In Spite of the Strong Wind

Tang Chen is engaged to Shuo Bing (烁冰), played by Song Jia (宋佳), who works in the same field and competes with him. While he is weighing whether to give up his career for marriage, she exposes a hygiene scandal at a catering group through his own social-media account, then takes that group on as a client. His reputation collapses and the firm goes bankrupt.

A friend, Sha Zhou (沙舟), played by Tian Yu (田雨), pushes him to start again. With a small team they set up a new firm, Gray Whale (灰鲸), and the series follows its jobs and rivalries, with Shuo Bing often on the other side of the table. Their clashes are part professional duel, part unfinished love story, and the drama keeps asking why she did it. Li Xiao has said audiences split over her, some finding her cold and others clear-headed, and that she welcomed the argument.

The story is set in the modern city and the world of public relations, and was filmed in Hangzhou. Fei Zhenxiang (费振翔) directed; the writing credits go to Li Xiao and Jiang Wuji (姜无及). The Beijing News reported that Li Xiao wrote it after Jin Dong proposed a PR-themed series, building Tang Chen around him. It is an original screenplay, not a novel adaptation.

The 39 episodes began airing on January 1, 2023, on the Beijing and Jiangsu satellite channels, with Tencent Video and iQIYI streaming it as well. It was developed by Tencent's Yuewen and New Classics Media (新丽) and presented at their annual event in October 2020.

On reception, He Tianping, a researcher at Renmin University of China who sits on the Film and Television Art Professional Committee of the China Television Artists Association, praised how the show treats intimate relationships, marriage included, and its light comedy, which he said keeps a tense, crisis-driven story from feeling heavy.