Yingluo had already sensed the danger, and had been vigilantly avoiding it before she left the mansion, and now that she was unavoidable and followed the Song family out of the mansion, how could she not be guarded at all?

What's more, how could Qingfei and the others have served her so enthusiastically, and the two of them had to pull her to visit the garden so late, Yingluo knew that the Song family's plan that she had been waiting for for a day had finally come.

She followed Qingfei and the others to the garden, Fang Cai deliberately showed panic, and as soon as the figure behind her approached, Yingluo found out early, and at the most critical time, she unhurriedly slightly staggered her body, and the man's hand knife did not slash at the vital point at all, but fell on the shoulder, Yingluo just pretended to be dizzy.

She lay on the ground, listening to the urging of Qingfei and the others, feeling the man's undisguised gaze, full of killing intent and hatred, feeling picked up, and barely enduring the discomfort, only pretending to be unconscious.

The man who attacked Yingluo was a tall and strong middle-aged man, and he carried Yingluo to the back door of Zhuangzi, which had already been opened, but there was no movement in the gatehouse.

The tall man hurriedly walked out of Zhuangzi with Yingluo.

"Meow!"

As soon as he came out of Zhuangzi, he heard two wild cats crying in the quiet night, and he was startled by his steps, and then he cursed, and put Yingluo head down on his shoulder, and then ran quickly towards the forest to the east.

Yingluo lay on the shoulders of the big tall man, who was wearing burlap clothes, she endured the discomfort of her skin rubbing against the linen, as well as the dirty and unpleasant smell of the man's body, and the feeling of jolting, and forcibly pretended to be unconscious, and her heart was settled down a lot because of the two cat meows.

When he reached the forest, he stopped, put Yingluo on the ground, and walked quickly into the depths of the forest, and Yingluo squinted through the moonlight and saw the man running into the woods, and then drove out a carriage in a few moments.

She hurriedly closed her eyes quietly, picked her up again and put her into the carriage, but when she got up, she took the opportunity to stroke her beautiful face, and stood there for a while, Xu felt that she was a weak woman in the boudoir and had nothing to guard against, so she even saved the ties, only laughed lewdly twice and closed the door, climbed into the carriage and galloped eastward.

Yingluo endured the murderous intent in her heart and lay still, and when the carriage door was closed, she raised her sleeves and wiped her face with hatred.

At that time, it was also the hour when Yingluo followed Qingfei and Qingyan into the back garden, and a black shadow suddenly jumped from the shadows in Ruoliu Garden, where Su Yingzhen lived temporarily, and the black shadow jumped off the wall and hid in the corner for a while, and when no one was paying attention, he rolled towards the back of the main house.

There are two luxuriant ginkgo trees planted behind the main house, looking at the hundred years old, a shadow under the moon, the black shadow rolled quickly behind the tree a few times, and listened to the sound for a while, and saw that the inner room of the main house was silent, only the east side of the ear room came from the very low voice of the maid.

The black shadow boldly approached the back window of the inner room of the main room, took out something bright from his waist, and swiped it on the window, and the light gauze window pane revealed the candlelight in the room.

The black shadow flashed and went to the outside of the blue gauze cupboard connected to the inner room, and also poked a small hole in the window, and saw that there was a night watchman lying on the lacquered bed of the blue gauze cupboard, clearly not asleep, turning his body, he took out a small tube from his arms, stretched into the small hole and blew some smoke into it, and waited patiently for a moment to listen, and there was no sound in the blue gauze cupboard.

The shadow let out a smug smirk in his throat, and then turned back to the back window of the inner room, and threw an object towards the window with two fingers, and the round object rolled against the edge of the bed with a slight thud.

The black shadow lost something, and when he heard the sound of rustling in the inner room, he quickly jumped over the high wall along the way he came, and disappeared into the Wakayanagi Garden.

In the house, Su Yingzhen was already sleeping in a daze, and suddenly heard a bang, she opened her eyes in a daze and shouted, "Qingling? ”

Listening to the slightest movement outside, Su Yingzhen strangely lifted the curtain on the bed, and just saw a small glowing ball lying on the ground in front of the bed, Su Yingzhen rubbed her eyes, and strangely put on a dress and went down to the ground, she picked up the small ball, but found that the middle of the ball was empty, and there seemed to be a note stuffed inside.

