Title: Unconditional Support
Fandom: Guardian
Rating: G
Length: 1542 words
Notes: Chu Shuzhi & the SID team, missing scene set during ep 21, identity reveal, humour, loyalty, references to anti-Dixing bigotry. No archive warnings. This owes everything to this scene discussion on sid_guardian. So much thanks to trobadora for beta! ♥
Summary: Chu Shuzhi and the rest of the SID team react to the news of Professor Shen’s identity.


“Go home and enjoy the Reunion Festival,” said Zhao Yunlan, through a half-chewed mouthful of food. “Have a great time. We’ll talk after that.” He reached blindly for Professor Shen. “Let’s go.”

The professor led Zhao Yunlan out of the SID, leaving Chu Shuzhi and the rest of the team seated around the table, silent and concerned. Would Zhao Yunlan be able to get his sight back? What would happen to the SID if he didn’t? Chu Shuzhi had only recently got used to his haphazard ways.

And what did any of it have to do with Professor Shen? The professor was unusually capable for a human, well-dressed, respectable and suspiciously composed. Even if they were involved in the way Zhao Yunlan’s shameless flirting suggested, it didn’t make sense for him to be always at Zhao Yunlan’s side.

“Zhu Hong,” said Chu Shuzhi.

She was standing at the foot of the table, apparently too upset by Zhao Yunlan’s blindness to sit down. When Chu Shuzhi said her name, she turned from watching Zhao Yunlan and the professor leave together. She was still wide-eyed and shocked. “Huh?”

Being upset was natural enough, but what was there to be shocked by? Chu Shuzhi’s investigative instincts were aroused. “What happened last night? You left to look for Chief Zhao. Why did Professor Shen come back with you?”

She looked around the table, clearly struggling with some inner turmoil, then burst out, “All right, I'll tell you all. Actually, Professor Shen’s real identity is more than we thought. He’s the Black-Cloaked Envoy!”

For a moment, no one said anything.

A spurt of senseless anger heated Chu Shuzhi’s blood, as it always did when others mentioned the Lord Envoy without due reverence, but this time it was tempered with uncertainty and confusion.

Then Lin Jing laughed. “No way. Shen Wei’s a scientist, and the Envoy is a—” Chu Shuzhi glared at him, and he finished hastily, “—also impressively learned and smart. Oh! Do you think he transferred up here from a Dixing university?”

Chu Shuzhi himself didn’t know what to believe. Could the Lord Envoy possibly have been living in Haixing all this time? He frowned at Zhu Hong. “What makes you think that?”

“It’s true! He cut down Zhu Jiu with his sword so we could catch him, and last night when Ye Zun was blasting lao-Zhao with dark energy, Shen Wei came out of nowhere and severed the attack. He sent Ye Zun back to Dixing.”

Unless someone had tampered with Zhu Hong’s memories, that sounded incontrovertible. A vertiginous portal seemed to open in Chu Shuzhi’s chest, as he remember interrogating the professor and the professor’s calm response. He should have known then! And he’d delivered that tacky banner to the professor’s office! He blinked away the memory, torn between embarrassment and loyalty.

The Lord Envoy had chosen not to tell him, which meant Chu Shuzhi had simply played a part in the Lord Envoy’s disguise, however disrespectful his behaviour seemed in retrospect.

“Did you know?” asked Wang Zheng, leaning forward to peer at him down the table. She snickered. “Are you enrolled in all his classes? Oh! What happens if we summon him in the middle of a lecture?”

She was only daring to say those things because xiao-Guo and Sang Zan provided a safe buffer. Chu Shuzhi ignored her.

“Did you know?” echoed Zhu Hong, looking at him.

“If the Lord Black-Cloaked Envoy had wanted us to know, he would have told us himself,” said Chu Shuzhi, side-stepping the question. Refusing to give them the satisfaction.

“But we do know,” said Da Qing, practically. “Can we eat now?”

“Should we pretend we don’t know?” fretted xiao-Guo. “Would that be better?”

“Hei Pao Shi, the scientist,” said Lin Jing, almost to himself. He seemed stuck on that point, as if the thought of an educated Dixingren was too incredible to contemplate.

It brought a smirk to Chu Shuzhi’s lips. It made sense, really: if the Lord Envoy were going to live in Haixing, of course he’d be better and more successful at it than most humans. And if any of the SID team still harboured doubts that Dixingren were worthy of respect, here was their proof.

