An extremely on brand for me #DecRecs: a murder mystery with a side of court politics & secret identity shenanigans

The Fox's Grief (38617 words) by nirejseki
Chapters: 9/9
Fandom: Original Work
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Beautiful Detective With Peerless Martial Arts/Frail Secret Spymaster He‘s Trying To Seduce
Additional Tags: Mystery/Procedural, vaguely ancient China, Secret Identity, Politics, Age Difference, Royalty, Murder, Bureaucracy, Asthma, Rescue
Summary:

No one in their right mind would ever seriously try to woo Lin Ronghu, the Emperor's infamously ruthless (if unofficial) spymaster.

Not that that's stopped the local legend, a (self-described) beautiful detective with peerless martial arts. His crush is a major inconvenience - at least until there's a murder that puts Lin Ronghu's most hated political nemesis straight in the frame. Since Lin Ronghu can't believe that anyone would be that stupid, he decides that maybe having a private detective around might be good for something after all...