The next morning, Zhang Tie woke amid a tangle of jade arms and soft breasts.
Linda slept to his left, Fiona lay sprawled across his chest, Beverly's head was pressed against the right side of his face, while the sisters Ai Mei and Ai Xue nestled against his waist and thighs. Several women's bodies pinned down Zhang Tie's limbs.
Bai Suxian had only just arrived at the Zhang Clan and had to remain somewhat reserved. Moreover, as a commandery princess, it was inappropriate for her to compete with Zhang Tie's wives and concubines for favor, so she had not joined last night's grand chorus. But Linda and the others had been parched for so long that they welcomed sweet rain at last. Once last night's family banquet had ended and Zhang Tie returned to his own residence, he had been engulfed by boundless love from the moment several of them began attending to his bath. After Zhang Tie, fighting alone, charged and clashed through the tender battlefield seven times in and seven times out, Linda and the others finally fell asleep, exhausted and fulfilled.
There were radiators in the room. Though it was winter and heavy snow drifted outside, the room was warm as spring, filled everywhere with a sweet, cloying scent of love. Jade-white bodies lay scattered across the great bed, yet none would catch cold or freeze.
Beverly's golden hair was right beside Zhang Tie's ear, making it itch a little. Zhang Tie turned his head and looked at Beverly's mature, lovely face resting against his right side, and his heart was filled with peace.
The young girl he had met in Wild Wolf Valley had traveled alongside him through more than ten years of wind and rain. By now, she had become a beautiful noblewoman, the mother