Flipside

Chapter 3

The sun was beaming down on Cloud Recesses.

Two months had gone by in a flash, and the next thing you know lectures were about to start.

Wangji had earned enough money from Young Lady Yi's wedding to expand Fuyu's, and right now he was the sixteenth richest person in Jiangnan.

Not bad, but he knew he could do a lot better.

After all, with talent like his, it was only a matter of time before he made it into the top ten.

But right now, he had to survive the absolute hell that was lectures.

He didn't even understand why he was attending them anyway. He knew all this boring cultivator stuff already!

Furthermore, he'd rather be in his luxurious manor in Jiangnan, building his fashion empire.

Not in plain old Gusu, stuck at a desk for a year!

But it couldn't be helped. The very best he could do was to free up as much spare time as he possibly could to go back and forth.

Hopefully, by the time lectures were over, he would be one step closer to a pond of banknotes, and a thousand steps further away from his uncle.

For now, all he could do was keep his head low and pray that some terrible thing would happen and lectures would be cancelled.

Once again slipping on  his boring Gusu Lan robes with the basic-looking forehead ribbon, he walked down the mundane paths of Cloud Recesses.

He gave a little smile as he adjusted his scarlet inner robe.

It was one of the little victories that Wangji let himself have while he was in Gusu.

It was one of the first pieces of clothing that Wangji made for himself. He spent days embroidering a golden Phoenix surrounded by pink and orange flowers on it.

Not only that, if you looked closely enough, all of his Gusu robes were in fact high-end replicas.

His robes were made from the finest satin that felt nicer to the touch, and he had custom boots made.

Even though nobody could see it, it made him feel good. It was a constant reminder that there were brighter, more exciting things in life to be enjoyed than lessons and meditation.

Putting on his trademark 'I'm emotionally constipated' face, he walked into the Hanshi to have tea with his older brother.

"Wangji," Xichen said, ushering his brother in. 

Sitting down stoically, Wangji accepted a teacup from his brother.

"How have things been with you?"

"Mn" He mundanely replied. With his brother he didn't need to say much, most of the time he didn't need to say anything at all. He was always good at communicating with his eyes. 

"The young sect heirs are coming for lectures later today. "

"Mn."

Xichen just couldn't understand his brother sometimes. It was like he wanted to be friendly, but it seemed like it was more than being socially awkward.

Sometimes, it was like he was hiding something from him. Like he was a lot more capable of having friends than he appeared. 

But even so, if Wangji didn't feel like making friends, that was his decision. But Xichen wanted to help his little brother out in any way he could. 

Even if that help was not wanted. Or needed.

"Wangji," Xichen said expectantly.

'Here we go' Wangji thought, rolling his eyes in his head.