[WIP] Nothing on Earth of Interest (Seeds of the Melon)

This one, on the other hand, I want to share immediately.

Nothing on Earth of Interest (Seeds of the Melon) (899 words) by starlady
Chapters: 1/?
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (Downey films), Hǎi shàng huā liè chuá | The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai - Han Bangqing
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/Mary Morstan/John Watson
Characters: Huang Cuifeng, Irene Adler, Ah Q, Sherlock Holmes, Mary Morstan, John Watson
Summary: Shanghai, 1894 - Courtesans, captains, colonialists, detectives, opera reformers, revolutionaries, spies: when a murder in the foreign settlement forces Inspector Ah Quei into collaboration with the famed Sherlock Holmes, the two men find that Shanghai holds secrets enough to shake two empires.

This is the most allusively dense thing I have ever written, hands down, even at 900 words; if I were to give you the footnoted version, there would be one at the end of just about every line. I like it so far - I'm also quite irrationally pleased to have the first Singsong Girls of Shanghai fic on the AO3, and quite possibly in the whole world - and I'm looking forward to the rest of it very much.