As Jing Hengbo listened to everyone announce their trade items, she began to realize that Dahuang was truly vast. Even though she was a queen, praised by her subjects as a daughter of heaven with radiance like sunlight, that radiance couldn’t illuminate all the truly dark corners.
Many contraband items circulated privately, including gunpowder and explosives strictly controlled by Imperial Song and various nations, including the latest weapons newly developed by various countries, and even secret trafficking. Treasures that only royal families of various nations could possess were readily available here, such as masks personally crafted by the King of Yi – that face was actually the face of a certain princess from Ji Kingdom; such as spiritual medicines treasured by the royal family of Shang Kingdom that could make barren women conceive or make pregnant women miscarry… These items that brought to mind countless conspiracies and schemes were secretly bought and sold in this underground hall. Few people spoke in the hall – many things were unsuitable for public discussion and were expressed silently with paper and brush. Young serving women fluttered like butterflies, conveying information that needed communication to interested buyers or sellers. Only a few whispered conversations could be heard in the hall. Under the oil lamps, solemn faces were distorted by the light, revealing countless faces of material desire, making the atmosphere heavy and eerie.
Many people obtained satisfactory items and sold their hot potatoes. These people who completed transactions were invited by Black Third Master to side doors around the great hall, from which seductive lighting faintly emerged – presumably pleasure establishments where guests could enjoy themselves thoroughly. From the expressions of regular customers, Black Third Master’s hospitality in this regard was always anticipated.
The remaining people gradually dwindled.
Several main figures remained: Black Third Master, Dr. Sun, the purple-cloaked person from the golden alley, and several people from silver alleys. Many ordinary seat guests had left – after all, this trade conference was too high-level for them to qualify for participation; they were just here to broaden their horizons.
Because of this, the few remaining gray seats became particularly conspicuous.
Earlier when there were many people, it wasn’t noticeable, but now with fewer people, Jing Hengbo had an increasingly strange feeling – there were many gazes watching her from front, back, left, and right, some seeming quite intense. She looked across and around at the dozen or so ordinary customers who remained. People either smiled and nodded, meeting her gaze frankly, passed by indifferently, or showed no reaction – nothing seemed abnormal.
Black Third Master’s pair of ghastly white eyes glanced toward Jing Hengbo, carefully examined Long Wei, smiled and gestured to the purple cloak, who shook his head and gestured for him to go first.
Black Third Master then invited Dr. Sun, who stroked his beard and chuckled: “What remarkable things could this old man have? Nothing more than these humble medical arts. Well then, let me boast once for these young friends to hear. This old man excels in meridian adjustment techniques, and has another unique skill – blood exchange surgery.”
Although Dr. Sun spoke with inevitable pride, and everyone around showed admiring expressions, Jing Hengbo felt no stirring upon hearing this. Her mind was full of Gong Yin’s problems, and she didn’t think this blood exchange would help him. Moreover, as a modern person, she was clearer about the impossibility of blood exchange operations in ancient times – most likely the person would die before the blood could be changed.
But she clearly felt Long Wei beside her tremble all over, his breathing obviously rapid.
Jing Hengbo turned to look at him. Long Wei’s eyes were shining as he quickly whispered: “Found it… finally found it!”
“How so? Is it useful for you?”
“Our Dragon family has bloodline poison! Our ancestors said it was a problem in the blood!” Long Wei couldn’t suppress his excitement. “The previous generation once met a famous doctor who said our bloodline marrow had mutations, and the only solution was to change the blood, but it was extremely dangerous with harsh conditions – blind exchange would only lead to faster death. He said there was a method mentioned in the ‘Golden Cabinet Essentials,’ but the book had been lost for many years. Under heaven, there were no more doctors who could master this technique… Who would have thought someone here would know it!”
“Does Gong Yin have this problem too?” Jing Hengbo’s eyes lit up.
But Long Wei shook his head. “The family head is different from us. He left the family since childhood and went to Snow Mountain. The bloodline influence on him wasn’t as great as ours, and after Snow Mountain’s secret cultivation methods, his main problem isn’t in the blood… His situation is very complex – we can’t explain it clearly either.”
