In 2016, she starred in the metropolitan romance drama "Ode to Joy", which depicts the stories of five young women who comes from different social and educational backgrounds, but share a common goal. The series received critical acclaim and commercial success, and YangZi gained widespread recognition for her portrayal of Qiu Yingying, a simple-minded girl from a small town. YangZi was nominated for the Best Actress award at the China TV Golden Eagle Award for her performance. She then portrayed Lu Xueqi, one of the two female protagonists in Noble Aspirations, the television series adaption of the Xianxia novel "Zhu Xian". The drama was a commercial success and accumulated 23 billion views online, the highest record held by a Chinese drama at that time. YangZi gained wider popularity as a result and was nominated at the 22nd Huading Awards as Best Actress in the ancient drama category for her performance. The same year, she co-starred in "Crying Out in Love", a film based on the romance novel "Socrates in Love" by Japanese novelist Kyoichi Katayama. In 2017, YangZi reprised her role as Qiu Yingying in the second installment of "Ode to Joy" and starred in the historical romance comedy drama "Legend of Dragon Pearl".