I watched The Story of Yanxi Palace n Ruyi's Golden Love in the Palace. I found Ruyi so depressingly dismal w how the empress character relied too much on the emperor's kove n trust. Meanwhile, in Yanxi Palace, the characters Yingluo n the Emperor were basically equal. Just love the bickering between the two n how the emperor started off just being intrigued w Yingluo, starting to respect Yingluo as he discovered the depth of her characters n slowly falling in love w her w/o him realising it first. Li Yue character said in one episode where that Yingluo(Ling Fei) treated the emperor as a commoner n that's what make her special. For me, I love that it's the emperor that had to work to earn the love of Yingluo, compared to the usual trope of the heroine falling in love w the emperor first. While for Yingluo herself, we never really know if she truly love the emperor as a man or if she just come to love him as a husband. Love love the female characters in the drama, n how each character has a big moment where the dramatic focus is on them, like the Step Empress impassioned speech in ep 70, the Empress telling the emperor how she felt suffocated by the empress title, Consort Guo admitting that the emperor only pitied her, Consort Chun breakdown, etc.
While Ruyi is supposedly a sequel to Legend of Zhen Huan, I find Yanxi Palace to be a more appropriate to be called a sequel. In Zhen Huan, the heroine had to play palace politics to protect her loved ones. In Yanxi, the Empress Dowager (which could be Zhen Huan) didn't involve himself in political matters, which is reasonable as Zhen Huan wouldn't hv to protect her loved ones anymore once Yongzheng Emperor died n she became the Empress Dowager. In Yanxi, the Empress Dowager loved her deceased princess, Princess He Ang, more than anyone. Which tied in w Zhen Huan where she had a daughter w the 17th Prince, n thus would probably love her the most. In Ruyi, the emperor supposedly love Ruyi (Consort Xian). But, in Zhen Huan, Hong Li didn't like Consort Xian n actually requested Zhen Huan to replace Consort Xian w Consort Gao as his 2nd wife, which tallied w how the emperor treated Consort Xian in Yanxi n that Consort Gao was the 2nd wife. In Ruyi, the empress character was potrayed as someone evil, while in Yanxi, the empress is potrayed as good, which agreed more w how Chinese history wrote abt the empress.
Yanxi's connection w the 1998 drama My Fair Princesd is something that I personally thought of. In Yanxi, there's a period of 10 yrs between ep 64 n 65. The drama told nothing of what happened in that period but in ep 65, we know that the emperor has grown distant frm the step empress. In My Fair Princess, the emperor discovered that he had a daughter w a commoner woman, who he might hv met during one of his tours. The emperor was so taken w thus new daughter as well as her commoner best friend that he bestowed to them the title of Princess n doted on them. Ling Fei became friend w the two princesses. But, the Step Empress got jealous of them n used tactics to get the emperor to hate the princesses n punished them w death. The drama also had the character Lord Fu Heng who helped the two princesses to escape the Step Empress's threats. At the end of the drama, the emperor came to know of the Step Empress's wrongdoings. This then could be the possible reason for why the emperor was distant w the Step Empress in Yanxi, n also how the physician implied to the Step Empress to reign in her jealousy so as not to disturb her health.
So, for me, Legend of Zhen Huan, My Fair Princess (1998) n Yanxi Palace fit in so nicely w eo in term of the storyline n the characters.
Also, in Legend of Zhen Huan, My Fair Princess n Yanxi Palace, the main female characters are portrayed as smart n strong women, while in Ruyi, the main female characters are portrayed as those who are only interested to gain the emperor's love while the Step Empress was so annoyingly ineffectual that all her loved ones suffered due to her own inaction.