Dawn was breaking, and the light rain that had fallen all night gradually stopped.
The Empress sat cross-legged at the cabin door, carefully watching both riverbanks. Beside her crouched Niao Niao, already asleep.
Feeling that her strength had more or less recovered, the Empress dared not linger in Northern Liang. She turned and knocked on the door.
Knock, knock~
Inside the cabin, the exhausted man and woman had been able to let their guard down completely with a bodyguard outside. They were sound asleep now, barely even maintaining their postures.
Sleeping against the wall had been too tiring for Ye Jingtang. At some point, he had leaned against Ice Lump again, his cheek resting against the top of her head.
Xue Baijin, meanwhile, leaned against his broad shoulder. Even asleep, her face remained unsmiling, looking icy cold.
At the knocking, Xue Baijin's lashes stirred, and she woke first. Discovering that she was leaning against Ye Jingtang, and that her lapels had somehow fallen open to expose her great canyon again, she hurriedly pulled them closed, then gently helped Ye Jingtang sit upright.
With his body urgently needing recovery and his guard completely down, Ye Jingtang had not even woken at the knocking. Only when Ice Lump straightened him up did he open his eyes sleepily and look around.
"Is it daylight?"
"Almost. How are you feeling?"
After the brief rest, although the blood and qi inside Ye Jingtang were still a tangled mess and his complexion was poor, he was better than last night. At least moving his limbs no longer took much effort. He smiled.
"Much better. Don't worry."
Creak~
Just then, the cabin door opened. Niao Niao woke with a start too, turned toward Ye Jingtang, and greeted him with a "Chirp, chirp?" that seemed to be a