Su Yingzhen took out the note and looked at the faint light of the croissant lamp in front of the bed, and when she saw the words written on it, Su Yingzhen immediately showed excitement on her face, she stuffed the note to her waist, climbed back to the bed lightly, found a dress and put it on, and walked out lightly.

When she got to the outside, she saw that the green spirit in the blue yarn cupboard had slept deeply, she smiled proudly, took a few steps to the door, pulled out the door bolt, and quietly left the house, quickly avoiding the little maid who whispered in the ear room, walked out of the Wakayanagi Courtyard along the verandah, and went all the way to the back garden.

At this time, it was getting late, and the few subordinates on the Zhuangzi had already rested, Su Yingzhen was lucky, and she didn't even meet the mother-in-law who was patrolling, and she shouted in a suppressed voice all the way to the back garden.

"Fourth sister? Fourth sister? Su Yinglan?! ”

She bent over her waist to find someone, but suddenly her neck hurt, her eyes rolled, and she fell backwards into the arms of a black shadow.

The black shadow quickly caught the person, resisted on his shoulder, and dived quickly towards the courtyard wall, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

The moon was clear and the garden was silent, as if nothing had happened.

On the official road, a dilapidated carriage swayed and galloped fast. Yingluo was lying in the carriage, this carriage was very simple and dilapidated, not even as good as the carriage that the people of Su Mansion were riding, I don't know what it was used for before, and it was still filled with a stinky fishy smell. Yingluo lay in it and felt unusually bumpy, almost smoky and vomited.

She gritted her teeth, her hand caressed into her clothes, touched a little cold hardness, breathed a sigh of relief, and her mind turned sharply.

It was obviously not fatal for this tall man to get her out of Zhuangzi, otherwise he should have done it a long time ago. Just now he said that he was talking about good goods and earning silver, and it seemed that he was going to take her away and sell her for silver.

This is clearly a human trafficker, this person and Qingfei conspired, the Song family must know his details, and as a girl from Su Mansion, her reputation is over, it will definitely affect the two daughters of the Song family, even the eldest girl who is married will definitely be ridiculed. It is impossible for the Song family to do such a stupid thing, so the Song family will not let her really be sold.

In this case, most of the Song clan will send someone to rescue her before she is sold, and then cover up the matter tightly, and this trafficker will definitely be killed. This must not be difficult for the Song family, who is the prefect's wife, so that her reputation has been ruined after being missing for a period of time and falling into the hands of traffickers, and Su Dingwen will not let her die violently, so he will send her to the Buddhist hall and be imprisoned for the rest of her life.

In this way, she is a thorn in her side, and she can be regarded as leaving forever. It seems that these days, what she has done has really made the Song family hate unspeakably, and she did not hesitate to spend so much effort to make such a big drama so extensively.

is so vicious, and the Song family is not afraid of retribution.

If the Song clan wants to recover her, they will have to wait until dawn at the earliest, and if she is recovered as soon as she leaves Zhuangzi, it will not achieve the best effect of ruining her reputation. And the Song family must have already mastered the whereabouts of this trafficker, so looking at it this way, she must have to return to Zhuangzi quietly before the Song attack at dawn.

Yingluo was thinking about it, but the carriage suddenly stopped, Yingluo was shocked, and hurriedly reached out and held the dagger hidden in her arms, she was on guard, but the tall one did not open the door, Yingluo felt the body shake slightly, obviously the big tall man jumped out of the carriage, and then there was a footstep quickly approaching.

"Why are you so slow, I've been waiting for almost half an hour!"

A man's voice sounded outside the carriage, and the man seemed to have some problems with his tongue, and his voice was a little slurred, and he felt a slight stutter.

"What's the word, hurry up and get people into the carriage, Lao Tzu is stealing people from a high-ranking family, even if there is an internal response, can you be the same as you, who kidnapped people from the village? Kind, why don't you swap with Lao Tzu. There are a lot of Zhuangzi nursing homes, and Lao Tzu took half his life to get people out, if you talk again, Lao Tzu will kick your eggs! Hurriedly! The fiery voice of the tall man also sounded.

As she spoke, the carriage door was vigorously pushed open, and a cool night breeze poured in, and then Yingluo felt a shock around her, and a figure was thrown in.

