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ADWAD did good but it is not to the point of say TPB. One of the main reasons is because the pairing for ADAWD didn't blow up. For an idol period romance drama to really hit big, the pairing itself also gains tons of shippers. It corresponds to how well a drama does because most people tune in mainly for the ship and if the ship is good, they are willing to ignore plot holes or draggy plots. ADAWD's main ship didn't blow up among C-fans/C-netz.

Noooo, this 7th case is not a filler at all because there is something bigger behind it. It will all be pieced together in the 8th case, but it is not just a simple cult case with just a random doing all this. The episodes already hinted it is "punishing the heaven".

All I will say is that non-fans are tuning into this drama en mass (especially with this summer period) and it is super obvious to see just with the bullet comments on the episodes on the Chinese platform.

When a drama has nothing but "ML is so hot", "FL is so stupid", and names being spammed to do data, you know that drama is viewed mostly by the fans and not non-fans. In addition, a lot of these bullet comments on the drama episodes tend to put down the FL so you have non-fan viewers who end up dropping the drama or turn off these comments (aka don't engage) which decrease heat index. I myself have dropped watching dramas because I was sick of the FL characters being criticized and having to engage in discussions with severely pro-ML fans.

This drama however is filled with top comments from non-fans that actually point out the plot, funny things happening, and jokes during the episodes. None of the characters are being dragged either in a malicious way. There is actual engagement in these episodes, and it has been pointed out by many that it has been a long time since people have enjoyed watching episodes with the bullet comments turned on. When there is enjoyment in chasing an on-air drama, non-fans are more willing to do data. They will ask how to increase heat index; they will recommend the drama to their friends/family. This is a low stress drama, and these non-fans don't have to worry about fans jumping them for pointing out things they don't like in the plot (unlike dramas with traffic stars where fans have constantly dragged people for not liking certain plot points).

You can argue about heat index all you want since they make multiple adjustments every few times a month due to how bad the industry is doing. But you can't argue about other independent data sites like Yunhe, Lighthouse, etc. that have nothing to do with iQiyi. All those sites have been consistently putting this drama as #1 or #2 at this point with the viewership increasing every single day with the %. Yunhe is literally these stans' go to drag material, and this drama has increased since the first day from around 9% to close to 30% now. They are now pretending Yunhe is a joke.

Yup, and these dramas compared to the dramas a decade ago would never have reached any of the current numbers they reached. These platforms have continued to lower their requirements every single year because the current long-form drama industry is doing that bad. None of these current dramas 10K or 30K heat index can compared to those from years ago. These requirements had to be adjusted just due to less and less people tuning in for these dramas in general. So Idk why these fans of traffic stars are acting up when their favs' numbers are already inflated to begin with compared to the ones from years ago.

Bai Feng and Fu Ling had some positive feelings for each other in the novel, but it never developed further, and they never ended up together. The drama is setting them up to be together though.

If the system that is set up is unjust, it just leads to more people suffering under that unjust system. 😔 They really need to revamp everything from the top.

Yeah, it is a slippery slope, they had to tone down some of the violence a bit since it can be used against this drama to say this is a "bad drama" for that reason.

I know the answer to this but just acting-wise, he is giving neutral right now which is great. It is hard to read him.

This Prince Jin case really reflects the whole "no answer provided" = admission of a crime. Reflects a lot of some of the current criminal justice system too where a suspect is forced to give a false confession due to police brutality or them not saying anything = they admitted to the crime.

Guess it really showed how comfortable she got with him. 🤣

The actor for Li Muyun is doing so well for the character because it is really hard to read him as either good or bad.

Yue Ning slapping Yan Li's ass??? 😭

They will solve everything at the end. Some of the previous cases have been cut short already because the novel has 500+ chapters and the novel actually goes more in depth about the investigations/steps. The drama pretty much streamlined it to them coming to the correct conclusion a lot quicker than the novel just due to the episode/time limits. Then there are some cases not in the drama just due to the change in Qin Wan's origin so there was no need for some of those cases to exist anymore.

Might be a misdirection and not the full truth.

The only reason they think this is because this drama doesn't have traffic stars. This drama has TONS of non-fan viewers watching. It is a combination of timing, luck, and this cast. There is no direct competition with any other period idol dramas right now and the visuals alone were enough to attract people to check it out.

Fans of these traffic stars have been trashing this drama and trying to say iQiyi brought out all these independent data tracking websites and be for real, iQiyi is not spending money like this for anyone when they are trying to make a profit. The stats for this drama matches on all platforms and has continued to rise. These fans were trying to say there aren't as "much discussions" but the only reason is because this drama has limited traffic due to production saving money and not paying up protection fees (the videos/discussions are there, they are just not showing up on people's FYP at the same rate if protection fees were paid). You can tell how big this drama has gotten just based on the ship supertopic alone. The irl ship of the mains went from 2K to now 21K in a span of less than a few days.

Fans of these traffic stars were using sites like Yunhe or Lighthouse to trash this drama on the first day saying it is low and now this drama has been topping those sites now and they changed their tune to say those tracking sites are trash. It is even #1 on Douban with just how much these forums are talking about this drama (bad or good). This drama's number actually matched way more than some of the numbers of the dramas starring the traffic stars.

Yup, in the novel. They never showed his face for a reason in the drama. It is foreshadowing.

The Empress knows. It is already hinted in the drama that she is pushing for the Crown Prince to ascend "for the people".

Yes, in the novel, they were twins. The drama might be making some changes though.

Got to thank C-netz' eagle eyes. 🤭

Yup! I thought it looked familiar, and C-side confirmed it with the side-by-side pictures.