#sotmd

[graycatatelier]

danmei stickers and postcards by Gray Cat Atelier

[peppersandcreamsicle]

Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty - Food Cook Along Doc!

Did Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty make you very hungry? Same here!

with lots of help from other sleuths, @qinzai and I set up a food cook along doc!

Can't really call it a cookbook since all recipes are linked etc etc but..

Dig in my dear sleuths!

Uploaded agos ago on tweeter.

[gaywatch]

Hi! Just wanted to throw in a suggestion for books to read: "The Fourteenth Year of Chenghua" by Meng Xi Shi. It's the novel the tv series "Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty" was adapted from, and it's written by the same author as "Thousand Autumns" and "Peerless".

SOTMD was a book????????? Did I know this????????? Brb writing this down...

[lansplaining]

I had that ask the other day asking  me to make the case for Scum Villain, which I didn’t feel qualified to do, but here is a show I will make a case for 

you should all watch sleuth of the ming dynasty 

it tells the tale of 

the world’s most annoying clever twink

as well as

the soldier whose PTSD can only be cured by feeding said twink delicious-looking meals 

plus 

the shady imperial eunuch who keeps inviting himself over for brunch 

everyone has incredible hats and it walks a perfect ine between being inoffensively pro law and order and being like wait what if this emperor’s bland incompetence is in fact incredibly threatening. also the plausible deniability hetero romance is.... very funny in its half-assedness 

it’s on viki and i liked it very much 

[idrilka]

the song of good hope | 3k | mature | the sleuth of the ming dynasty | tang fan/sui zhou | on the eve of dong'er's wedding, sui zhou looks back at all the years they've spent together under one roof

link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38076292

[lumau]

Unsurprisingly, Rongzhi got me in a chokehold, and while I'm not even there yet (on ep37 now), I've seen the spoilers.

Listen, my mind is trying to preemptively make sense of what's going to happen, and so I wrote this little ficlet.

If you want to do it better than me and avoid major spoilers, don't read further.

This might or might not fit what actually happens as I watch on. Maybe it will, and I'll clean it up and post it properly later on.

For now I'm very intrigued by the possibility of a scheme behind a scheme behind a scheme, the love language of betrayal (hello, zhaoxie fam!) and the ultimate devotion of willingly making oneself a pawn without expecting anything in return (looking at you there, suyao lovers!).

--- in his rightful place ---

The sword lies firmly against Wang Zhi's throat. Ding Rong keeps telling himself that this is what he wanted. This is what has to happen. It has become inevitable that someone will make their final move to bring Wang Zhi down, and he will not have anyone else do it. He can't trust anyone else with this precious, vulnerable neck.

And so he can keep his hand completely steady as he steps back towards Shang Ming, keeps his eyes levelled and sharp when Wang Zhi's gaze locks on his. He watches the well hidden emotions pass across his du-gong's face. How well he has learned to read him over the years. He can see his surprise, anger, fear, where another won't even notice a muscle's twitch.

Do the same for me now, he thinks, read me the way I read you. Show me that you watched me the way I have been watching you. Show me you understand me after all these years.

There is a shift in Wang Zhi's eyes, a slight widening of his pupils. It is not what Ding Rong has hoped for. Where he wanted to find confirmation, there is a heart that quietly breaks.

But he has to keep it up now. Shang Ming is speaking, and Ding Rong does what he knows to do best, remains silent and focused on the task, on Wang Zhi. He thinks he can feel his rapid pulse travel through the blade to his hand. But no, that's impossible. Ding Rong forces his mind away from his emotions. He has always known this could happen. That Wang Zhi might not understand him right away. It is not lost yet.

—-

It had to be Ding Rong, not just any stranger. That way Wang Zhi has a chance to outsmart him. Doesn't Wang Zhi know him best? Ding Rong couldn't make it easy for him, of course, or his scheme would be exposed. But surely Wang Zhi understands him well enough to know how to bring him down.

Or so Ding Rong has thought, until now, until there is a familiar body in red on the floor, and Shang Ming is holding a painful speech about...

Ding Rong has stopped hearing him. It can't be, he tells himself over and over, as he stands frozen. Wang Zhi is better than that. He would not simply die like that. He can't die. Not yet. Not in front of him.

