A particularly delighful drama w possible continuity w Legend of Zhen Huan n My Fair Princess (1998)

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.

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A most unsatisfying female protagonist

I signed up to MyDramaList simply becoz I wanted to rant abt Ruyi's Royal Love. Ruyi's Royal Love n The Story of Yanxi Palace came out in the same yr, both potraying the story of Step-Empress Ula Nara n Ling Gui Fei, w Ruyi potraying Ling Gui Fei as the villain while Yanxi Palace potrayed the Step-Empress as the villain. I cried watching Ruyi's but ultimately I was so turned off by the character Ruyi n ended up disliking her. Ruyi was supposed to be this character that retained all of her integrity n yet, for me, she was a weak woman that ultimately allowed her love for a man to overtake any consideration she could've given to her friends.
Why I disliked the character Ruyi in Ruyi's Royal Love :
1. Of all the characters, only Ruyi is potrayed as the completely virtuous one, while all others hv schemes. Even the good Hui Fei schemed to get the emperor's favor so that she could rescue Ruyi.
2. Ruyi depended too much on the emperor, believing that the emperor will always see the truth just becoz she loved him.
3. As a favoured consort n later on as a Step-Empress that has the support of the emperor, n later on even having the backing of the Empress Dowager, Ruyi did nothing to protect the prople that she supposedly love. She only cared abt how she would look to the emperor, presenting herself as the only one who didn't play dirty. As a Step-Empress that's supported by the Empress Dowager, she had a real power to make sure the concubines adhered to the palace rules. But, she still let the concubines continued scheming, doing nothing to stop them even when she knew what they're doing.
4. The emperor promoted Ruyi to Step-Empress w his full backing. N yet, the drama made it that Jia Fei was still so powerful that she could still immediately went to the emperor to complain abt Ruyi making her wore the big earrings, n the emperor somehow could continue listening to her badmouthing Ruyi.
5. Ruyi hid the gender of ther baby when she was pregnant, pretending that the baby was a girl instead of a boy. But, again, Ruyi was the Step-Empress. She had the power to protect her pregnancy. Why was she so cowed by Jia Fei, who actually didn't hv strong political relatives that the emperor had to appease? Jia Fei was frm Goryeo (present day Korea), a country conquered by China n Goryeo just didn't hv sny power in the emperor's court. Heck, at that time, even choosing an emperor in Goryeo required China emperor's approval. Ruyi could hv told the truth of all Jia Fei machinations to the emperor n the emperor would've believed her. N yet, it's Hui Fei that finally took the initiative to expose Jia Fei that made the emperor demoted her.
6. Suoxin n Sir Li worked tirelessly to protect Ruyi, yet again n again Ruyi didn't her power to protect them. They were slandered by Ruyi's enemies, but, as a Step-Empress, Ruyi could hv stepped in to at least made sure no one tortured Suoxin n Sir Li while investigations were made. N once the truth was known, Ruyi could've punished the actual criminals. Sir Li's fate was especially demeaning. N probably even Sir Li realised how any help he gave to Ruyi n whatever good positions Ruyi bestowed on him only resulted in him being tortured, demoted n castrated, n thus he actually asked Ruyi to stop doing things for him.
7. The Empress Xiaochang was potrayed as an evil character. It's not believable then that after knowing the truth of the Empress's evil doings, the emperor didn't do anything to clear Ruyi's name. The emperor actually raised the Empress's status higher upon her death, punishing his sons that he perceived to hv disrespected the Empress by not crying at her funeral. That's not the action of somebody being disappointed or angry w the dead person. Even if the emperor wanted to save face, he could've just overlooked the sons non-crying as something that the evil Empress perhaps deserved.
8. For me, the character Wei Yan Wan was more admirable. She started frm a lowly maid, didn't hv any backing whatsoever, no member of her family was an official of the emperor's admin, not even as a minor official, the Empress Dowager dislike her, she had no real allies w the other concubines, she didn't display any special characters that would make the emperor favoured her so much. All she had was the head eunuch Jiazheng n her own ingenuity. Compared that w Ruyi who came frm a highly respected clan, hv Empresses as part of the clan's list of impactful figures, hv the backing of the Empress Dowager, hv the love n support of the emperor. Ruyi had all the advantages.
9. Sir Li gave the ring token that proved his prior relationship w Ling Fei to Hui Fei. Yet, Hui Fei n Ruyi didn't use the ring to clear Sir Li n Ruyi's names.
10. This drama is supposedly a continuation of The Legend of Zhen Huan. Yet, Ruyi's Royal Love started w everything that's opposite of what happened in The Legend of Zhen Huan. In Zhen Huan, Hongli didn't like Ruyi/Xian n even asked Zhen Huan to replace her w Gao Feinas his second wife. In Zhen Huan, when the Empress Ula-Nara died, Zhen Huan told Ruyi/Xian to visit her aunt, but Ruyi/Xian said she had no such family member. Zhen Huan had no further need to scheme as all her enemies had died, she had protected her son by putting him in the 17th Prince's family, n Hongli revered her. Yet, Zhen Huan in Ruyi's Royal Love schemed against Hongli. Why? What political advantage she'd hv in having control over Hongli? She didn't hv anyone that she planned to take over as emperor. N if she's a continuation of the character frm Zhen Huan, then she had no further need to play court politics, becoz as the Empress Dowager, she's the most powerful woman in the inner palace.
11. Ruyi gave Rong Fei the infertility medicine when Rong Fei asked it of her. But, it's a very heavy crime to stop any concubine frm producing heirs to the emperor. How could Ruyi, who'd know of the severity of this action which totally goes opposite of making sure the emperor had many heirs, allow Rong Fei this medicine w/o telling the emperor first. N the emperor slapping Ruyi in public upon knowing this? That's a very gross breach of court etiquette. Also, an emperor losing control in public n displaying his anger would actually means the emperor was freely letting people see his weakness. N slapping Ruyi was basically taking away her face or her honour. N insulting the Empress Dowager as it's the Empress Dowager that allowed Ruyi to give the infertility medicine.
12. Much was said how the costumes n rituals in Ruyi's were so good. But, for me, there's nothing extraordinary abt them n it paled in comparison to the costumes in Legend of Zhen Huan.

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