Jing Hengbo’s heart felt heavy, and a thought suddenly flashed through her mind. The Dragon family’s disease was very much like a blood disorder. Some blood diseases were hereditary, but not absolute. Everyone in the Dragon family was sick, yet Gong Yin, who left the Dragon family in childhood, showed no obvious symptoms. So the hereditary theory didn’t hold up well – could there be other reasons?
From what she knew, many blood diseases were caused by radiation. Could there have been problems with where the Dragon family originally lived in seclusion? Or problems with their cultivation methods? So no Dragon family disciples escaped, while Gong Yin, who separated from the Dragon family early, had his internal problems mutate.
“Auntie!” That boy called her auntie again, grabbing her sleeve and interrupting her thoughts. “Do you have anything good to exchange with that old guy for his medical arts? This is very important to us! Very important!”
Jing Hengbo patted this already frantic fellow. She knew this medical art was indeed very important to the Dragon family – they must have been searching for several generations. Although she herself thought blood exchange surgery was absurd, ancient wisdom couldn’t be entirely underestimated. Dahuang had many miraculous things – it was worth a try.
Seeing her agreement, Long Wei joyfully bowed to her secretly: “Auntie, you try. As long as you make an effort, whether it succeeds or not, everyone in the Dragon family will owe you a favor!”
Jing Hengbo tugged her lips, thinking: Owe me a favor? Just return my man, okay?
At this moment she again felt several strange gazes, even seeming to hear a faint cold snort, but when she tried to capture the source of the sound, she couldn’t find it.
She felt the several bottles in her sleeve. Across from her, Dr. Sun’s gaze intentionally or unintentionally swept over her as he chuckled: “The conditions for this old man’s exchange of medical arts have been publicly announced. Whoever among you can meet them, no matter who needs treatment, this old man will immediately act without hesitation.”
People in the hall looked at each other. They naturally wanted to rely on Dr. Sun’s medical arts, but his requirements were also miraculous – everyone felt they couldn’t meet them.
Jing Hengbo handed the small bottles to Long Wei, quietly instructing him a few words. Long Wei quickly wrote several characters and handed the small bottles to a serving woman, indicating she should send them up.
These were the highest purity drugs Jing Hengbo had found from the Floating Water King’s throne. These things were both poison and spiritual medicine – for doctors like Dr. Sun, they should also be treasures he couldn’t bear to abandon.
As soon as the small bottles were sent up, before Dr. Sun could react much, that purple cloak and a person wearing a rigid mask from one of the silver alleys both straightened up, their gazes burning.
Jing Hengbo raised an eyebrow – showing such reactions before even seeing the description meant they clearly recognized these bottles and knew what they were. The Floating Water King’s items were sugar-coated bullets specifically targeting royal families of various nations and tribes – ordinary people would never see them. These two – were they from royal families?
Dr. Sun looked at the bottles, pulled out the cork and sniffed, his expression changing slightly, showing some hesitation.
Long Wei excitedly clenched his fists – Jing Hengbo could even hear his heartbeat.
After Dr. Sun hesitated for a while, just as he was about to speak, suddenly the purple cloak said: “This item doesn’t seem to be what Dr. Sun seeks, but I find it quite good and would like to trade for it.”
As soon as he spoke, the masked second-class guest immediately said: “I also quite fancy this item. I wonder what this young master would like to exchange for it?”
Long Wei had no mind for haggling with them and impatiently waved his hand: “We won’t trade with you! We only trade with Dr. Sun!”
Both the purple cloak and masked person’s eyes turned cold. The masked person couldn’t suppress his anger and snorted coldly, while the purple cloak chuckled, glancing at Dr. Sun and saying melodiously: “Oh? Dr. Sun, will you trade or not?” Then he picked up his tea and leisurely drank.
With this statement, Dr. Sun’s hesitation deepened. After thinking, he finally put down the bottle and said apologetically: “Young master, what this old man seeks is only that extraordinary person who can scale sheer cliffs to pick void flowers. Though this item is good, this old man… doesn’t need it.”
Long Wei suddenly stood up and shouted: “You were clearly tempted just now!”
“The item is indeed good, and I was indeed tempted, but void flowers are more important to this old man.” Dr. Sun shook his head regretfully.
“Your medical arts can be traded many times. After trading for this, you can still trade for void flowers!” Long Wei refused to give up.
Dr. Sun still shook his head: “Blood exchange surgery is extremely exhausting. After performing it once, this old man cannot recover for half a year. At my advanced age with insufficient stamina, how could it be as simple as you imagine – trading again and again?”