The rushing of his blood inside his ears makes it hard to hear his own thoughts, and while he desperately tries to understand the failure in his plan, a single tear breaks free and runs down his cheek, betraying the trust he had in Wang Zhi.

—-

There is a knife pushing against Ding Rong's throat, and he is glad that it is Jia Kui's. He knows Jia Kui won't act rashly or cruelly, and he is less ashamed if it is him who notices him quivering when Wang Zhi pushes back the hood that has been hiding his face. He falls to his knees and the world is right again, and while his heart pumps joy and panic through his body, his mind is calm at last.

He is relieved from the burden that has been weighing heavily on his shoulders when he is put in shackles and behind bars. He has no thoughts to spare for the countless people he has seen in the very same position, what he has done to them, what might be done to him.

What will come now doesn't matter anymore. Wang Zhi is finally back in his righteous position, and Ding Rong has fulfilled his service to him.

After all, Ding Rong thinks, and there is a content warmth spreading inside his chest, he might not have been so wrong in trusting how well Wang Zhi knows him. Maybe he has truly seen him all along.

[msermesth]

this should be a meme

[helendamnationx]

Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty has consistent compassion for people who commit crimes out of desperation. It’s my favourite thing about the show.

[rainydayscore]

I really like this white into black gradient on these robes

[eastofakkala]

A REAL CHAPTER of the Fourteenth Year of Chenghua

*Tang Fan goes to see Sui Zhou at work* Sui Zhou: Hey, how about we talk about this case after work? At your house? I can come to your house? *Sui Zhou beats Tang Fan home to his own house* Sui Zhou: Well, it's far away from my place...I'm going to stay the night if you don't mind Sui Zhou: And I brought dinner Sui Zhou: Which I made for you myself Sui Zhou: Oh you're worried about your friend getting sold? I'll take care of it for you Sui Zhou: Oh you're going to lose your housing soon? Move in with me! It's just me! I don't have a wife or anything Tang Fan: I have such a good friend :) :) :)

[youaremysunshine-court]

Is it even a drama if someone doesn't flirt with the emperor

[space-hermit]

she has a bonsai in her office on the inexplicable sideboard thing, absolutely funniest choice of set dressing anyone could have chosen for this. 11/10

[gaywatch]

Would you make sleuth of ming dynasty public please? Also i wanted to say i love your tgcf reading streams, it always makes my day better!! And definitely all the wine for next vol

I made it public yesterday! Forgot to come here and answer this until now, whups. <3

[lansplaining]

your favourite characters & ships in danmei novels?

i haven't read that many tbh!! I am always taking recs

ok i'm leaving off MDZS because you guys know how i feel about those guys

in no particular order:

Wu Xi from Lord Seventh and Faraway Wanderers. he has a poison snake in his pocket and he started a drug empire to make sure he could pamper his useless boyfriend. what is not to love (almost everything else about the novel, for me lol)

Sui Zhou and Tang Fan from Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty/Fourteenth Year of Chenghua. their relationships are super different in the two versions and I love both. a man whose PTSD can only be cured by feeding a twink soup-- brilliant. two of the most important leaders in the dynasty who secretly have a door adjoining their houses-- also brilliant. Sui Zhou gives Wangji a run for his money in the 'fake it til you make it re: being married to this man' department

Wang Zhi from Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty/Fourteenth Year of Chenhua. my eunuch is a bitch and i love him so much.

Mo Xi and Gu Mang from Yuwu. sort of bizarro wangxian, also very much their own thing. ice princess and happy puppy boy, both with so much trauma~~

Mu Qing and Feng Xin from TGCF. yes, i love them as a pairing, but they're also just iconic as a duo. Hualian invented love and I adore them, but these two just delight me in their own special way

[strawberries-in-december]

me trying to get into the more popular danmei novels and i just can't do it. i dislike all of mx//tx's main ships for both the relationships themselves and also the characters involved and only care about the side characters, i liked it best when guardian focused on the supernatural crime solving and skipped through all the main relationship scenes (although i will give them that i liked it a bit more in the novel) and i couldn't make it through even half of sl//euth of the m//ing dynasty because the mc annoyed me so much. i haven't even tried 2//ha but it's not looking good.

[idrilka]

the truth was a cave | 10k | explicit | sleuth of the ming dynasty | tang fan/sui zhou | while away from the capital on a case, sui zhou and tang fan try to figure out their life at home

link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/35666104