The later stuttering trafficker laughed and scolded: "Look, I just said a word, and you just wait for these words." Don't look at the brother who got the village girl this time, but this girl is my brother I stepped on the goods of the little half moon, and the little appearance is good. When it reaches the south, it will be able to sell for a good price. ”

So saying, the two closed the door of the carriage, jumped on the board, shook the carriage, and marched again.

The car was completely dark, Yingluo opened her eyes and looked, but saw the girl lying next to her with her sideburns scattered, unable to see her face clearly, but her body was extremely exquisite, wearing a muslin dress, Xu was suddenly thrown into the carriage body in pain, her body moved a few times, she actually snorted twice, and slowly opened her eyes.

The girl's cheek was just thrown next to Yingluo, she suddenly opened her eyes and met Yingluo's unusually clear and quiet eyes in the dark, the girl's eyes suddenly widened, full of horror, and she wanted to scream, Yingluo quickly raised her hand to block her mouth, and the index finger of her right hand was on her lips to give the girl a silent hint.

The girl can be regarded as a sensible person, and after seeing the environment in front of her, she trembled and winked at Yingluo.

Before Yingluo let go, she heard the voice of the stuttering trafficker outside say excitedly: "How is it?" Is the young lady of this big family really as good-looking as a fairy? The flesh is tender and delicate? Lao Tzu is so big that I really haven't seen Miss Dahu, my brother is in a car, I'll take a look! ”

Yingluo was startled when she heard this, and hurriedly gave the girl a look and lay back, but she lay down, but the people outside did not open the car door.

"Look at what! Is this big girl easy to steal? Although she was disgusted by the master's mother, it stands to reason that no one should give her a head, but this high-ranking family can't tell the truth, let's leave this place quickly It's serious, don't fucking be merry at this time, and when you sell these few in your hand, let's stop, and then play casually in the kiln. You have a fancy for the one who redeemed himself and married home, and Lao Tzu doesn't care about you! Besides, can this big young lady's chick who wants to die and live at every turn be more comfortable than Sister Yao'er*? No matter how good it is, it's still a hardwood, listen to Lao Tzu, it's important to hurry! ”

The loud man's scolding voice came, only to hear the stuttering trafficker muttering two sentences later, "I don't look at me, you don't delay driving your car." ”

Although he said so, he didn't do anything more.

The carriage seemed to be driving faster, but at this moment there was a sudden whistling sound on the side of the road, the sound was very poignant, like the cry of a night cat, but it was clearly sharp and high-pitched, and on the empty field road under this moonlit night, the hearts of those who listened directly were numb.

"What's the ......?" the stuttering trafficker's voice trembled outside.

The big tall man who was driving also trembled, and instinctively pulled the reins, and the horse neighed and stopped abruptly.

Before the two traffickers sitting on the board of the car could investigate the situation, two figures suddenly rushed out from both sides of the road, and with two swishing sounds, two ropes were thrown from the side of the road, falling from the sky, and they were directly put on the bodies of the two traffickers.

Before the two struggled to stand up, two sticks hit the two of them on the head and neck, and the two fainted back and forth.

This change was just in the blink of an eye, and when Yingluo heard a strange cry outside, she whispered to the girl next to her, "Hold on." The carriage stopped suddenly, and Yingluo and the two were also hit by inertia on the door, if it weren't for Yingluo's reminder to grasp the car frame, the two would have to be thrown out.

When the car came to a stop and heard the sound of a fight outside, Yingluo immediately jumped up and got out of the carriage. She stood on the front panel of the car, and saw Ma Liu go down with a stuffy stick and smash the man who kidnapped her out of the house, Yingluo pursed her lips and snorted lightly.

"Girl, are you alright?"

It was another short man who came with Ma Liu, he was twenty-five or sixteen years old, inconspicuous, and there was some flattering thief between his eyebrows.

This person was bought by Yingluo in the human market that day, named Liu Erzhuan, and he bought a Wang Chongshan together, the two are aunts and cousins, and their homes are in Bahua Town.

Although the brothers are not serious people, but they are filial sons, the family suffered a disaster, the two families only have two brothers and a six-year-old little sister, in order to buy a coffin for the whole family, to feed the little sister, the two are also selling themselves in the riverside market.