“But I…” Long Wei wanted to say more when Jing Hengbo grabbed his sleeve, smiling: “Young master, don’t be hasty. Think of other solutions.” Secretly exerting force, she pulled him down.
Dragon family people were still too inexperienced in worldly affairs. How could they not see that Dr. Sun didn’t not want this medicine? His stated reasons were all excuses. The reason for refusal was entirely because someone he couldn’t afford to offend had taken interest in this item.
Dr. Sun didn’t want to get involved in the muddy waters of the purple cloak and masked person competing for the drugs.
Long Wei sat down dejectedly, fingers threaded through his hair, moaning: “Just one step away… just one step away… several generations… a hundred years of searching… how many people died… how much time and energy spent… finally seeing hope… finally seeing hope…” His voice gradually choked up toward the end.
Jing Hengbo was silent for a moment. She had always felt that Dr. Sun’s search for someone to help him dig medicine was a trap, clearly targeting her. However, at this moment, she suddenly understood that since it was a dug trap lying across her path, it was unavoidable.
“Stop crying,” she said calmly. “First find a way to sell those bottles, then I’ll think of a solution for you.”
Long Wei looked back at her hopefully. He felt the Queen’s expression looked very reliable and immediately became enthusiastic about selling those deadly bottles.
After several rounds of written negotiations with the purple cloak and masked person, it was clear the masked person was wealthy with the potential to rival nations, but the items he offered for trade were very cautious. Jing Hengbo hinted for Long Wei to request several legendary forbidden items from the Mongolian kingdom. The purple cloak agreed very readily, while the masked person seemed hesitant and even somewhat angry.
From this, Jing Hengbo judged that although both parties belonged to the Mongolian royal family, clearly the masked person acted conventionally with many concerns, while the purple cloak was quite bold and unscrupulous.
Those more likely to act unscrupulously were those who hadn’t yet reached the highest positions of power.
The items the purple cloak brought to trade with Long Wei included Mongolia’s most famous legendary jade – supposedly the other half was used to make the Queen’s jade seal; a drug that could instantly knock out even supreme masters; a legendary strange beast said to rival tigers and leopards yet very small and easy to hide. Long Wei was very interested in these items, but Jing Hengbo told him: “Don’t take any of them.”
“Then what should we take?”
“A travel permit that would allow you to pass through anywhere in Mongolian territory under any circumstances.”
“How could this person have such a thing?”
“Don’t ask so many questions. Just propose the condition.”
Long Wei proposed the condition, and indeed the person across examined them with his gaze. But such requests were also common here – after all, many who could possess various contraband items were unseen bandits and criminals.
The masked person directly gave up on this request – not only giving up but staring intensely at Long Wei for a long time.
The purple cloak was very interested and thought for a while, then sent someone out. Before long, they returned with a box and handed it over.
Long Wei wanted to inspect it but was stopped by the other party, who indicated it wasn’t convenient to look now.
“If I can’t look, how do I know if it’s real or fake? What if you’re deceiving me?” Long Wei said righteously, the green tall hat on his head trembling.
Black Third Master laughed: “Guest, rest assured. Any transaction made here is absolutely honest to young and old alike. If even the slightest mistake occurs, I, Black Third, will compensate with my entire fortune and will definitely pursue that seller who dares to fake items to the death. So over all these years, there has never been a single case of fraud here.”
Long Wei was about to say more when Jing Hengbo tugged his sleeve under the table. Long Wei immediately turned with a beaming smile: “Since Third Master says so, how dare I not believe? Then let’s settle it this way.”
He secretly winked at Jing Hengbo, who tugged her lips in response, vaguely seeming to hear that cold snort again.
Her thoughts were still on Black Third Master – she felt this person’s tone somehow always sounded strange.
The small bottles were handed over and exchanged for the small box. This side’s transaction was basically finished. Black Third Master smiled and invited everyone to go have fun. That masked person snorted coldly, got up and left. The purple cloak smiled slightly and followed. Black Third Master personally accompanied them.
Several ordinary customers who had persisted in watching the excitement still wouldn’t leave and were dragged away by people sent by Black Third Master with soft persuasion and hard persistence. Only Dr. Sun, Long Wei, and Jing Hengbo remained in the hall.
