second place.
"Man… he really gave up that easily, huh?" Jing Yu blinked slowly.
Well, age does dull the edge.
He could still recall scenes from the original host's childhood—Chu You and his father, Jing Liang, pulling all-nighters discussing scripts, obsessing over viewership numbers.
Back then, the man had fire in his belly.
Now? The race hadn't even started, and he was already waving the white flag.
"Whatever. I wasn't counting on him anyway," Jing Yu shook his head.
"Still, I am technically his guy. If 'Your Lie in April' ends up doing well and he swoops in to claim part of the credit with that laid-back attitude of his… ugh. Kinda makes my blood boil."
But hey—that's just how the world works. Until you grow stronger, this kind of crap will keep happening.
The shooting location was a rented concert hall. They were filming two major scenes here:
Miyazono Kaoru's violin performance from Episode 1
Kousei Arima (You Gongsheng) reluctantly steps onto the competition stage to accompany Kaoru in Episode 2
These two scenes were key highlights for the first two episodes. Naturally, the rental fee and music consultants didn't come cheap.
If they were aiming to premiere on January 7, then at least two episodes needed to be fully edited and ready to give the post-production team time to keep up.
"Jing Yu, you're up."
A crew member came over and called out to him, breaking him from his thoughts.
In Episode 2's storyline, due to lingering trauma from childhood, You Gongsheng completely bombs his first piano performance—his playing is off-key, off-beat, and eventually, he just stops playing altogether mid-performance.
The scene they were about to shoot? His breakthrough moment—his awakening on stage, when he finally taps into his buried piano genius.
The concert hall was structured like a small theater, with slightly elevated seating and a low stage. The lighting and camera setups were already done. Since the location was expensive (charged by the day), they were prioritizing all competition-stage scenes before moving on to the school-life segments.
Yu Youqing stood center stage, holding her violin.
In the audience were background actors—some playing spectators, others as judges.
To create a convincing atmosphere, over a hundred extras had been hired.
But some of those judges weren't actors—they were real musicians from Lancheng, hired for their expertise in both music coaching and post-production sound work.
Behind Yu Youqing, Jing Yu sat calmly at the piano, eyes on the sheet music.
He had never touched a piano in his life, but he didn't feel nervous at all.
Thanks to the "Piano Skill Experience Book" from his system panel, the muscle memory and technique had already been downloaded into his body.
When the cue was given—
CLANG!
A single note echoed through the silent hall.
Then, a stream of flowing, joyful music burst forth from the piano.
This wasn't just good—it was unreal. Jing Yu might not be the greatest pianist alive, but the skills granted by the exchange system were anything but ordinary.
His playing had an emotional resonance that went far beyond technique. It sparked something intangible—something even non-musicians in the audience could feel immediately.
Unlike Yu Youqing's violin mimicry—which, in truth, produced screechy, amateurish sound—the piano music behind her was alive.
Across from her, the real music consultants sitting as judge-actors suddenly froze.
"Wait… this is the screenwriter, Jing Yu?"
"It's live. No audio tuning possible. And even if it were tuned, it wouldn't have this kind of impact."
"Isn't he just a screenwriter?"
"He told us he 'knew a bit' of piano—and said if he messed up, we shouldn't hesitate to correct him. How are we supposed to correct this?"
"It's the same piece, but the way he plays it… It sounds completely different. It's stunning."
The music consultants for 'Your Lie in April' were visibly shaken.
Behind Yu Youqing, the piano surged with momentum. It was as if the character You Gongsheng, a real prodigy, had come alive and was performing on stage. Even Yu Youqing—who didn't know music well—felt goosebumps rise across her skin.
She... forgot to act entirely.
She just stood there, stunned.
Ten seconds passed, with Jing Yu performing a breathtaking solo.
"Cut!" Director Gao Wencang finally shouted, snapping out of his own daze.
He stared at Jing Yu's hands, which had just been dancing over the keys like magic.
You're Jing Yu? The guy who howls off-key at KTV?
You can seriously play the piano?
"What happened?" Jing Yu looked over.
Gao Wencang glanced at Yu Youqing.
"She didn't move at all."
Of course, he understood why. He himself had been so entranced by the piano that he didn't react for a full ten seconds.
"I-I just… felt like I started playing…" Yu Youqing's face flushed red as she turned toward Jing Yu.
"I'd ruin your music the moment my violin made a sound."
"Huh? It's not like this is an actual concert." Jing Yu gave her an odd look. "It's just a scene—we're gonna fix everything in post anyway. You just need to look good doing the motions."
But… she just couldn't do it.
It felt like someone yelling in the middle of a national-level concert performance.
Yu Youqing looked at him pitifully.