At dawn, Jing Yu woke up in the hotel room.
Yunteng TV was located in Modo City. It was November now, and the weather had turned chilly—but the sun was out today.
Jing Yu stepped out of his room and checked his phone, where he saw a message from Cheng Lie. When he arrived at the hotel restaurant, Cheng had already ordered food for him.
Well, not exactly breakfast—it was already closer to lunchtime by then.
The moment Cheng Lie saw Jing Yu, he looked excited and immediately launched into questioning.
"Mr. Jing Yu, do you have the full outline for 'Hikaru no Go' ready? Can you walk me through it?"
Last night, Jing Yu had handed him the script to read before bed. Judging by Cheng Lie's dark eye circles, he'd clearly stayed up late poring over it.
"Uh… Producer Cheng, don't you have any other questions?" Jing Yu asked.
"Other questions? Like what?"
"Like… why a romance drama writer suddenly wants to make a series about Go?"
"What's there to ask? All the answers are in the script. I think the first three episodes are great—this Go master's soul possessing a middle school student, and then everything that follows…"
Cheng Lie's eyes gleamed with enthusiasm.
Yep, Jing Yu knew that look well. It was the same expression hardcore anime fans wore when they stumbled upon a story that hit just right.
In fact, the more Jing Yu had studied Hikaru no Go during his research, the more he realized: its success wasn't by chance.
This was a 1998 work, and it was full of innovative setups.
If you looked at it from a webnovel perspective:
The story opens with Fujiwara no Sai (Zuo Wei) attaching himself to Hikaru Shindo (Jing Guang)—a ghostly Go master guiding a child prodigy through challenges and competitions.
Jing Yu, as someone who'd read tons of webnovels in his past life, instantly recognized this trope.
In webnovel lingo, this is the classic "carrying an old master with you" story.
Like Coiling Dragon or Battle Through the Heavens—they followed this pattern a decade later.
In the middle arc, Hikaru becomes obsessed with catching up to Akira after a loss, setting a long-term rival goal. It mirrors the "Three-Year Promise" in Battle Through the Heavens, building reader anticipation.
In the later arc, Sai dominates the online Go world, creating a behind-the-scenes puppet-master narrative, evoking that satisfying "mysterious expert in the shadows" feeling.
But beyond its inventive setup, what truly made the series stand out was its character work.
Because no matter how strong your world-building is, it's the characters that carry the soul of a story.
Many blockbuster anime or novels share similar setups. 'Attack on Titan', for example, Jing Yu thought the protagonist's ability to turn into a titan wasn't fundamentally different from a 'Gundam' pilot flying a top-tier mecha.
Or put another way—becoming a Titan to kill brainless Titans vs. transforming into Ultraman to fight kaiju—is there really a big difference? Kaiju just kill people instead of eating them.
It's all about changing the skin, not the core. Successful series often borrow from each other—but the characters make the difference. For example, Ultraman never had the same oppressive atmosphere as Attack on Titan.
Back to the present—Jing Yu didn't go too deep into the plot details. That would take too long. But he casually mentioned things like:
The back-and-forth pursuit between Hikaru and Akira
The professional Go qualifications
The development of online Go.
Cheng Lie's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
"I knew I wasn't wrong about you, Mr. Jing Yu! This plot… is fantastic!"
"Oh? Really?" Jing Yu was a little taken aback, especially seeing this 200-pound muscle man getting giddy like a schoolkid.
"And your game records are impressive too! I ran a few of them through a Go app last night—I could tell the skill level was high. You said they were slightly altered versions of your real games? You must be a strong player yourself!"
"Uh… I dabble," Jing Yu replied, casually popping a stuffed eggplant into his mouth with his chopsticks.
"Wait—Producer Cheng, you know how to play Go, too?"
"Yep. Mostly because our department head is a huge Go fanatic. We all had to learn a bit just to suck up to him. Being a producer is hard work, you know?" Cheng Lie laughed.