Like Liu Erzhuan Brother, Yingluo thinks it is very useful, it just depends on how you use him. Therefore, she didn't think much about it at that time and bought it, yesterday she sensed the danger, so she asked Yun's mother to go to find Su Jinghua after nightfall, only to order Ma Liu and the Liu Erzhuan brothers to follow the Su family's carriage all the way today, always pay attention to her movements, and watch the changes.

Song thought that the axle was broken to change the carriage, and when he was on the road again, he heard two partridge calls, and Yingluo knew that Ma Liu and the three had been following, and then Yingluo entered Zhuangzi, and Ma Liu made Liu Erzhuan touch it. He and Wang Chongshan stayed outside the Zhuangzi.

In the evening, the trafficker sneaked to the forest behind Zhuangzi in a carriage to hide, and all of them looked in the eyes of Ma Liu and Wang Chongshan. Ma Liu felt that this matter must be related to Yingluo, and at night, when he saw the trafficker touching the back door of Zhuangzi, he asked Wang Chongshan to also go in to find Yingluo to report the news.

Wang Chongshan and Liu Erzhuan were experts in stealing chickens and dogs, and there were few people in Zhuangzi, and in order to act for convenience, the Song family arranged few people in Yingluo's hospital, so the two of them easily found Yingluo when they touched it, and they did not alarm anyone.

Yingluo bathed in the clean room and heard some strange movements, and then saw Wang Chongshan and learned about the movement outside the mansion. Given that the trafficker was driving a carriage, Yingluo had a guess, and only let Wang Chongshan and Liuer see the opportunity, and she herself held back and waited for Song's seizure.

After that, Qingfei and the two had to take Yingluo to visit the garden behind, and Yingluo guessed another point or two about Song's plan in her heart. She excused herself to go back and add some clothes, and after entering the house, she instructed Wang Chongshan from the back window a few words.

even handed over a note that had been written earlier to Cao'er, and ordered Cao'er to lead Wang Chongshan to Su Yingzhen's residence after she left, and instructed Liu Erzhuan to cooperate with Wang Chongshan.

And the trafficker carried Yingluo out of the back door of Zhuangzi and heard the cat's meow was the work of Ma Liu, who followed the carriage all the way.

If it weren't for the proper arrangement of the incident, how dare Yingluo be taken out of the house like this?

Seeing that Liu Erzhuan had caught up at this moment, Su Yingluo's eyes lit up and jumped off the board with a wheel, and said, "I'm fine, what about people?" ”

The last time she was wearing a hat in the human market, Liu Erzhuan had never seen her true face, but at this moment, she suddenly saw it, and felt that the woman who flew out of the carriage under the moonlight was like a fairy under the moon, with a slender figure. Looking again, I feel that my eyebrows are like distant mountains, my eyes are like autumn water, my face is like jade, and my mouth is like Zhu.

Liu Erzhuan was in a trance for a while, and then fixed his eyes, the woman had stood firm, and the snow-skinned flower suddenly turned from blurry to clear, just like a blurred picture, suddenly the outline was clear and dyed with brilliant colors, and the person in the painting was indescribably beautiful and amazing, as if the night was also stirred up because of the beauty of the city in front of him, and suddenly Liu Erzhuan was dizzy, I don't know where he was, and he was dizzy for a while.

Yingluo saw that after she finished asking, Liu Erzhuan only stood in a daze, and didn't even reply, and suddenly her eyes were cold.

Over there, Ma Liu hurriedly raised his foot and kicked Liu Ershuo, Liu Erzhuo suddenly came back to his senses, and the first thing he noticed was the cold and cold color revealed in Yingluo's pair of phoenix eyes, just like the cold moon, noble and undaring to blaspheme, that eye, that cold person, where can a person like himself see, should see!

Although he was bought not long ago, Liu Erzhuan also saw that his master was not an ordinary boudoir girl, and his means were quite successful. Thinking of the counterattack method of the girl in front of her to deal with her mother-in-law, Liu Erzhuan knelt on the ground with a weak leg, and said: "The eldest brother leads people, the horse runs slowly, I am afraid that the eldest brother of the horse is not manpowered, and the girl is in danger again, so the slave is fast all the way and the horse catches up first." Don't worry, the eldest brother will be there soon. ”

As if in response to Liu Ershuo's words, the sound of horses' hooves suddenly came from the quiet path, and in the blink of an eye, the night broke through and approached, and it was Liu Ershuo's aunt and cousin Wang Chongshan who immediately sat down.

