Only those who have suffered a loss learn to keep their mouths shut. If not the first time, then surely the second time, they learn.
And so, with a single Weibo post, Ying Shi bought herself peace.
Perhaps with someone else, the other side wouldn’t have quieted down so quickly.
But Ying Shi had a track record. She was truly capable of sustained, unhinged escalation.
That peace lasted until “The Legend of Medicine Maiden” wrapped production. Ying Shi Entertainment submitted the drama for review, and before long, the approval came through.
Since they owned their own platform, they picked a few dates from the calendar and finally settled on the earliest one.
Coincidentally, it was August 12th—the same day “Little Sweetheart” had aired the previous year.
Su Manwen’s take was that this date simply brought them good fortune.
Not long after the broadcast date was announced, “Calm Seas, Clear Rivers” also revealed a similar release date, just two days earlier than “The Legend of Medicine Maiden.”
“Is that the drama starring Fang Kaiyun? The one about power struggles and succession?” Ying Shi sat at her desk, scrolling through search results on her phone.
Su Manwen replied, “‘Calm Seas, Clear Rivers’ will air on Fruit TV. Originally, they hadn’t planned to set a date this early. It seems the production team pushed for an earlier slot.”
“To stir up competition and buzz?” Ying Shi speculated. It wasn’t an unfounded guess.
The truth was, “The Legend of Medicine Maiden” also faced its own challenges with attracting advertisers. Even though their company had produced a hit before, at the end of the day, they were still relatively inexperienced.
Add to that the director’s previous drama being a failure, and the fact that this was a mythological drama—a genre that hadn’t been popular lately—many were taking a wait-and-see approach.
“Calm Seas, Clear Rivers” was likely in an even worse position; otherwise, Fruit TV wouldn’t have denied it a summer slot. Fang Kaiyun was at least a traffic star with a few die-hard fans.
But the difference between the two dramas was that Ying Shi wasn’t worried about the advertising issue. Once “The Legend of Medicine Maiden” aired and gained popularity, advertisers would naturally come knocking.
Besides, she primarily relied on the system’s payouts, so she didn’t care much about sponsorships. Others, however, needed to make money—otherwise, nothing else mattered.
Ying Shi heard the news, acknowledged it, and didn’t let it bother her.
Her only goal was to win over the audience.
Everything else, as long as it wasn’t malicious competition, she didn’t bother considering.
But Ying Shi hadn’t expected that soon enough, the situation would take a new turn.
“Central Television wants to purchase the broadcast rights to ‘The Legend of Medicine Maiden.’ If it airs on TV, we may need to coordinate with them and choose a new release date.”
Su Manwen also found the situation unbelievable. For the TV station to approach them at this point, they must have been following the production closely for a while.
Ying Shi thought for a moment. “Director Zhang’s ‘Legends of the Mountains and Seas’ also aired on Central Television, didn’t it? Its ratings and reception were quite good. When are they planning to air our drama?”
“Summer slot,” Su Manwen replied.
Ying Shi was surprised. “There’s only a month left until the summer slot. They’re cutting it that close?”
Su Manwen also found it amusing. “Actually, the drama originally scheduled had some issues and needed to be postponed. They have backup options, but after some consideration, they decided they could air ‘The Legend of Medicine Maiden’ first—though the online premiere would need to move up by two days.”
Ying Shi: “…”
For once, she was speechless.
No matter how things twisted and turned, what was meant to come always found its way.
Not long after, the news that “The Legend of Medicine Maiden” would air on television also spread.
Riding on this wave of attention, Central Television released a trailer and began promoting “The Legend of Medicine Maiden.”
Central TV would air the drama on August 9th at 8:00 PM, two episodes per day. Ying Shi decided that Wanshi TV would air each episode twelve hours later, updating at 8:00 AM the following morning.
That put the online premiere on the same day as “Calm Seas, Clear Rivers.”
But there was no longer any point in comparing the two dramas. For a drama airing on television, what mattered was the ratings. Online viewership counted as catch-up viewing—its performance served only as a reference.
Moreover, there were too many conflicting claims about online viewership numbers. Every platform was boasting about their own dramas, with no unified standard, and the data was a mix of truth and falsehood. Unlike ratings, which were uniformly regulated by official authorities.
