Schemes of a beauty is kind of a sequel to Beauties of The Emperor. You can see what Lu Zi (Joe Chen's character in Beauties) became in Schemes of a Beauty. Moreover, Luo Jin is playing the father (Emperor Gaozu) in Beauties and in Schemes, he plays the son, Liu Ying
Virtuous Queen of Han is like the next episode of the Han harem after Schemes of Beauty. Schemes of beauty ends with Wei Zifu entering the palace while Virtuous Queen of Han begins with the same.
The leads are similar and they both have secrets that they keep from their husbands as well as ulterior motives. There are other character parallels such as ayeula/xueyuen and zhao/shen-er as well as the Mu family matriarch and Dowager Lu.
Both have the same lead actress. Both are not free from clichés but quite quick-paced stories with lots of plotting and unexpected twists
It is dubbed as the republican era version of Schemes of a Beauty
Both are romantisezed biopics of ancient China's famous royal family women where the female leads are modernized and whitewashed but not transformed into superhuman Mary Sues. Also both dramas are not dragged like some other Chinese ones.
