The Princess’s Gambit hits 23000 on heat index – 4 beautiful posters drop for 20000 thru 23000 climb

The just-premiered Chinese romance drama The Princess’s Gambit has hit 23000 on Tencent’s heat index today, right after kicking off at 20000, then quickly moving to 21000, and 22000, before earning the 23000 it is currently sitting at.

Tencent Video released celebratory visuals for all four stages as they occurred via their Weibo account (see above and below).

Along with the visual for The Princess’s Gambit climbing to 23000, Tencent also commented:

#ThePrincesssGambit# Surpasses 23,000 in Tencent’s Internal Popularity Index

Congratulations to #ThePrincesssGambit for breaking the 23,000 mark in Tencent Video’s internal popularity index!

Amidst the serene bamboo forest, where light and shadow dance, their eyes meet—and love flows silently between them.

Thank you all for your unwavering support and affection! Keep watching on Tencent Video to ensure you don’t miss a single captivating moment!

And, as someone who has binged the first 3 episodes of the Chinese drama (sorry, I won’t support Tencent’s greed by paying extra for Episode 4 when I can watch it 24 hours later without charge), I will add, if you have not yet begun watching it, you should.

Update: The Princess’s Gambit has now earned 26,000 on the heat index and it’s still rising fast

The casting for the main leads is perfection, with Liu Xue Yi bringing his acting ‘A-Game’ as always (those close ups focused on his eyes show him knocking ‘acting’ out of the park), while Meng Zi Yi continues to prove the superb skills we saw during her supporting role in The Untamed were not a fluke.

The cinematography, costuming and sets are beautifully done, and the screenwriting is superb as, even from three episodes, it is obvious there is much more going on below the surface of the plot than we can easily guess at.

RELATED: Six gorgeous character visuals have dropped for The Princess’s Gambit main and support characters

Especially when it comes to the reason Shen Zai Ye (played by Liu Xue Yi) already has a wife and two concubines.

Women he obviously despises, and goes nowhere near, unless forced. But women from corrupt families he is obviously using in order to further his, as yet, unspoken political goals.

With three episodes now firmly under its belt then, and with 33 more left to air, if it continues in this vein, it’s likely The Princess’s Gambit will end up being one of the most politically intriguing C-dramas in a while.

With the complicated machinations, of course, coming from both Shen Zai Ye and the princess herself, Jiang Tao Hua.

The first four episodes of The Princess’s Gambit are streaming now on WeTV.

Episode 1 is free-to-watch, Eps 2 and 3 are available for VIP subscribers, and Ep 4 is still on TVOD (or SVIP). Until tonight, when Episode 4 will also be available for VIP, along with the addition of Episode 5.

SVIP members will also be able to watch Episode 6.

You can check out the full release schedule for The Princess’s Gambit here.