maggie33: (zhu yilong 1)
maggie33 ([personal profile] maggie33) wrote in [community profile] sid_guardian2020-07-17 05:35 pm

Focus on: Tan Xiao & Zheng Yi

We meet them for the first time in episode 11. I like both of them a lot. Tan Xiao is one of my favorite minor characters. And I feel for Zheng Yi, that poor girl suffered so much. I’m glad that they both got their happy ending.





Tan Xiao is employed at the scientific research institute ran by Zheng Yi’s stepfather Zheng Zhongyuan. He probably studied physics at the university since he got hired by the institute doing research on sound waves.

Zheng Yi is Zheng Zhongyuan’s stepdaughter. I think we can safely assume that her mother was Dixingren and that she’s probably dead, since she’s not around and Zheng Zhongyuan is Zheng Yi’s sole guardian. Her stepfather is a horrible, abusive parent, who beats her and screams at her, and forces her to play violin, because it’s the only thing he can show-off about his stepdaughter. He consider her worthless otherwise and clearly resents having to take care for her.

Zheng Yi’s power is controlling people’s emotions and actions through her voice. We find out that she doesn’t speak and people consider her to be mute.

I admit I’m not really sure how her power works. It seems it’s just sound waves in her voice? When she kills Zheng Zhongyuan we hear the voice saying “You deserve to die. Are you ready?” But when she compels Zhu Hong she doesn’t say anything. And later at the wedding when she makes people fight, she only shouts Tan Xiao’s name.


zheng yi 13_2



And now I have to mention Zheng Yi’s age. I know it’s canon that she’s 15. Chu Shuzhi says in episode 12 “She’s 15 years old and mute.” And IMO Zhu Jiu’s comment to Tan Xiao, suggesting that Tan Xiao’s interest in Zheng Yi is sexual, makes more sense if she’s 15. But no, seriously no. She doesn’t look 15, and she doesn’t behave like it. Zheng Yi’s actress was born in 2005, so during the making of Guardian she was around 12. And I always thought that Zheng Yi was more or less that age.





Tan Xiao says that when he first joined the institute all he thought about was the research. But his boss only assigned him trivial chores, like cleaning up the lab. And it seems Zheng Zhongyuan also ordered Tan Xiao to do private chores for him, because that would explain why Tan Xiao was in his house and saw him beating Zheng Yi.

Tan Xiao had a little sister who died. We don’t know how and when. But he clearly sees something of her sister in Zheng Yi. And he treats Zheng Yi as his little sister that he wants to take care for. That he wants to protect at all cost. He tries to stop her when her stepfather orders her to play violin at the lab, because he knows it’s a source of misery for her. He doesn’t hesitate when it comes to taking the blame for Zheng Yi’s crime. And he falls for Zhu Jiu’s manipulative tactic and tries to steal the Hallows from the SID, because Zhu Jiu lies that he can cure Zheng Yi. Tan Xiao promised Zhu Jiu that he would do it alone, so Zhu Jiu wouldn’t use Zheng Yi and her power. Zhu Jiu does it anyway, after Tan Xiao fails.

Zheng Yi’s power manifests for the first time due to years of abuse culminating in the outburst of rage that makes her kill three people. A little bit similarly to Ye Zun, if you think about it. But definitely in a more controlled way. She doesn’t seem shocked or surprised about her power. And she seems to know what she’s doing when she kills her stepfather. Maybe she doesn’t talk because she knows what her power is (her mother told her?) and she’s afraid to use it.

And it seems to me as is she uses her power for the first time to protect Tan Xiao, and not herself. He was fired and beaten and she saw it. And then she’s left in the car in front of the institute, because her stepfather went back inside for a forgotten wallet. And she sees Tan Xiao lurking outside the institute, his face bruised. Maybe she was afraid he would try to get revenge and he would be caught and beaten again?

When Black-Cloaked Envoy comes for her in episode 14 it looks to me as if Zheng Yi is prepared to be punished for her crime. She looks at Tan Xiao as if she is saying goodbye to him. But Black-Cloaked Envoy shows leniency and he doesn’t take Zheng Yi to Dixing. He lets her stay in Haixing, and she and Tan Xiao get their happy ending.





A few questions for discussion:

What do you think happens after Black-Cloaked Envoy pardons Zheng Yi? Do they stay in Dragon City? Does Zheng Yi learns to control her power? Did Black-Cloaked Envoy help her with that? Or maybe he found someone who could help her?

Tan Xiao and Zheng Yi come back to help the SID during the final showdown with Ye Zun. Zheng Yi uses her power to fight Ye Zun’s people, so I think she did learn how to control it somehow.


Did Tan Xiao and her stepfather knew that she was Dixingren?

I think Tan Xiao knew after the incident in the institute, but probably not before. He says in episode 12: “Does she deserve such treatment just for being born different?” But her stepfather could know, if he knew that his wife was Dixingren. Or he could just resent being forced to take care for a stepdaughter he didn’t want.


There isn’t much fanworks about them. But there is some, so here are my recs.

I found a few lovely icons of Zheng Yi & Black-Cloaked Envoy made by tassosss here.


I wrote a ficlet about Tan Xiao and Zheng Yi – a missing scene from episode 14 from Tan Xiao’s POV:

Someone who holds out a hand


And I really like these two fics:

floating worlds by nnozomi

The Influence of Mountains by Branch


So, what is your opinion about them?

And if you have any recs or links for more fics, picspams, icons or fanart they are very much appreciated.