It was the latter half of the night, and the weather grew colder still. A crosswind rose over the mountainside.
Holding the Empress Dowager in his arms, Ye Jingtang was drifting between sleep and waking when he suddenly felt someone touch the hand pinching the blanket shut.
Then a small hand clasped his icy right hand and drew it back a little, guiding it between layers of fabric. Everything he touched was warm, and above the web of his thumb lay a warm, soft fullness like a ball of hot water.
The cold really had made Ye Jingtang's hand uncomfortable. His palm instinctively shifted upward, cupping the warm mound to warm his hand. But the person in his arms gave a slight shiver, and he naturally woke as well.
Whooo...
The mountain wind howled.
Ye Jingtang opened his eyes and looked around, only to discover frost in his hair. A layer of snow had settled on the thick blanket wrapped around them, too. The temperature was frighteningly low.
Their bodies, however, were quite warm. Where they pressed together, they had even broken into a light sweat.
His hand had originally been outside, pinching the blanket's edge to keep the wind out. Yet at some point, it had slipped into the slanting collar of the Empress Dowager's robe, and he was now warming his hand on a large breast...
Like him, the Empress Dowager had worn autumn clothes up the mountain. Her dark red cross-collared top was fairly warm, but it was only a single layer, with nothing beneath it but a silky dudou.
The right lapel was tied beneath her left ribs. It did cover the right side, but the left breast was not covered by that lapel.
Ye Jingtang's right hand had slipped inside her clothing and cupped upward.