Amidst The Clouds

Chapter 01: Elder Brother

The sight of snow gracefully fell languidly as admiring as a youth sitting silently, the tranquil atmosphere danced around him as he meditated soundlessly within his room. The pristine white robe with the pattern of clouds and dragons on the sleeves in blue threads fluttered softly from the cold wind, but the jade-like exterior didn't shiver from the cold.

However, a few moments later, he opened his eyes, revealing a pair of crystal golden gazes. His gaze turned to the sound he heard a moment ago, the bamboo forest blocked his vision but he could see a small figure.

"A person?" He said in an almost surprised voice, his gaze didn't shift from the person.

'Xichen and...' He immediately thought of the two known young masters of the Lan clan but quickly dismissed it as the day they were supposed to visit their mother. 'Unless...'

He got up nonchalantly and went out of his chamber, Youshi. [1] His steps were unhurried, his stoic face didn't reveal the turmoil he felt at the moment. When he arrived at the end of the forest, he noticed. A little child in the same pristine hanfu but only with cloud patterns, he had collapsed due to the cold.

Proceeding to lift the covered snowed young master, he finally got to take a good look at the face of the young boy. Milky white skin like jade with long eyelashes and pouty cheeks, without a doubt, the child would look beautiful when he opened his eyes. He sighed after he saw the headband, just as he expected, a child from the main Lan family.

"A child in the cold... how irresponsible is the Lan Sect nowadays?" He walked away with the child huddled in his arms, his white coat enshrouded him and the boy

Just as he was about to step into his chamber again, a voice resounded behind him.

"Wangxue"

He turned around and bowed his head politely. "Sect Leader Lan, Sect Heir Lan" he greeted

"Wangxue-ge," Lan Xichen greeted back before he ran to the youth

Qingheng-jun's face turned sour and he didn't intend to hide it before noticing a bundle in his son. "This is?"

"Wangji, Sect Leader Lan." Lan Wangxue informed without missing a beat as he crouched down to Lan Xichen's height

Lan Xichen muttered thanks while caressing his brother who fainted due to the cold. He was worried sick but his uncle held him back from going after his younger brother. 'It was all uncle's fault.' He thought with a small pout, he hated how his uncle didn't even care.

"Xichen... Fuqin," Qingheng-jun looked like he was on cloud nine, his son finally call him Fuqin

'It was my fault... he doesn't deserve what happened to him.' The Lan Sect Leader thought sadly

"Let's bring Wangji in, Xichen. Can you bring me the prescribed medicine later?"

"I can get them," Qingheng-jun said and merely received a nod from his eldest son, he was satisfied with just that.

Lan Wangxue escorted his brother and father to his chamber, letting them in, and put his youngest brother on his bed, covering him in another layer of a warm blanket. He goes to his desk and writes down the necessary herbs for cold and hypothermia.

While all of this happened, Lan Xichen savored his brother's chamber. The exact chamber where he wasn't allowed to go in by the Sect elders and his uncle, the place that chained his elder brother who is five years older than him. It was different from all the other chambers he had seen so far in cloud recess. The chambers in cloud recess were all sophisticated but too old-fashioned, he would lie if he said he liked it that way.

'I like it here,'

His brother was certainly minimalistic as his enclosure has been decorated with simple and everyday life ornaments here and there. He goes to sit down near the bed and dabbed his younger brother's cold sweat with a white handkerchief.