Dr. Sun slowly packed his things while shaking his head and sighing: “Looks like there’s no hope… no hope…”
Long Wei opened his mouth but said nothing, turning to look at Jing Hengbo pleadingly.
Jing Hengbo clearly saw the cunning light flashing in the old man’s eyes, sweeping toward her. She sneered inwardly and coquettishly took Long Wei’s arm: “Young master, the transaction is finished. Let this slave accompany you for some fun.”
Long Wei was reluctantly dug up from his seat by his “auntie,” frequently looking back. When the two passed by Dr. Sun, Jing Hengbo suddenly smiled: “Be careful, old sir.” She reached out and straightened a medicine bottle on the table in front of Dr. Sun.
Dr. Sun’s hand paused as he smiled and said: “Thank you, miss.”
The two brushed past each other. Long Wei kept looking back eagerly. Seeing Dr. Sun heading outside while Jing Hengbo was still dragging him toward the den of pleasure inside, he became extremely anxious: “You promised to help us!”
Jing Hengbo gave him a look of disappointment.
“You promised me!” Long Wei was furious and complained: “No wonder Grandpa Zhai doesn’t like you, saying you only drag down the family head and drag down the Dragon family. Indeed, you’re unreliable!”
Jing Hengbo acted as if she hadn’t heard, taking his arm through the deep inner alley. On both sides of the alley were rooms, all glowing with various seductive lights, faintly fragrant with incense, sleeves fluttering with shadows, the soft murmuring and coquettish sounds of women never stopping – you could tell what was happening inside just by listening.
Long Wei grumbled and cursed all the way. Jing Hengbo listened impassively until they reached an elegant room with its door open, when she suddenly kicked Long Wei inside.
“Hey you!” Before Long Wei could react, Jing Hengbo had already grabbed the scantily clad woman who came giggling forward from behind the door and pushed her onto Long Wei.
The woman immediately got into character, hugging Long Wei and calling him darling, precious baby, beloved young master in a chaos of endearments. In the blink of an eye, Long Wei’s green hat fell off, his collar was torn open, and his face had a dozen red lip prints. This virgin chicken had never experienced such a scene – immediately his martial arts disappeared, his true energy was forgotten, his aloof demeanor was thrown to grandma’s house as he flailed, struggled, and screamed in panic…
Jing Hengbo had already abandoned the Dragon family virgin chicken and left. This auntie had no obligation to teach her grand-nephew about the birds and the bees.
She quickly moved forward through the alley, flashing into those rooms one by one. Without looking at those scenes of red waves and pleasure-seeking, she directly beckoned, drawing those people’s brass cylindrical keys into her hand. In moments, her sleeve pouch was full of them.
After passing through over ten elegant rooms, except for one that was empty, she had succeeded in all the rest.
When she flashed into the next room, she was suddenly stunned.
This room seemed too quiet.
No coquettish laughter, no moaning, no lewd and dissolute scenes – the man inside was actually playing chess with the woman.
When she entered, the woman faced her while the man had his back to her. She could see at a glance that while the woman played chess, her eyes rolled around restlessly, clearly in an unsettled state.
Previously, taking keys had been easy because basically those guys had taken off their clothes and were on beds – she could just pick them up casually, and almost no one saw her.
But now it was different – the living people inside weren’t doing what they should be doing. Jing Hengbo thought: This is troublesome, this could be fatal.
Keys were secondary – disturbing this heavily guarded underground trading post would likely cause a lot of trouble.
Seeing her enter, the woman was startled and indeed opened her mouth to scream.
But the man with his back to her suddenly leaned forward and smiled: “I’ll take one of your pieces!”
As he placed his piece, his hand pressed on the woman’s hand. The woman was stunned again, instinctively swallowing her scream, looking down at her own hand – her face actually blushed.
Taking advantage of this moment, Jing Hengbo had already flashed into the inner partition.
The woman looked up and saw no one, feeling somewhat dazed: “Did I just see things?”
The man smiled: “Whether you saw things or not, I don’t know, but right now I see flowers before my eyes.”
