Novoland: Pearl Eclipse is a Chinese historical fantasy television series starring Yang Mi and William Chan, and Xu Kai Cheng. It is based on Xiao Ruse’s novel with the same name. It aired on Tencent Video and WeTV from November 10, 2021 through December 5, 2021, and on Beijing Television channel from November 13 2021.
Ye Haishi (Yang Mi) is a young girl living in a coastal fishing village during the Zheng Dynasty. The villagers must use the ruse of killing their children in order to make mermaids cry. When mermaids cry their tears turn to pearls and the villagers gather the pearls to use as payment for their tributes (taxes), without which, they will be sold into slavery or killed.
On a fishing trip to gather pearls, Ye Haishi’s father, and those with them, are killed by sharks, but she is saved by the mermaid whose tears they were collecting. Ye Haishi returns to her village only to find the soldiers collecting pearls. Unable to meet their greed, the soldiers go after the villagers to sell them as slaves and threaten to burn the village. Ye Haishi stabs their general and flees from the soldiers who will kill her.
Ye Haish is saved by a kind stranger, Fang Zhu (William Chan), who is an official of the imperial court and the emperor’s closest confidant. Fang Zhu offers to accept Ye Haishi as a disciple on the condition that she hides her true identity and poses as a boy. She accepts the terms after he promises to save her mother and the villagers. He keeps his promise and she leaves to become Fang Haishi, a disciple of Fang Zhu.
During this period in history, the kingdom is in great peril. Emperor Di Xu or Zhu Zhongxu (Xu Kai Cheng), is a self-indulgent and apathetic ruler and there is unrest in court and constant conflict with neighboring kingdoms. The kingdom is held together only by Fang Zhu’s sheer determination.
Years pass and Fang Haishi joins the royal military. She has feelings for Fang Zhu, but their opposing sentiments towards the emperor, who she holds in contempt for the death of her father and the tragic events in her village, become a matter of conflict between them.
While secret plots and schemes threaten the fabric of their kingdom, much must be done to save it. Disguised as a male, Fang Haishi enters the imperial court as emperor Zhu Zhongxu’s bodyguard. When Fang Haishi’s real gender is revealed, she becomes the emperor’s consort in name and is conferred the title ‘Madame Naga Pearl.’
Episodes: 48
