This drama is top entertainment. It has comedy, mystery, action, romance, politics, fantasy, spiritual cultivation, brotherhood and family love. All of these elements are fused together in a delightful story of a young, intelligent, hard-working and high-EQ sales manager Yang Ling (Dylan Wang), who finds himself in the ancient kingdom of Dafeng, inhabiting the persona of an orphan named Xu Qi An. Using his modern knowledge to solve cases, he rises from a lowly constable job to a position in a prestigious group called the Guardians. He even gains the fancy of a royal princess played by Tian Xi Wei.
Weeks before this drama aired, black marketing accounts and paid trolls on Chinese social media started maligning it and the main lead. Why? Because in the dirty and corrupt Chinese Entertainment industry, bullies don't want a grassroots-backed actor like Dylan Wang, who didn't come from money and doesn't have powerful backers, taking projects away from power-backed actors, especially the highly coveted role of the main character of a hugely popular novel on which the drama was based.
Due to the popularity of Dylan and the novel, GOTD still topped domestic viewership charts despite the smear campaign. However, some charts susceptible to black marketing and shadow-banning could not escape the multi-million rmb worth of smear campaign. Nevertheless, the drama gained solid footing after more and more viewers realized its first-rate quality. What impressed many viewers most was the phenomenal acting Dylan Wang brought to the table. This drama proved his acting talent that his bullies keep trying hard to undermine.
It is hoped that cdrama viewers have been made aware of the prevalence of black marketing in social media and will not be so easily swayed by negative press about artists and dramas in the future.
