By mid-July, the summer movie season was in full swing.
A full week had passed since 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal' premiered. From day three onward, it had pulled in over 100 million per day—though that streak only lasted three days. By day six, its daily earnings dipped to 91 million.
Still, that kind of drop was perfectly normal. No film could maintain a 100-million daily haul forever, especially past opening week.
Yet within just those few short days, the entire Great Zhou film industry had memorized one name:
Jing Yu.
And 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal wasn't a fluke that succeeded because there was no competition.
It rose in a battlefield packed with giants.
'Mirror Fish', 'Torchlight', and 'Original Sin'—all of them boasted top-tier directors, writers, and cast. Jing Yu was a newcomer in film, so for his work to overtake these heavyweights, it could only be due to one thing:
Quality.
And speaking of quality, the action choreography in 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal' was getting serious industry buzz.
To the average viewer, the action scenes felt clean and satisfying. But to professionals, it was clear just how meticulous and difficult they were.
Many fights were shot with long takes instead of rapid cuts. You could tell there were no wires, either, because long takes would've exposed any trickery.
Beyond the action, the film's script was phenomenal.
The pacing, visual transitions, emotional turns, and dialogue—all reflected incredible writing skill.
So the question became:
Where the hell did this guy come from?
Was Jing Yu just a freak genius of the industry?
He could grip TV audiences with ease when writing for dramas. And now with no formal film background, he turned around and delivered a masterpiece on his first try—no trial-and-error, no learning curve, just boom: 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal'.
Inside a private film industry chat group:
"This is unreal."
"Today's box office was 83 million again. That brings the total to 655 million!"
"I seriously didn't think veterans like Jiang Kangzhong, Chen Zhulong, and Xu Xiangming would all get overshadowed by a young guy."
"Eh... these things happen from time to time. Don't forget—when Xu Xiangming debuted, he crushed a veteran with his first screenplay too. It's the circle of life. The waves of the past get swept away by the ones to come."
"I've got a feeling—wuxia films might be coming back. They've been in a slump for over a decade, but this might reignite the genre."
"I don't know. The real highlight of 'Trust & Betrayal' was Yukishiro—a true goddess-tier female lead. Sure, the fights were amazing, but even without them, the emotional core of the story would still hit hard. This has nothing to do with the wuxia genre—it's all about the strength of Jing Yu's script."
"Let's not forget—last year's 'Initial D', 'Hikaru no Go', and 'Steins;Gate' were all dramas written and led by Jing Yu. Even back then, some people in the film industry were already bitter. They said he peaked too early and predicted he'd crash and burn if he tried movies. Well... he did move into film—but the only thing that burned was their pride."
"I'm still stunned. I'm jealous, honestly. One film—instant fame. And he's not just the writer; he's also the lead actor. He's got a real gift for action, too. With writing and acting talent, investors are probably lining up outside his door."
"Investors? He is the investor. The film cost, what, 60–70 million? It's already pulled in over 600 million. At this point, he could just fund all his future projects himself!"
"And what's even crazier—he's got another movie coming out next month! The 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal' fanbase is still emotionally wrecked over Kenshin and Yukishiro, and guess what—the two leads are starring in that next one too. I can already see people lining up to be emotionally manipulated again."
"It's already happening. On Yindou Net's 'Most Anticipated Films' list, 'Love Letter' is now in second place, with over 210,000 votes. All those 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal' fans are literally counting down the days."
In just one week, Jing Yu had become the hottest name in the movie industry.
Naturally, every player in the game had taken notice.
Both 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal' and 'Love Letter' were distributed by Yuzhou, one of Great Zhou's top four film distributors.
Typically, distribution companies handled all the marketing, but in practice, the production team often invested their own funds for a bigger push—and 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal' was exactly that.
Yuzhou Net had done a decent job—neither lazy nor aggressive. But Jing Yu had ended up pouring in extra promo funds from his side.
Still, after seeing how big the film became, Yuzhou wasn't about to let the next one slip.
They had made a killing off 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal', yes—but they also lost out on what could've been even more, due to the movie's modest screen allocation early on.
Now, with Love Letter slated for release on August 10th, Yuzhou had made it their top priority. With Jing Yu's popularity at its peak, they couldn't afford to repeat past mistakes.
Which is why, first thing in the morning, senior execs from Yuzhou's Modo branch arrived to meet with Jing Yu in person—to discuss the full marketing strategy for 'Love Letter'.
"First off, let me extend our apologies. But as the saying goes—it's never too late to fix a mistake," said Fang Xin, the regional head.
"We're now placing maximum priority on 'Love Letter'."
Jing Yu listened quietly, nodding from time to time.
Yuzhou had agreed to invest a significant boost in national promotion, but in return, Jing Yu needed to pause all other work for the next two weeks and join the press tour.
"Based on current projections," Fang Xin continued, "'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal' breaking one billion is almost inevitable."
"If that happens, it'll become the 92nd film in Great Zhou history to pass the 1B mark."
"And as your directorial debut, it's an absolute breakout. But you know how this works—momentum is everything. Your second film, 'Love Letter', follows too closely behind."
"If it underperforms, it could seriously affect your reputation."
Jing Yu nodded.
He understood the stakes better than anyone.