The woman was delighted and looked up, her eyes immediately flowing like water – though this customer wore a mask, his temperament was elegant and refined. She, a veteran flower-country general who had seen countless men, naturally knew this person must be as graceful as jade trees. She was happy about today’s good opportunity, but the person had come to this gold-selling cave yet insisted on being a gentleman, only willing to play chess with her until now. She was itching unbearably, speculating whether the other party was playing hard to get or what, when she heard this comment and was overjoyed. She leaned over accordingly, murmuring with a smile: “Young master is teasing this slave. This slave won’t agree…” Before finishing her coquettish words, her fingers had already secretly undone the man’s outer robe belt.
A brass cylindrical key rolled onto the carpet with a clatter.
The man seemed completely unaware, only holding the woman and chuckling softly.
A gust of wind passed, and the key disappeared.
The man still seemed completely unaware, only the hand holding the woman suddenly loosened.
The woman was delighted in her heart, kneeling beside him, coquettishly reaching to undo his inner robe: “Young master, on such a beautiful night, how can we waste time? Why don’t you and I…”
“Why don’t you and I play another game of hand chess, glimpsing all the heavenly will in this small space,” the man interjected with a smile. He pulled his inner robe from the wooden woman’s hands, picked up his outer robe and put it on, gently pushed the woman back to her original seat, and smiled: “Come, another game!”
…
Jing Hengbo had collected another batch of keys.
Though she was going to step into a trap, it was best to prepare beforehand. In this area now, those who could threaten her were nothing more than these people below. Black Third Master, the purple cloak, the masked person – all were possible.
What she needed to do was ensure these people had to stay underground when she went to harvest medicine for Old Sun, especially Black Third Master, who would have to deal with disputes over everyone’s lost keys.
Even if he had backup keys, he couldn’t leave under those circumstances.
The design here was very thoughtful – unlike the great hall, it didn’t separate by ranks. All rooms were identical, and rooms arranged for people like the purple cloak were also mixed among everyone else with no distinguishing features, so she could only sweep through them one by one.
Now only four rooms remained unvisited. If she hadn’t guessed wrong, the purple cloak should be in one of these four rooms.
But she knew this person must be alert, possibly with guards. For her to go completely undetected would be difficult.
Just as she was thinking about how to get the purple cloak’s key, suddenly the door of the room near her banged open. A man embracing a woman stumbled out, the two tightly entangled. The woman’s arms were around the man’s neck, and from Jing Hengbo’s angle, they appeared to be kissing passionately.
This kiss was so earth-shaking that the two actually stumbled out of the room, spun around, and crashed into the door of the opposite room.
The door immediately opened, revealing a burly man’s face full of alertness. Jing Hengbo looked down and saw a flash of cold light hidden at his waist behind the door.
That pair of men and women seemed completely oblivious, embracing and kissing in complete absorption. The burly man saw them, was stunned for a moment, then cursed “Sluts!” and pushed the two toward the diagonally opposite room door.
The diagonally opposite door opened with one knock – this time there seemed to be no one behind it, and the man and woman fell directly inside.
Jing Hengbo smiled slightly.
She knew which room the purple cloak was in.
She silently counted from one to five, then entered the door and turned around.
Sure enough, a pale man stood barefoot at the doorway, peering out through the door crack, clearly attracted by the earlier noise and vigilantly checking the situation.
The woman on the bed was about to get up when she suddenly felt a black shadow flash before her eyes, followed by severe pain in her neck, then everything went dark.
Jing Hengbo helped her lie down properly, immediately spotting the purple cloak under the couch. She calmly took out a purple-bronze key and walked behind the purple cloak.
The purple cloak seemed to sense something, turning back in alarm. Before his pupils could capture Jing Hengbo’s face, he felt pain in his back.
Jing Hengbo calmly thrust a dagger into his back.
Since she was creating trouble, naturally she should create it thoroughly.
The man softly collapsed. Jing Hengbo casually took back the several bottles of drugs she had sold earlier.
As she left, she glanced at the prostitute behind the curtain on the bed – the woman remained unconscious.
Normally she should have killed to silence witnesses, but Jing Hengbo thought about it and shook her head.
These were already pitiable people – forget it.
Her figure flashed as she entered the room of the masked man who had competed with the purple cloak for the drugs.
The masked person’s room was that empty room. After completing this circuit, she knew which room the masked person occupied.
Just as her shadow flashed away from the purple cloak’s room, the door of that room suddenly opened silently.
Someone walked in with soundless steps. Seeing the purple cloak’s corpse on the ground, he showed no surprise whatsoever.