"Your department head? He plays Go?" Jing Yu's eyes immediately lit up.
If Yunteng TV's production head liked Go, then 'Hikaru no Go's odds just went way up!
After their meal, Jing Yu and Cheng Lie left the hotel and headed straight to Yunteng TV Headquarters.
And there, in the office of the production department head, Jing Yu finally met the man himself:
Meng Yu — a portly man in his fifties, with a kindly face and slightly plump build.
"Ah, you must be Xiao Jing. Come in, come in. Xiao Lin! Grab the tin of tea at the back of my drawer—make some for me and Xiao Jing. As for Cheng Lie… just use the one in the front."
Meng Yu's tone and demeanor were far warmer and friendlier than Xu Mei from Chenghai TV.
"A Go drama?" he repeated with clear interest.
The next hour passed with Meng Yu poring over the script for 'Hikaru no Go', reading and rereading it.
Then he turned his attention to the Go game records that Jing Yu had created himself—reviewing them with great care.
Just when Jing Yu thought he'd finished reading, Meng Yu suddenly pulled a Go board out of the cabinet behind him.
"Xiao Jing, since we both walk the path of Go… how about a game?"
"Uh, it's your working hours… are you sure?" Jing Yu hesitated.
"Don't worry about it," Meng Yu said with a grin.
Jing Yu glanced at Cheng Lie, who looked completely unfazed.
"Alright then."
"Since I'm older and my mind's not as sharp, how about you give me a three-stone handicap?" Meng Yu said.
Normally, elders give the handicap—but Meng Yu was clearly flipping the script.
Cheng Lie didn't seem surprised. It was well-known that Meng Yu only cared about winning, not formalities. He had heard Jing Yu was good at Go and was probably worried about losing face, hence the request.
"Three stones?" Jing Yu looked amused.
He couldn't say exactly how strong he was—but the skills he'd exchanged using the system were anything but average. Three stones should be manageable.
Sigh…
No matter what, I have to lose this game anyway, Jing Yu thought.
This wasn't just a game of Go—it was a game of social strategy.
Without another word, Jing Yu picked up the white stones.
At the start, Meng Yu played with gusto, launching aggressive attacks. When he saw Jing Yu play a few clumsy moves, he visibly relaxed and became reckless.
By the middle game, though, Meng Yu was sweating—his assistant even had to refill his tea three times.
At the end, after carefully calculating and throwing in some more "mistakes," Jing Yu barely lost the game by a few points.
After the match, Meng Yu stared at the board for a long time in silence.
"Mr. Jing Yu… are you a professional Go player?"
His tone had changed—"Mr." and "teacher" were now terms of respect, indicating recognition of Jing Yu's Go skills.
"No, I'm not," Jing Yu replied.
He had done it deliberately. He could have lost completely from start to finish, but if a writer making a Go drama clearly had no understanding of Go, it might make the script look unprofessional—and risk rejection.
So he showed some skill in the middle, then gradually lost.
"Your script is excellent. I really like it," Meng Yu said, dropping the topic.
Jing Yu looked up at him.
"But… being a Go-themed drama, the risk is still quite high," Meng Yu added.
Jing Yu's expression shifted. That reason again?
"That said… fortune favors the bold. If we stick to the formula, Yunteng TV will never catch up to the Big Six. If we want to rise, we must take risks. Cheng Lie was messaging me all last night about this drama—his judgment is sharp. He's one of the top producers in our department, and he says this script has great potential. After reading it myself, I agree—it's really interesting. A bit of risk? Three or four million? Yunteng TV can afford it," Meng Yu said with a smile.
"The terms you and Cheng Lie discussed before remain unchanged. Here's the contract."
Meng Yu pulled two copies from his drawer and handed them to Jing Yu.
Jing Yu looked at the contract in front of him.
You had it ready this whole time? Then what was that Go match all about? "Bonding through chess," my ass…