cashew | Oddly satisfying...

Pros:

Super sweet and gentle TOP!Jing Yuan. I don't even have words for how much I want gentle top to exist in this freaking ship.
Young!Jing Yuan behaving like an adult for the most part.
Dan Feng is a demanding bottom, lol.

Cons:

Not clear why this fic is tagged with Dan Heng since he doesn't appear in the story.
Pacing a bit too slow.
Mangina...

I've basically resigned myself to reading pseudo het-smut because apparently gay butt sex is beyond this fandom's ability. (Seriously do not even try to excuse this with trans id pol talking points. There is nothing trans-inclusive when writers slap a vagina on a male presenting character when nothing else in the story deals with gender politics.)

In other news, I've started watching 御赐小仵作(The Imperial Coroner) in an attempt to find a silly period drama with slashfic potential. While I'm enjoying the silly show (even the really bland cliché het romance is mildly amusing) and find the mystery deduction stuff genuinely engaging, the slash ship (瑜翊) is even less popular than 景枫. Shockingly, I think the writing of HSR fic is actually better on average.

Seems like I'm better off sticking to HSR and 景枫/景恒 to satisfy the craving...

For now though, giving Imperial Coroner a recommendation for being a fun mystery. Romance is standard, but the mystery is pretty satisfying.

Edit to add: OK, I'm at episode 11 and the romance is starting to get in the way of the mystery. I don't understand why writers are always failing at writing when romance is involved.

Having given up on 御赐小仵作 in disgust, I've moved on to 君子盟(League of Nobleman) (sic). The show has no female lead, thus no romance, and is significantly better both in terms of acting and writing. It's really a sad state of affairs in pulp entertainment when shows can't seem to figure out how to write a decent story featuring a female lead. It absolutely sucks for women right now.

Also annoyed a bit when I realized while watching 君子盟 that if the main dective was re-casted as a woman, the show will still work just fine. When are writers going to figure out all you have to do to write good female leads is write them exactly as you would write male characters?