As if stepping over a dead pig, he stepped over the purple cloak’s body and went straight into the partitioned inner room. Inside, the prostitute Jing Hengbo had knocked unconscious was still out, but her eyebrows twitched slightly, obviously about to wake up.
The man stood before the bed, coldly looking down at the woman. The woman’s eyebrows seemed to tremble again, but she never opened her eyes.
The man smiled coldly in silence and slowly reached out his hand.
The woman remained motionless, seemingly immersed in unconsciousness, but just as the man’s hand was about to reach her throat, she suddenly did a carp flip and bounced up, reaching for a protrusion on the bed canopy.
Her movements were already quite nimble, but not as fast as the man’s. A hand blade flew through the darkness with snow-white light and shadow, heavily chopping her throat.
The sound of the throat breaking was very crisp, like brittle wood suddenly snapping.
The woman softly collapsed – this time she would truly never wake up.
The man calmly wiped his hands on the curtain, wiping away the cosmetic smell that disgusted him. He looked up at the message mechanism on the bed canopy, shook his head, and muttered: “Always so soft-hearted…”
…
Jing Hengbo wouldn’t know about the subsequent events in that room. She was standing in the masked man’s room.
The room didn’t even have a woman, but had a strange smell – somewhat rank.
After a while, the door creaked and the masked person sneaked back in. Immediately a familiar bloody smell that Jing Hengbo recognized spread through the air.
The dim light from the opposite room cast a dark shadow, vaguely reflecting the masked person’s panicked eyes.
He leaned against the doorway, breathing rapidly several times, raised his sleeve and sniffed it, the horrified expression in his eyes growing thicker.
Jing Hengbo watched him quietly from the partitioned inner room.
The masked person removed his mask, revealing a pale, beardless face about forty-something years old. He silently wiped sweat from his forehead, still feeling hot, and removed his outer clothing.
The key on his belt fell down. Jing Hengbo beckoned with her hand, and the key slowly fell into her palm. Because this person never lit a lamp and was in a panicked state of mind, he paid no attention to any movement in the room.
Jing Hengbo heard him murmuring: “How could… how could… who dares kill him… who dares…”
Jing Hengbo’s lips curved as she quietly placed those drug bottles in this person’s personal luggage at the bedside.
This guy and the purple cloak were both related to the royal family but belonged to different factions. Earlier this guy should have gone to check on the purple cloak, only to see the corpse, which is why he was so frightened?
Then let him fight the purple cloak’s faction to the death. Jing Hengbo had no good feelings toward the Mongolian royal family either.
The person seemed to hear some movement and suddenly turned toward the partition screen, but there was nothing there.
The person had just breathed a sigh of relief when he felt pain in the back of his head, hearing a muffled “thump” that seemed to come from within his own body, then softly collapsed.
Jing Hengbo threw down the porcelain pillow in her hand, crouched down, thought about it, and undid this guy’s pants.
Then her face showed an expression of “as expected.”
Indeed, he was a eunuch.
Mongolia… was quite interesting indeed.
She showed a thoughtful expression, then flashed out of this room. Having obtained the necessary keys, Dr. Sun was presumably still waiting for her – she should go to the appointment.
This room was at the very end of the entire alley, while the purple cloak’s room was at the front end of the alley. She wondered if this was Black Third Master’s deliberate arrangement.
When Jing Hengbo flashed to the front of the alley, she suddenly remembered that passionate kissing couple from before and instinctively glanced at the room the two had crashed into.
The room door was still open, black and empty with no people or sounds.
Suddenly she felt something strange under her feet. Looking down, she saw a thick, greasy stream of blood winding out from the purple cloak’s room across the way, flowing to her feet.
She instinctively stepped away, unknowingly moving closer to that half-open room.
Suddenly a pair of hands reached out from the room, lightning-fast pulling her inside!
Jing Hengbo was startled and raised her hand to resist, but the other party’s movements were both powerful and swift. With a “bang” they pressed her against the wall, another “bang” closed the door, elbows pressed against her shoulders, knees against her legs, body leaning forward, pinning her against the wall unable to move.
Before Jing Hengbo could react, with a “thump,” the person’s elbow pressed against the wall, trapping her face. The breath beside her suddenly intensified, her face felt warm, and a pair of warm lips had already landed on her cheek.
…