“At the very least, the major award ceremonies this year won’t ignore us anymore.” Su Manwen also breathed a sigh of relief.
At the end of last year, Ying Shi had been busy dealing with various school exams and hadn’t participated in the awards activities. Besides, as the behind-the-scenes money person, whether she showed up or not wasn’t a big deal.
But she did know that “Little Sweetheart” had received a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Golden TV Awards.
Even though it didn’t win in the end, the fact that the Golden TV Awards would even nominate a sweet little romance drama—whose central theme was simply being sweet—had already surprised many viewers.
“Didn’t we get a nomination at the Golden Vision Awards?” Ying Shi didn’t understand. She didn’t feel like she had been ignored.
Su Manwen instantly grasped the implication in Ying Shi’s words and fell silent.
Ying Shi’s point was simply this: aside from the Golden TV Awards, was there any point in participating in the other awards?
These days, television and film awards had started going down a “prefabricated” path—the selected actors and works were becoming increasingly mediocre.
Among the three major TV drama awards, only the Golden TV Awards were still struggling to hold the line. Unfortunately, with so few quality works on the market, even they were finding it harder and harder to sustain themselves.
Their discussion about the new drama came to an end, but online, things were buzzing.
[Let’s talk about the two upcoming dramas—place your bets on which will get more buzz?]
[OP: “The Legend of Medicine Maiden” and “Calm Seas, Clear Rivers” have both set their August release dates. Between these two productions born from the ashes of “For Your Sake,” which one do you think will do better?]
[One is a mythological drama, the other a power struggle drama. One is female-led, the other male-led. From any angle, they’re not even on the same wavelength…]
[Being in the same season makes them rivals. Besides, the creative teams have worked together before. Just recently, Qiao Cheng’s fans and Fang Kaiyun’s fans were going at it.]
[Qiao Cheng is only a supporting character in “The Legend of Medicine Maiden,” while our Xiao Fang is the sole male lead of “Calm Seas, Clear Rivers”! Is there even any comparison?]
[Xiao Chengzi only cares about the script, not about lead or supporting roles. Not like your side, always clinging to that “top billing” label. As long as you get top billing, you’ll even act in a train wreck!]
The thread stayed lively for quite a while—until—
[Wait, is “The Legend of Medicine Maiden” really airing on Central Television?]
[The TV station already released a trailer. Could it be fake?]
[This is so awkward. Originally, having the two dramas air around the same time would have generated discussion. But now one of them is going straight to TV…]
[And because it’s airing on TV, the online release date got moved up too, emmm.]
[Fang Kaiyun’s fans are saying “The Legend of Medicine Maiden” is deliberately riding their coattails, and that moving the date forward is just a marketing ploy to step on their drama… Do fans really have no brains at all?]
[They just need mouths—why would they need brains?]
Amid all the chaos and noise, the premiere day finally arrived.
Ying Shi sat in the lounge, turned on the television, and switched to Central TV.
The opening theme of “The Legend of Medicine Maiden” was an instrumental piece. The opening visuals began with Yao Sanxiu taking a patient’s pulse. The scenes then cut to her memorizing medical texts, preparing herbal medicines, and gathering herbs in the mountains. As the tempo of the music changed, various deities, demons, and ghosts appeared one by one…
The visual quality of this drama needed no elaboration. Just from the few shots in the opening credits, the personalities and traits of the main characters were already apparent.
Unlike most dramas these days, which can’t even be bothered to edit together a dynamic opening sequence—slapping together a few effects shots and static character stills, leaving you with no idea what the story is even about by the time the credits end.
The plot was so tightly guarded that even after the drama aired, they didn’t provide a five-minute montage of footage in the opening and closing credits. That alone showed there probably wasn’t much worth watching.
In Ying Shi’s view, the opening credits, ending credits, and the first episode’s plot were like the first three chapters of a web novel. If these parts could grab the audience’s attention, viewers wouldn’t drop the drama later on.
If the first episode was dull and the opening and ending credits were just static images, viewers would waste forty minutes without understanding anything—and naturally wouldn’t continue watching.