Though respectability didn’t explain why the Lord Envoy had chosen a position that required him to deal with countless human students and their trivial problems. Given the time and effort involved, a professorship couldn’t just be a cover. Might it be a self-indulgence? A hobby? Or was there a greater purpose that Chu Shuzhi couldn’t fathom? Whatever it was, the Lord Envoy was wise to have kept it private: it would be sensitive information, in Dixing and Haixing both. At least the SID team knew enough not to blab it around town.

“D-does Ch-Chief Zhao know?” asked Sang Zan, who had been quiet up till now. “If n-not, d-don’t you think s-someone should t-tell him?”

“Surely he does,” said Wang Zheng. “They’re so close.”

Zhu Hong flinched.

So did Chu Shuzhi. He’d been trying to overlook that side of things. Zhao Yunlan practically flaunted the intimacy of their connection, but surely the great Lord Envoy wouldn’t consort with someone like— No, Chu Shuzhi wouldn’t think about it. He would afford the Lord Envoy that much privacy. The important question was, did Zhao Yunlan know? And if so, how long had he known? How long had Chu Shuzhi been blundering around, unthinking? Had it been a test that he’d failed?

“Lao-Zhao knows,” said Da Qing, through a mouthful of fish. “He must do. That must be why he’s stopped investigating Professor Shen.”

“He w-was investigating P-Professor Sh-Shen?” said Sang Zan.

“Yeah, we searched his flat and sent a query to the Dixing archives.”

Chu Shuzhi made a mental note to ensure the Lord Envoy was aware of Zhao Yunlan’s activities.

“Lao-Zhao knows,” confirmed Zhu Hong, impatiently. “He already knew before we trapped Zhu Jiu. He called Professor Shen Hei Lao-ge.”

Xiao-Guo had mostly held his tongue, but now he spoke up. “Do you think Professor Shen didn’t tell us because he was afraid of how we’d react?”

Chu Shuzhi scoffed at the idea of the Lord Envoy being afraid of anything, but Lin Jing pounced on the suggestion with a grin. “It’s like he’s been in the closet all this time.”

As if the Lord Envoy’s identity were a joking matter. He was just trying to provoke Chu Shuzhi now! Chu Shuzhi made as if to get up and forcibly extract an apology, and Lin Jing held up his hands in surrender. Chu Shuzhi sat back down.

Seemingly oblivious, Wang Zheng clapped delightedly. “Ooh, we should throw him a coming out party!”

“Oh, yes, a party to show how much we like and accept him,” agreed xiao-Guo, beaming.

“No!” barked Chu Shuzhi. They were probably just teasing him—surely they held the Lord Envoy in too much awe to go through with it—but it was the kind of thinking that could easily take on a life of its own, and within the hour they’d be ordering a banner and hanging up streamers. By then there’d be no way to stop it. The Lord Envoy was a man of shadows and mystery, and Professor Shen was dignified and reserved. Neither would welcome being the centre of attention at a tacky SID celebration. “No party!”

“Well, we have to do something to welcome him,” said Da Qing. “It would be way too awkward to pretend we don’t know.”

Wang Zheng nodded vehemently. “It would be rude.”

“Besides, if we don’t tell him, you know xiao-Guo will just get flustered and blurt it out by accident,” said Zhu Hong. “Better to be upfront about it.” She said it as if that were the final word on the matter.

Lin Jing opened his mouth—

“I veto anything that resembles a party,” said Chu Shuzhi, forestalling whatever stupid suggestion Lin Jing was about to make. Probably something involving a karaoke machine or showering the Lord Envoy with balloons and prizes as if he’d won first place in a game show. “The Lord Black-Cloaked Envoy doesn’t need your approval or your welcome. Besides, Zhao Yunlan has lost his sight. We’re facing dark forces. This is hardly the time for any of us to be celebrating.”

Lin Jing snapped his mouth closed and pouted.

“A formal greeting, then,” said Zhu Hong. It was clearly her last offer.

Wang Zheng perked up. “And a nice bouquet of flowers?”

“No flowers,” said Chu Shuzhi. “No alcohol.”

“No fun,” sighed Wang Zheng.

Great, now they were all looking at him as if he’d kicked a puppy. He snorted, picked up his chopsticks and began to eat. After a moment, the others followed his example.

“Chief Zhao is going to get his eyesight back, though, isn’t he? Surely the Lord Envoy can cure him,” said xiao-Guo.

Zhu Hong shook her head. “He already tried.”

A general air of gloom descended on the group, but Chu Shuzhi found himself unaffected. In whatever guise, the Lord Envoy was watching over them, working with them. Things could only turn out well, in the end. And on the off-chance that the others had actually been serious about the party, at least Chu Shuzhi had managed to overrule them before the planning spiralled out of control.


END