And Wang Chongshan's horse was in front of a person, it was a girl wearing a lotus lotus embroidered silver thread wrapped in chrysanthemum placket and a lotus blue light gauze skirt. Under the moonlight, the ruby and red gold earrings hanging from the girl's ears emitted a faint bright light, but it was not the pair of earrings that Su Yingzhen wore when she went out today.

This girl naturally has no one else, it is the precious little daughter of the Song family, Su Yingzhen.

Seeing that Wang Chongshan had really kidnapped Su Yingzhen according to his own will, Yingluo's eyes swept Su Yingzhen's unconscious face with coldness, and ordered: "Tie her hands and feet and throw her into the carriage for me." ”

Liu Erzhuan didn't say a word when he heard this, he stepped forward and ripped Su Yingzhen off, twisted his hands and feet to tie it firmly, hugged it and walked to the trafficker's broken carriage.

The girl who was thrown into the carriage by traffickers with Yingluo had also climbed out of the carriage at this moment, and was hiding on the side of the carriage to look cautiously over here.

Liu Erzhuan hugged Su Yingzhen over, she hurriedly shrank and gave way to the side, Liu Erzhuan smiled and said, "Girl, we are good people, don't be afraid, you are lucky to meet our young lady." ”

Liu Erzhuan steals chickens and dogs, and he also has thief eyebrows and rat eyes, and he is extremely unpresentable, and he is not a serious person at a glance. Otherwise, Yingluo would not have seen their brother's old bottom at a glance when she bought someone.

It was good that he didn't laugh, this smile was really a stream of ruffian, and the girl's already pale face turned even paler, and she staggered to hold the carriage and tremble.

Yingluo looked at it and didn't think it was funny. But what she does now doesn't look like a good person.

The girl touched Yingluo's gaze, probably because she had some feelings of sharing hardships in the carriage just now, but at this moment she had some courage, she pounced in a few steps, knelt on the ground with a puff, and cried: "Miss, the little girl's name is Yunshui Embroidery, and she is from Yunjia Village at the foot of Jiguanfeng Mountain in Yunxiang Mountain. The little girl is the father is the village teacher Yun Xiucai, the little girl was robbed by the thief when she was washing clothes by the stream yesterday evening, Miss is a good person, save me, let me leave, the little girl kowtowed to the miss, the young lady is willing to save me, the little girl can do anything. ”

Yingluo looked over, but saw that this cloud embroidery is really long and extremely symbolic, melon seed face, willow eyebrows, this pair of apricot eyes like water, black hair and cloud temples, small face without powder, plain and pleasant under the moonlight, it is rare that there is a little bookish atmosphere between the eyebrows and eyes, and it is more and more beautiful and beautiful, even if it is a cotton dress, it is difficult to hide the natural beauty. Now the tears are hazy, and they are showing their touching. It's no wonder that they will be targeted by human traffickers and try their best to get it.

The reputation of the ancient boudoir woman is too important, it can be said that it is closely related to life, it is said that the girl in front of her saw today's scene, it is possible to be killed and killed, but Yingluo can't do anything to care about people's lives, she only stared at the girl for a moment, and then said lightly: "I don't need you to go to the soup for me, and repay the kindness, as long as you make an oath and swear not to say today's things." ”

Hearing this, Yun Shui Xiu hurriedly wiped away her tears, kowtowed and said: "Miss rest assured, today's things are also covered up in every way for the little girl, how can you say it to others, the little girl swears, if you tell others about today's things, if there is any behavior that damages the reputation of the benefactor, let me Yun Shui embroidery be struck by thunder, pierced by ten thousand arrows, and will not die well!" ”

Yingluo nodded when she heard this, waved her hand simply, and instructed Ma Liu and Liu Erzhuo, "You two send her back, and Wang Chongshan will follow me back." ”

Ma Liu was a little uneasy when he heard this, and said: "The girl should let Wang Chongshan follow Liu Erzhuan to send someone away, the young master specially explained before the slave set off today, so that the slave will not leave the girl's side for a moment." ”

Yingluo shook her head and said, "You're not good at walking the streets and alleys, picking locks and hiding, I have to go back quietly, let Wang Chongshan follow." I'm measured, rest assured. ”

Although Yingluo always speaks softly, and her natural voice is soft and delicate, I don't know if her tone is always too calm or her words are always too determined, anyway, she listens to Ma Liu's ears but for some reason, there is a sense of deterrence in the final word.

