Joy of Life

Both drama are definitely original, kept in a similar climate when it comes to action, costumes, combat scenes and storytelling. They are not kept in the same universe and are not twin, they simply have an interesting style of filming that combines the world of ancient China with aesthetics close to the viewer in the 21st century. If you liked one, you'll love the other too.

Zhang Ruoyun is in both set pieces as ML, Genius ML in both Joy of Life and this one, Wu Gang as support role alongside Ruoyun, Wang Yang as the second ML Second time alongside Ruoyun. And both are historical daramas.

Family, friendship, politics. The plot is brilliant. You won't get tired of the storyline eventhou it mostly was about how to change & establish a new country. Every character have it's important role.

- Main ML is *special*
- Both MLs are very powerful and clever with a kind heart
- Youthful quirky MLs that are always one step ahead
- Princess FL that's sweet and naive but not really all that relevant to the plot
- ML is favored by the king
- ML and FL have a very close bond and their dynamic is very similar
- Parallels between the young generation and the older (parent) generation.
- Lots of fight scenes and war themes
- Political intrigue
- Both have quite some comedy
- Cliffhanger endiiiing

Main differences: EB is high fantasy while JoL is wuxia fantasy. EB is focused on a trio of friends while JoL is focused on 1ML. EB is more shallow overall (it's also way shorter and split in half lol)

Fan Xian is born in the ancient empire of Southern Qing with memories of the 21st century. He lives in a rural town as the illegitimate son of the Minister of Finance, raised by his grandmother. His mother, Ye Qing Mei, was once a celebrated inventor and the founder of the Overwatch Department, the country's spy network but was killed shortly after her son was born. Fan Xian has since been protected by a blind martial arts expert, Wu Zhu, his mother's bodyguard. He learned martial arts and the art of poison as a child, also assisted by his knowledge from the 21st century. After an assassination attempt, he decides to venture into the capital to find out more about his mysterious mother and why anyone would want to kill him, as he perceives himself to be an unimportant person. He also wants to know why he has memories of a sharply different era. In the capital, he accidentally meets Lin Wan Er, the sickly illegitimate daughter of Princess Royal, and falls in love with her. Unbeknownst to him, she is the woman the emperor chose for him to marry so that he would be the new overseer of the Royal Treasury, an institute Fan Xian's mother established in the palace and currently handled by Princess Royal. In the capital, however, he gets entangled in the intrigues of the Emperor and the two Princes, as well as the Overwatch Department, leading to him questioning his whole identity and inducing him to find his true life goals, abandoning his original intention to just "enjoy life".