Title: Cold Blood, Hot heart
Fandom: Guardian (TV)
Rating:G -rated
Length: 1,238 words
Notes: Inspired by the discussion in the Slo-Mo Rewatch on sid_guardian. Much thanks to trobadora for beta! <3
Tags: Zhu Hong, Zhao Xinci, episode 16, Missing Scene, Loyalty test, Zhu Hong’s crush on Zhao Yunlan, Zhao Xinci’s A+ parenting
Summary: Zhu Hong was not a shrinking violet. The only way she knew to cope with conflict was to barge into it. So she knocked and entered without waiting for an invitation, all fired up to give Zhao Yunlan’s father a piece of her mind.



Although Snake Yashou rarely felt cold, Zhu Hong couldn’t suppress a shiver as she approached the SID chief’s office to face Director Zhao Xinci. The man was brusque, critical and, his work history with Da Qing aside, infamous for his bigotry. And this was Zhao Yunlan’s father, so in the increasingly unlikely (but still possible!) future where Zhao Yunlan returned her feelings, he would be her father-in-law.

Zhu Hong was not a shrinking violet herself. The only way she knew to cope with conflict was to barge into it. So she knocked and entered without waiting for an invitation, all fired up to give Zhao Yunlan’s father a piece of her mind.

His head came up at her rude interruption and, before she could get a word out, he said, “Zhu Hong, I understand you have a crush on my son.”

“Yes! So what?” she retorted, then snapped her mouth shut. Her cheeks tingled. She was sure she must be crimson. How did he know? And what had possessed her to confirm it to this brusque, unpleasant man when she hadn’t even been able to tell Zhao Yunlan how she felt?

“Sit down.” Zhao Yunlan’s father didn’t seem offended by her defiant declaration, nor amused by it. Which was just as well—if he’d mocked her, she might have had to kill him.

But his calmness was obnoxious too. Zhu Hong couldn’t bring herself to take the proffered chair.

Director Zhao waited a beat, then continued, “My son is disobedient. His clothes are a mess, he speaks carelessly and acts rashly. He’s always sucking lollipops like a child. There’s nothing good about him. What is it you like?”

“Do you even know your son?” Zhu Hong couldn’t let this one-sided assessment pass. Nothing he’d said was untrue, but he’d left out the important things. “Zhao Yunlan is someone who doesn’t hesitate for a second when things are hard. He always acts to protect people. He’s a natural leader! Why won’t you just support him?”

Director Zhao looked unimpressed. “He doesn’t deserve to be chief of the SID.”

“He does! You don’t deserve to be his father!” Zhu Hong’s eyes burned. If she attacked Zhao Yunlan’s father with her Snake energy, all hell would break loose, but he was jabbing beneath her defences, going right for her weak spots. Realising that helped her to catch her breath. She sat down and gripped her hands tightly in her lap.

Director Zhao smiled, but it wasn’t a happy smile, nothing like Zhao Yunlan’s warm crinkling grins. Were these two really related by blood? He said, “If you’re serious about my son, why do you want him to stay at the SID anyway? This kind of work is dangerous. He has to meet with disreputable people, go bad places.”

That was a ridiculous question. Zhao Yunlan wouldn’t be Zhao Yunlan if he didn’t charge into danger without concern for his own safety. “I’ll protect him. I’ll meet those people with him, and go those places too.” Saying it made her painfully aware exactly who was at his side right now, in Dixing. She hurried on. “This is the path he’s chosen. It’s where he belongs. He’s making a difference. He’s happy.”

Surely that would hold some weight with the director. What father didn’t want happiness for his child?

But Director Zhao wasn’t an ordinary father. He looked at her. “You must decide. Do you want Zhao Yunlan as your SID chief, or do you want him as the person you like? You can’t have both, so choose now.”

Zhu Hong glared. What nonsense! They’d been fine until now. But Director Zhao sounded so certain that alarm was creeping up her fingers, despite herself. She ground her teeth. “I can have both. Why can’t I?”

“Working with someone you love in a high-risk environment is dangerous. You won’t do a good job. When you should be applying yourself, you’ll only be thinking about them. When facing difficult decisions, you’ll only want to make them happy,” said Director Zhao, dispassionately.

Zhu Hong wasn’t cold anymore. Now her heart boiled with anger. How dare he impugn her professional integrity. He didn’t know her at all.

“Just like now,” he added, shrewdly. “Understand?”

His gaze made her feel he could read every one of her thoughts, and the challenge was a hot poker in her chest. He was right that she wasn’t thinking objectively. But that was because he was goading her. That didn’t happen in the field. In the field, she followed orders, she—

Her hand crept to her neck, to the line made by a dark energy bullet. Zhao Yunlan had only been pretending to be hypnotised when he’d shot her, and still he hadn’t hesitated to follow Zhu Jiu’s command. He’d barely blinked. Had he known what the effects would be, that she’d fully recover? How could he? Lin Jing was always saying there wasn’t enough research data on Yashou. But Zhao Yunlan had shot her anyway in his bid to retrieve the Hallows and catch Zhu Jiu. If Zhu Hong imagined their positions reversed, imagined training a real, human-killing weapon on him—whatever the stakes, could she fire?

What if Director Zhao had a point? Were her feelings a liability?

Zhao Yunlan’s father was watching her with a hint of triumph. He knew he’d shaken her. “So. Will you keep Zhao Yunlan as your SID chief, or will you turn him into an ordinary person so you can like him and keep him safe?” He held up a pen. “The power is in your hands.”

Zhu Hong glared across the desk—Zhao Yunlan’s desk.

Director Zhao slid a clipboard and the pen across to her. “Choose.”

With turmoil in her chest, Zhu Hong’s gaze dropped to the paper. It was titled “Motion to Remove Zhao Yunlan as Chief of the Special Investigations Department,” with two columns: Approve and Disapprove. Da Qing’s name was in the Disapprove column, of course. It must have been an easy choice for him. And she was second.

She could end this. Zhao Xinci had said it would only take one dissenter to unseat Zhao Yunlan.

For a second, Zhu Hong wavered. If Director Zhao was right—she didn’t know how to make herself someone who didn’t love Zhao Yunlan. But she had to support him; if he found out she’d voted against him, he’d be furious. But if he wasn’t SID chief… would he need to see Shen Wei anymore…?

No. She couldn’t think like that.

The SID needed Zhao Yunlan. There was no choice.

“I’ll sign.” She picked up the pen and wrote her name under Da Qing’s, rushed and determined.

“Good. Very good.” Director Zhao seemed oddly satisfied. Did he want to demote Zhao Yunlan or not? It seemed more as if he just wanted to toy with them.

Whatever! Zhu Hong huffed, got up and stomped out without ceremony, hoping she never had to talk to him again in her life.

The SID had to keep on how it had been with Zhao Yunlan at the helm, and she would just keep on wanting him, because it was a fact about her, like her Snake nature or her temper. It was fine! If she felt bruised from the director’s questioning, well, maybe she should guard her heart more closely from now on. She could do that. She was a cold-blooded Snake, after all.



END