A few days later...
Jing Yu once again received an invitation from Che Kaijun. After a detailed discussion, the other party fully agreed to Jing Yu's proposal.
Three TV dramas and one movie would be exclusively broadcast on Qingyun Video for the first time. The exclusivity contract for all four titles would last one year. In addition, Jing Yu would invest 300 million yuan in exchange for 17% equity in Qingyun Video.
Jing Yu acted decisively. Once both sides reached a consensus, he immediately involved his company's legal department, along with a hired law firm, to negotiate the contract details with the opposing legal team.
If all went smoothly, the deal could be finalized within half a month.
Nighttime
At Che Kaijun's invitation, Jing Yu joined him for a dinner gathering at a restaurant.
Rooftop, high above the city—open air.
"Welcome, Teacher Jing Yu, to Qingyun Video. You're now our second-largest shareholder."
Though the contract hadn't been signed yet, both parties weren't the type to go back on their word. Since everything had been agreed upon, it was only a matter of time. Che Kaijun decided to celebrate early.
"I believe that, under our collaboration, we'll dominate the film and streaming video industry."
"I think so too," Jing Yu replied, clinking glasses with him.
Sunday
Episode 8 of 'Kimi ni Todoke' aired smoothly.
This episode—uniquely—did not center on Sawako, but instead focused on Kurumizawa.
After last week's episode, the character of Kurumizawa had become the subject of intense debate among the fanbase.
Some felt she was just a textbook manipulative "green tea" girl.
Others, however, were moved by the sincerity of her feelings for Shouta. While her underhanded tactics in pursuing him were undeniable, many empathized with the idea of making mistakes due to overwhelming emotions.
Still, 'Kimi ni Todoke' is a story without a true villain.
At least in Kurumizawa's case, after she realized Shouta had feelings for Sawako...
She finally gathered the courage.
Sunset. Bicycle parking lot.
She grabbed onto Shouta's bike.
"I don't like Teacher Pi—I like you, Shouta."
"I didn't want you to misunderstand and think I liked someone else."
No tricks. No scheming. Just as one would imagine, crying, she confessed her feelings to Shouta.
"I'm sorry… I'm really sorry."
Realizing his misunderstanding, Shouta quickly apologized.
"I already have someone I like. There's no more room in my heart for anyone else."
"It's Sawako, isn't it?"
With gentle background music underscoring the scene, Kurumizawa's tear-streaked face lit by the fading sun...
Just as she had expected—
She failed.
That was the reason she had always avoided confessing.
But—
If she didn't speak up now, she would never be able to draw a final line under the feelings she had buried so deeply inside.
"Shouta, you really don't know how to pick girls! You'll never find another one as amazing as me again!"
Under the orange hue of the sunset, the side of Kurumizawa's face was haloed with light. The tears at the corners of her eyes sparkled like gemstones.
She was... adorable.
Truly adorable.
"Ah, I suddenly don't hate her anymore."
"Feels like a redemption arc."
"It's not that Teacher Jing Yu deliberately wrote this scene to redeem her—it's that we naturally started to empathize."
"This scene made me tear up. Sawako and Shouta have that fairy-tale kind of love. But most of us… We're Kurumizawa in real life, aren't we?"
"Kurumizawa, I love you now!"
"I think I've officially converted from Team Sawako to Team Kurumizawa!"
"I used to find her annoying. But now? I can't bring myself to hate her."
"Ugh, my heart!"
"Wait—this is episode eight already. Where's the confession?!"
"Yeah! I've been so caught up in the drama, I didn't realize—no confession yet?"
"It's episode eight and still no confession? Just realized that…"
"This show is genius, I swear!"
"When will they finally confess?! We, the audience, already knew from episode one that they liked each other. And now it's episode eight, and Sawako just realized she likes Shouta?! Why am I enjoying such a slow-burning story this much? Is something wrong with me, or with this drama?!"
"Whatever it is—it's the best romance I've ever seen. Hands down, my favorite romantic drama since childhood."
The critical plot developments in the early phase of 'Kimi ni Todoke' basically wrapped up with episode 8.
Episode 8's viewership rating reached 8.86%, continuing its stable upward trend. At this rate, the finale will likely break the 10% threshold—provided, of course, that the pacing remains tight and engaging.
In the original manga, there was a part after Kurumizawa's storyline that Jing Yu personally disliked. It spent a considerable amount of time focusing on side characters' romances, emotional entanglements, and dragging subplots.
Not that those plotlines were bad—in fact, they were quite interesting. But if you were a dedicated viewer of this drama, this detour would feel very frustrating.
After all, Kurumizawa had already stepped back from the love triangle, yet the main couple still hadn't confessed their feelings. The narrative no longer created suspense—it created agony.
When the leads' romantic tension is at its peak and still unresolved, it's painful for viewers to watch the story shift to secondary character arcs.
So in Great Zhou TV's version of 'Kimi ni Todoke', Jing Yu cut out these non-essential segments and focused purely on the romance arc.
From episode 8 to the finale, every scene would serve to build up to the long-awaited confession between the male and female leads.
As December arrived, snow began falling all across Great Zhou and the Modo City.
A reshoot was also scheduled to capture the snow scene that had been missed earlier during the '5 Centimeters per Second' sakura montage segment.
Jing Yu had already switched to full winter attire and bundled up tightly every time he left home.
Over the next week, episode 9 of 'Kimi ni Todoke' aired without a hitch.
This episode introduced a new character—Lin Jian (Miura Kento).
He served as both an obstacle to the leads' romance and a catalyst for their eventual confession.
In the manga, he later dated Yano Ayane, but early on, after transferring schools, he developed feelings for Sawako and inserted himself into the budding romance between her and Shouta.
This character was, unsurprisingly, widely hated.
Still, the highly anticipated confession scene did not appear in episode 9. But despite that, the ratings didn't suffer—in fact, they surpassed 9%, reaching 9.03%.
Among all winter season dramas, 'Kimi ni Todoke' had completely outpaced the other three major TV stations.
The drama in second place—'That Year!'—still hadn't broken the 8% mark.
This performance gave executives at Yunteng TV great confidence, and they were already planning what to say at the celebration banquet.
But just as the industry was reveling in 'Kimi ni Todoke's dominance this season...
A bombshell announcement dropped from Qingyun Video:
Great Zhou's prodigious screenwriter, film & drama creator, acclaimed actor, and musician—Jing Yu—has officially become a shareholder in Qingyun Video!