Trope: Bodyguard AU / Historical Fantasy This fic currently holds the top spot. It reimagines Dieyi as a singer in a 1940s Shanghai nightclub and Xiaolou as his reluctant bodyguard. The "hotness" comes from a single scene where Xiaolou must remove Dieyi’s stage makeup—a painfully intimate act that takes three hours to write and leaves the audience breathless.
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Gong Li’s character, Juxian, is often the litmus test for a fic. In the "Hot" fics, she is either a sympathetic third wheel in a polyamorous negotiation, or the tragic obstacle to a love that cannot speak its name. The highest-rated stories explore the Operatic Dichotomy: Trope: Bodyguard AU / Historical Fantasy This fic