What's more, Ma Liu also knew in his heart that Su Jinghua's affairs were all decided by the young lady in front of him, and their first master was the young lady, and the young master's words could be discussed to make a discount, but the young lady's words must not be refuted.

At this moment, Yingluo spoke, and Ma Liu didn't dare to say more, so he bowed down and said yes.

And Wang Chongshan got off the horse, kicked the two traffickers lying on the official road, and asked, "Girl, what should I do with these two people?" ”

Yingluo glanced at the two of them who were unconscious, but she suddenly smiled, obviously a delicate beauty, but the smile revealed a chilling coldness, and an indescribable evil aura.

Then she walked a few steps to the side of the tall one lying on the ground, and squatted down with the corner of her skirt, and then she took out a dagger from her bosom, and in a flash of cold light, it plunged into the back of the man's right hand, and blood splashed out.

The tall man screamed and suddenly opened his eyes, he didn't see anything clearly, Yingluo had already slashed the back of his neck with a hand knife, just like a man slashing her in the back garden.

The man fainted again, Yingluo put the dagger into the scabbard, stood up as if nothing happened, clapped his hands, and said, "Throw it away, let them blow the night breeze well." When I woke up in a while, I might as well run for my life. ”

After that, she walked to the horse, and in the stunned eyes of the horses, a neat turner straddled the horse's back, standing tall, holding the reins of the horse, whether it was the action of getting on the horse, or the posture of riding the horse, it was actually flowing and flowing, natural and skillful, obviously not the first time to ride a horse.

Ma Liu and the others found that Yingluo was unfathomable, and Liu Erzhuan subconsciously shrank his shoulders, raised his hand and touched his eyes, his heart kept drumming, and he broke out in a cold sweat.

Yingluo was already condescending and said to Wang Chongshan: "Just throw them a horse, let's hurry back." ”

As she spoke, she shook the reins of her horse, and the horse neighed as she rode back. Wang Chongshan hurriedly followed and hurriedly took out the horse that had been hidden by Ma Liu and them from the field, turned over on the horse, and chased after him.

Yun Shuixiu didn't expect Yingluo to leave, seeing that the horse swept up smoke and dust and disappeared on the official road, she looked into the distance with a look of amazement in her eyes, knelt on the ground and kowtowed heavily, and then got up to avoid the obscene Liu Erzhuan and hid behind Ma Liu.

Ma Liu instructed: "Go and lead the horse, Fuyun girl get on the horse, and let's get out of here quickly." ”

Wang Erzhuan didn't dare to talk nonsense anymore at this time, so he nodded his head and ran to lead the horse.

Not long after the people left the official road, a carriage galloped from the official road to the west, the carriage was not very luxurious, but it was wide enough, and the bridles of the two snow-white tall horses were of unknown material, shining in the moonlight.

The coachman was a very young boy, but he was extremely skilled in driving, and the two horses worked in harmony with each step under his urging, lifting and falling their hooves at all, and their steps were slow and of the same length, so that the carriage was very smooth even if it drove rapidly.

The driver boy found a silent carriage parked on the official road, as well as the two people lying on the road, who did not know whether they were alive or dead, and he did not stop driving, but only bowed his head slightly to the side of the carriage.

"Young Master, there are two people lying on the road. There was a carriage parked next to it, and there seemed to be a bound girl lying in it. ”

A handsome man in the carriage was leaning against the wall of the carriage holding a book, hearing that his eyes had not been raised, he turned a page gently, and the night wind blew in from the window, bringing a slight smell of blood, he couldn't help frowning and coughing twice, and a very clear and pleasant voice sounded, "Don't pay attention." ”

"Yes," the young man replied, speeding up the horse, the horse's hooves clattered, splashed dust, and galloped past the side of the road, the woven curtains of Xiangfei bamboo swayed gently with the night breeze, and the self-shaking curtain could see two figures lying in the middle of the road.

The tall man was lying on the ground, a pair of bloody hands glowing with faint blood in the moonlight, and the man in the car accidentally caught a glimpse and turned his eyes away. The wind passed, and the faint smell of blood instantly dissipated.