The Fourteenth Year of Chenghua (Chinese: 成化十四年; Chéng Huà Shí Sì Nián) is a webnovel by Meng Xishi. It follows the exploits of Tang Fan, a brilliant young official of the Shuntian Administrative Court in the fourteenth year of the Chenghua Emperor's reign, in the middle of the Ming Dynasty.
It was loosely adapted into a live-action show called The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty.
The Fourteenth Year of Chenghua Includes the Following Tropes:
- Asshole Victim: Zheng Cheng, the first victim in the book, is this. He's a wastrel who drinks too much and routinely sleeps around despite having a wife and two concubines. No one seems particularly sad that he's dead.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Tang Fan and Sui Zhou pity Lady Sun far more than her victim.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Lady Sun smashes her head against a pillar to avoid arrest, torture and execution.
- Big Eater: Tang Fan, who loves good food.
- A-Dong is the same way. The two begin their friendship when he shares the food she brings him over from the Li Household with her.
- Beautiful Dreamer: While pulling an all-nighter to look for evidence during the Marquis Wu'An case, Tang Fan falls asleep and Sui Zhou briefly watches him. Unusually, he's impressed when he notes dark circles under his eyes, indicating Tang Fan is working hard on the case.
- Chick Magnet: Due to his noted beauty and his political prospects, Tang Fan is hounded by matchmakers acting on behalf of eligible ladies. Said ladies themselves sometimes throw themselves at him as well. Not that he's interested.
- Dying Clue: Li Man appears to write Tang Fan's name in prison in his own blood while dying of suicide. Initially, it's believed that he died so full of hatred for the man who exposed him that Tang Fan was on his mind when he died...but then it turns out that it wasn't Li Man at all, but his son, who wrote Tang Fan's name as a plea to help.
- First-Name Basis: Tang Fan and Sui Zhou start calling one another by their courtesy names (Runqing and Guangchuan respectively) rather than their job titles before the first arc ends.
- Hidden Disdain Reveal: Li Man reveals that he was tired of Lady Zhang, leading to his murdering of her, during his Motive Rant discussed below. The whole household is shocked.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Tang Fan and A-Dong start this way. Though he's in his early twenties and she's eight, they quickly find common ground by being intelligent foodies.
- It's Personal: Tang Fan takes personal interest after Lady Zhang's death, as she'd always been kind to him and he understood she was upset about her husband's impending return with a pregnant concubine.
- Lethal Chef: Tang Fan, ironically for his status as a foodie, can barely cook congee for himself.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Tang Fan is a noted beauty.
- Wang Zhi is said to look rather attractive as well.
- Married to the Job: Tang Fan has no interest in supporting a wife. He goes out of his way to avoid matchmakers for this reason.
- Motive Rant: Tang Fan scolding Li Man for murdering his wife ends up loosening his tongue and leading him to reveal why he did it: he's grown resentful of her after giving up his prospects of becoming a scholar in order to give money to her family, then she refused to divorce him.
- Murder in the Family: A constant, recurring theme. Several cases involve murderers within their own family.
- Never Suicide: While there are several genuine suicides throughout the book, Lady Zhang's makes Tang Fan suspicious from the start. He turns out to be correct.
- Oblivious to Love: Tang Fan. Despite being very intelligent and moonlighting as a romance novelist, he completely misses that Sui Zhou seems to be into him.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Li Man outlives his son. To make matters worse, it's because he took his son's place, sending him to jail for his father.
- Out-of-Character Alert: It lands belatedly, but Tang Fan slowly realizes that the reason the Li's son is acting so rude is not out of grief, but because he's been replaced. Sadly, it's too late.
- Proper Lady: Lady Zhang, who is said to be beautiful even as she ages, gracious to everyone around her, a good household manager, and a gracious stepmother for her husband's son born of a concubine. Her husband claims she's illiterate, one of the things that makes him resent her, but it doesn't take away too much from her appeal as one of these. Her whole household and Tang Fan are very fond of her.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Lady Sun gives one to Marquis Wu'an after being found out as the murderer, castigating him for his poorly-run household and badly-behaved sons.
- Tang Fan gives an even more vicious one to Li Man after he deduces that he killed Lady Zhang.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Li Man attempts this to make the investigation of his wife's death end. It's all but stated that he bribed two of the officials involved in the case. Unfortunately, the third individual he tries to bribe is Tang Fan, who is having none of it.
- Supreme Chef: Sui Zhou, who often cooks for Tang Fan once he moves in. A-Dong is on her way as well.
- Sympathetic Murderer: Many, many of them.
- Lady Sun during the Marquis of Wu'An case. She was horribly mistreated and humiliated by her husband, while her in-laws barely lifted a finger.
- A-Xia during the Li case, She's just an accomplice who was blackmailed by the murderer, and feels terrible for her part in it.
- Woman Scorned: Zheng Cheng is murdered by Lady Sun, one of the many women he scorned. Even better, one of his concubines was in on a different aspect of the murder!.
- Young and in Charge: Wang Zhi is seventeen, but is one of the highest-ranked eunuchs in the palace. His putting on airs more suited for someone older than he is rubs Pan Bin the wrong way.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: A-Dong has some elements of this. While she's still an eight-year-old girl with the temperament of one, she's very intelligent and listens closely to gossip. She also is capable of household chores far beyond a usual eight-year-old's capability, with the narration noting that people had to grow up more quickly in ancient times.
