The one thing I always find incredibly touching in the later episodes of The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty is how quietly happy Sui Zhou is.
Yes, he was demoted. Yes, he still has his demons that trouble him, but when Tang Fan is angry on his behalf, Sui Zhou just looks at him and quietly declares that he doesn't mind because he is surrounded with all the people that he wants and needs in his life and can still do good. It is pretty much a declaration of love. As long as Tang Fan is around he will not complain and then there is also sweet Dong'er, who is more of a daughter then a little sister.
He is now a richer man then he ever was. Sui Zhou now has a family, a man who loves him, aquired a sister/daughter and a bunch of other people who truly care for him. He is happy. Period.
The fact that he doesn't stay silent but actually tells them about his nightmares...honestly, a man like him opening up about something like this shows deep trust and also that he is truly afraid hurting them without wanting to (like he almost did) because his PTSD is acting up.
Wang Zhi and Tang Fan have switched their wisdom stats (and many of Wang Zhi’s quotes are actually Novel!Tang Fan's)
Tang Fan gets repeatedly called “a beauty” by various people, and also has actual political ambition; he’s also older than Sui Zhou
Sui Zhou is wife-coded, not ex-military and has real political savvy and also a really shitty family
Wang Zhi can FIGHT but he‘s also very angry all the time (he is either yelling, pouting or flirting at Tang Fan whenever they are in the same room)
Dong‘er is Ah-Dong and might not be a genius, but is really good at martial arts AND officially part of the Tang family because Tang Fan made her his sworn sister (still crying about this)
the emperor is a magic-obsessed moron
there are no bombs, but lotsss of politics
Follow my comment threads over on twitter for vague comments on cases, snark about historical politics, flailing about character dynamics and screenshots for every especially cute, romantic or funny part of the book I come across
And if you want to read the translation yourself, you find that here <3
I love the whole bomb storyline even if it was desperately sad, and we lost so much in that story, but it also gave us a ton of raw emotions.
This particular scene really settled it for me. The pure desperation, the shaking hands, and cries of anguish...yes you can try and tell me that Tang Fan is just a very good friend, but this is NOT what is shown. Here is a normally stoic man who is falling completely apart because he thinks he lost the person he loves, not just some friend. Sui Zhou is a seasoned warrior who has seen the death of many friends and comrades in his life. We never ever saw him fall apart before (I mean completly - he was a brooding mess a few episodes before that, but this...is on a completely different level) . He was angry, determined, or had a slightly sad look but not a complete meltdown.