The premiere of 'Dragon Zakura's first episode didn't feature much of Jing Yu's familiar face.
So, unsurprisingly, its average viewership rating was a bit lower than Jing Yu's previous headline dramas—just 5.6%.
But what it lacked in ratings, it more than made up for in buzz.
It sparked widespread discussion across society:
If underachieving students stop wasting time, buckle down, and work hard…
Can they really rise to the top?
Are the gaps between people really about natural talent—or are they about direction, discipline, and habits?
This was the first time in Great Zhou that a drama dared to tackle this kind of theme.
It wasn't your typical youth drama full of cheap romance and fake motivational fluff.
Instead, it dared to ask the question: Can failing students really get into Imperial Capital University?
The premise was bold—and because of that…
Not a single critic dared bash the show after Episode 1 aired.
Because if you claim the drama is "nonsense" and say underachievers can't succeed,
You're basically mocking the tens of millions of students who score in the bottom 70%—
from elementary school all the way to college—across Great Zhou.
No smart critic would pick that fight.
As for viewership rankings—sure, the show only ranked fourth in its debut week.
Compared to Jing Yu's past achievements, that might seem unimpressive.
But remember—Jing Yu didn't even star in this drama. His focus was clearly on the two upcoming films: 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal' and 'Love Letter'.
So if anyone still insists 'Dragon Zakura' flopped—they're just being willfully blind.
On Yindou Net, Jing Yu's work once again climbed to the top of the fan rating charts.
Among all the shows airing in the first week of the summer season,
'Dragon Zakura' dominated with a 9.3/10 rating, crushing the competition.
This kind of response made everyone in the Great Zhou TV industry feel it again:
That overwhelming pressure called Jing Yu—
After just one quarter away, he was back in force.
Over at Yunteng TV, execs were extremely satisfied with the results.
After all, Jing Yu didn't even appear in the drama, and this was only Episode 1.
There was still plenty of room for the ratings to climb.
Besides, even among the "Top 3 TV networks," the #1 slot rotates.
Nobody expected 'Dragon Zakura' to dominate every quarter the way 'Hikaru no Go' or 'Initial D' had.
At the Modo City Film Base, all three of Jing Yu's current projects—
'Love Letter', 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal', and 'Dragon Zakura' were in simultaneous production.
The next day, the director and producer of 'Dragon Zakura' personally visited Jing Yu, bearing gifts from Yunteng TV's higher-ups.
And truthfully, they were grateful.
5.6% for a pilot episode?
That was a miracle. In their entire careers at Yunteng TV, they'd never produced a drama that opened this strongly.
So naturally, they had nothing but admiration for Jing Yu.
Jing Yu didn't bother with too much small talk.
After politely accepting the gifts, he sent them off and got right back to filming 'Rurouni Kenshin'.
The schedule needed to move faster.
'Love Letter' was already approaching the scenes with the young Fujii Itsuki.
From mid-April to the end of June, Jing Yu would be busier than ever.
While Jing Yu was juggling three sets a day, his producer Cheng Lie was swamped with everything else:
Coordinating with distributors
Contract negotiations
Profit-sharing deals
Marketing budgets
Chasing post-production deadlines
Even though Jing Yu was the major shareholder of the company, he had zero time to waste on any of this.
So Cheng Lie… might actually have been busier than Jing Yu himself.
'Love Letter' was easier—it had a Qixi Festival release on August 10, no CGI-heavy scenes, and relatively light post-production work.
But 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal' was a romantic action film.
Jing Yu's choreography was flawless, but the visuals still needed that final polish.
Jing Yu also had high artistic standards for 'Rurouni Kenshin'—
especially the serene little village where Kenshin and Yukishiro lived in seclusion.
It had to be beautiful.
Due to time constraints, the crew couldn't shoot on location across Great Zhou.
So some scenery had to be created with post-production effects.
Both films were being shot and edited simultaneously.
Meanwhile, 'Dragon Zakura', even without Jing Yu's on-screen presence,
continued to stir up discussion in the summer TV market.
The lead character, Sakuragi Kenji, was a teacher who broke all conventions—
Even offering cash rewards to incentivize students to study.
He openly slammed the "happy education" model,
arguing that "cramming" was the only path for underachievers.
The audience wasn't sure whether these methods were really effective.
Could these tactics actually improve a failing student's grades?
But what touched them—
was watching the students' struggles: in learning, in family, in confronting their own inner selves,
and finally deciding to fight for Imperial Capital University.
Most people didn't study hard themselves.
But watching others fight for their goals? That was still deeply moving.
Many could see themselves in those students.
For adults, the show was just a powerful watch.
Having already been "beaten by life," they might agree with the show's message,
But they wouldn't be so easily swayed by its motivational speeches.
They just… followed along as regular viewers.
But for actual underachieving students in Great Zhou?
"Damn… I cried watching this."
"There are two months left until Gaokao. Is it still possible to turn things around?"
"I'd already given up, but after watching Episode 3, I picked up my math textbook that night and spent two hours finally understanding elliptical functions. Not bad, honestly!"
"Getting into Imperial Capital U is a dream, but maybe I can push my score from 350 to 430 in the last two months. That feels… doable."
"I'm gonna try some of the cramming techniques from the show. Let's see if they work."
"Of course they work! Look—just in physics and math, if you write down anything that resembles a solution, you can get at least one point. Scribble all the formulas you know—even if they're not fully correct—the grader will find the ones that are and give partial credit!"
"But I don't get it at all… I suck at math, which means I suck at physics and chemistry too… ugh."
"I don't care anymore. This show hit me hard. Sakuragi Kenji is so damn cool. His lines are brutal but honest. I got yelled awake. I'm going to sprint through these last two months!"
"Me too."
In truth, top-performing students didn't care for the show's idealism.
But for struggling students preparing for Gaokao, 'Dragon Zakura' was a huge boost.
Some of them stopped spiraling into self-doubt and actually got back to studying.
Sure, a lot of that was probably just a "three-minute passion" that faded after a few days.
But luckily, 'Dragon Zakura' aired once a week,
so just as their motivation ran out, the next dose of inspiration would drop.
By late April, the drama had gained a huge following among student viewers.
The ratings kept climbing:
Episode 2: 5.88%
Episode 3: 6.10%
Episode 4: 6.35%
Rankings also improved:
Episode 2 & 3: 4th place
Episode 4: 3rd place, surpassing Imperial Capital TV's seasonal flagship drama
The show's reputation grew stronger week after week.
The actor playing Sakuragi Kenji— Dai Zhiyao —saw his popularity skyrocket.
A man in his forties, somehow outshining all the young male idols, climbed to #2 on the male popularity charts.
May had arrived.