The first episode of “The Legend of Medicine Maiden” opened with a young Sanxiu lying on the brink of death inside a wooden cage on a donkey cart. One by one, the other children beside her were taken away. Finally, the child trader yanked her out.
She was already burning with fever, dazed and disoriented. She was thin, dark, and tiny. No buyer wanted her—they were all afraid she would die as soon as they took her home.
In Ying Shi’s view, the young actress playing the child version of Sanxiu was very skilled. Whether it was the vacant, numb look of being gravely ill or the flicker of hope after being rescued by Madam Lin and Doctor Ye—she had no dialogue throughout, yet conveyed every emotion purely through her eyes.
Later, when she woke from her coma and looked at Madam Lin, her gaze was also remarkable—restrained yet full of gratitude.
Sanxiu’s childhood was covered in just one episode. Toward the end of the first episode, Sanxiu was accidentally injured by the plague demon, and the heavenly general healed her wounds and saved her life.
The heavenly general was played by Shen Xiao in a cameo, which brought considerable buzz to the drama.
By the time the first episode ended, people were already discussing the plot online.
[“How great a sin could a god possibly commit!”]
Attached was a screenshot of the heavenly general’s wide-eyed, panicked expression when he saw Sanxiu fall to the ground.
[One second he’s a cold, handsome Heavenly God, the next second he’s like: HELP HELP HELP HELP ME!!!]
[Haha, if he personally came to hunt down the plague demon, he’s basically just a salaryman.]
[That said, I think the plague demon’s expression when he saw Sanxiu get hurt was also weird. The director gave it a close-up—probably foreshadowing?]
[The actor’s emotional shift was very natural. Hatred toward the heavenly general… and then disgust after accidentally injuring the child? Not sure what he was disgusted by… But the moment the heavenly general got distracted, he turned and ran.]
[Do gods performing official duties even care about the life or death of a mortal child? That’s such an obscure plot point. Not sure about this—let me watch more (dog head).]
[I get you. In xianxia romance dramas these days, they’re always “saving the three realms,” but you never actually see them saving the three realms. There are no living beings from the three realms anywhere in the visuals—the three realms only exist in the dialogue.]
[That heavenly general’s expression—it’s exactly like me when I’ve been working overtime all night and suddenly the power goes out, but my file wasn’t saved…]
[Here, the heavenly general is afraid of divine punishment. So in this setting, there are natural constraints on gods?]
[The Heavenly Way? The plague demon and the heavenly general mentioned the Heavenly Way in their dialogue—the plague demon is a creature that the Heavenly Way cannot tolerate.]
Amid the lively discussions, the second episode began.
The second episode featured Sanxiu as an adult. On one hand, she took pulses for the wives and young ladies of wealthy households in the city; on the other hand, she offered free clinics to the poor.
One day, on her way back to the clinic, Sanxiu encountered a timid turtle demon.
The turtle demon’s human form was that of a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl, delicate in appearance. She kept following Sanxiu but didn’t dare to speak.
Sanxiu had long been aware of her own unusual nature. Seeing that the little turtle demon meant no harm, she simply ignored her.
One day, as usual, Sanxiu went to provide a free clinic to Granny Qian, who collected night soil. Just as she reached the entrance of the alley, the turtle demon suddenly grabbed her and said softly, “Don’t go!”
It turned out that Granny Qian, who had been bedridden with illness, was so worried about her little granddaughter running around alone outside that she had decided to cook a meal for her at home, so the girl wouldn’t have to rush back and still be busy. But as she walked to the doorway of her room, she tripped and fell.
By the time Sanxiu arrived, Granny Qian had already taken her last few breaths. Standing in the open space outside the house was a gray-clad figure dressed as a scholar.
The gray-clad figure was not a mortal. Sensing the ghostly aura emanating from him, Sanxiu pretended not to notice him.
“Her span of yang years is finished. This is her fate,” the gray-clad figure said, watching Sanxiu administer acupuncture and medicine. He spoke up to remind her.
Sanxiu’s hands never stopped. After a long moment, she finally answered, “A healer treats the sick and saves the dying. If I save her, then living will be her fate.”
[Aaaahhh, so cool!!!]
The second episode ended on that cliffhanger, leaving viewers flooding the forums with a string of excited screams.