The pavilion was surrounded by personal guards ten meters away. The guards were burly and murderous.

Gan Yu took two steps this way, but in the end he was overwhelmed by the momentum of the personal guards and retreated.

Although Dongming Ziyu did not let local officials accompany him, Chu Yanqing did not dare to take it lightly and knew their itinerary well.

Therefore, Chu Yanqing came quickly with the Yamen servants.

Chu Yanqing came with his officers and soldiers on fast horses. The horses' hooves were splashing with the fragrance of flowers. With the beautiful background, it was like running out of a painting.

If there were no murders, it would be extremely beautiful.

Chu Yanqing got off his horse, held up the front of his official robe, ran quickly to the front of the pavilion, knelt down and kowtowed: "I have seen the Supreme Emperor, the Queen, and the eldest princess."

The tourists who stayed to see what was going on saw the prefect kneeling down and kowtowing. After being slightly shocked, they all knelt down and kowtowed in greeting.

Dongming Ziyu and the others did not hide their whereabouts all the way. When they arrived at Jinling, many people got the news. With the prefect kneeling in front of them, none of them doubted the authenticity of their identities.

Chu Yanqing kowtowed and said: "The crime of the lower official deserves to be punished by death. I didn't expect that such a cruel murder case would happen under the rule of the lower official. It also ruined the elegance of the Supreme Emperor, the Queen Mother and the eldest princess. Please punish me!"

Dongming Ziyu said coldly: "Isn't this the first time such a tragedy has happened?"

Chu Yanqing's body stiffened, and a layer of cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He said hurriedly: "To report to the Supreme Emperor, there has indeed been a similar serial murder and skinning case. I have been working hard to find the murderer, but the murderer is too cunning..."

"Okay!" Dongming Ziyu interrupted him to make excuses and said coldly: "As a parent officer, it is your duty to maintain local peace. Such serious life cases must be taken seriously. You must solve the case as soon as possible and atone for your sins.

!”

"I know the crime, and I obey my order! The case will be solved as soon as possible!" Chu Yanqing kowtowed repeatedly, but secretly breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the case is solved within a deadline, it will be fine.

Dongming Ziyu gave a faint hum and said: "Gu's people have sealed off Qionghualin and will cooperate with you to investigate the people at the scene. Later, Gu will send people to the government office to understand the situation."

Chu Yanqing hurriedly presented the rainbow fart, "The Supreme Emperor cares about the people. He is really kind-hearted and is a blessing to all people."

Dongming Ziyu stood up with Ling Yu in his arms, "You go and do your work, there is no need to see each other off."

"Farewell to the Emperor, the Queen Mother, and the Princess!" Chu Yanqing led the government servants and tourists to kowtow before seeing them off, feeling relieved.

The most noble people in Da Ming are watching from the side, they are really hard at work.

The family came there in good spirits but returned in dismay, and boarded the carriage on their way back.

Snowball was nestled in the corner, sleeping soundly.

Ling Yao got on the carriage, sat next to Xueqiu, pulled it up, and tugged on its ears, "What on earth is going on?"

Snowball was sleeping soundly, but when his sweet dream was disturbed, he let out a very resentful "meow".

Shangguan Ruoli smiled and said: "Okay, don't make things difficult for Xueqiu, aren't you following the secret guard? It's not convenient on the road, let's talk about it when we get back."

Upon hearing this, Ling Yao smiled and smoothed Snowball's fur. It purred happily and continued to sleep.

"Meow! Meow..." Ling Yu was envious and stretched out her short arms to play with the snowball.

Ling Yao hurriedly turned aside and Shangguan Ruoli took out a finger biscuit to attract her attention.

Ling Yu is neither light nor heavy, but we can't let her play with snowballs. She likes to grab snowballs and stuff them into her mouth.

After returning to the other courtyard where he stayed, Snowball woke up and meowed at the frog and bunny lanterns on the porch.

Shangguan Ruoli's heart thumped, and an incredible idea appeared in his mind. He took the frog lantern in his hand and examined it carefully, "Is this cowhide? It's so delicate, there's not even a pore?"

The cowhide used to make lanterns needs to go through complicated processes, but with the current level of technology, can it be processed so well?

Ling Yao remembered Xueqiu's unusual scream at the lantern in the morning, and the skinned female corpse immediately came to mind.

She hurriedly picked up the little rabbit lantern and touched it. When her hand touched the skin of the lantern, she was stunned for a moment, but she still had the last glimmer of hope. "It feels like fine leather, and it may have been ground."

Cowhide, also a bit like fine sheepskin.”

Shangguan Ruoli didn't dare to be careless, so he took out a dagger, gently opened a hole in the lantern, cut off a piece of leather, held it in his hand, and observed the texture and feel of the leather, his face slowly lost control.

Seeing the change in Shangguan Ruoli's expression, Dongming Ziyu raised his eyebrows: "What? Is it really..."

Shangguan Ruoli's fingers froze for a moment, then he turned his head and looked at Dongming Ziyu: "I think it should be human skin."

As he said that, he looked at Xueqiu squatting on Ling Yao's shoulder and asked, "Xueqiu, are you going to tell us that these are human skin lanterns? Hmm?"

Snowball nodded solemnly, "Meow!"

Ling Yao suddenly felt a chill on the back of her neck. She felt it was incredible, but she still threw the lantern to the ground as if she was being burned.

One of the maids remembered that she had been holding a human skin lantern around for half the night, so she ran away and vomited.

Most of the people present were used to big scenes and had seen many bloody scenes, but now, with several human skin lanterns placed in front of them, they were all a little less calm.

Dongming Ziyu immediately ordered: "An Yi, take people to that lantern shop and control everyone there!"

"Yes!" An Yi hurriedly led the people away like a gust of wind.

Shangguan Ruoli ordered: "Put away all the lanterns bought last night as evidence."

"Yes!" Zi Yan agreed and wanted to give instructions to the little maid under her.

But the little maids all went to vomit, so they had to do it themselves.

Dongming Ziyu entered the house, cleaned his hands, and then called out the secret guard who had brought Snow Qiu out to question him.

The secret guard replied: "My subordinate took Xueqiu to the lady's house based on the address provided by the troubled woman. He found the lady's clothes and confirmed the smell. He walked around the dock..."

"Tell me the important point!" Dongming Ziyu interrupted coldly.

The secret guard hurriedly simplified the process and said: "We were at the dock and found the back door of Lord Chu's mansion."

Dongming Ziyu's face turned cold and he looked at Shangguan Ruoli.

The secret guard continued: "My subordinates originally wanted to go in and check, but Xueqiu suddenly ran outside the city until he reached Qionghua Forest, where he met his masters."

Dongming Ziyu waved his hand slightly, asking the secret guards to retreat.

Shangguan Ruoli frowned and said: "The scene of the first crime was in the Chu Mansion? Could it have been Chu Yanqing? Then it's no wonder that the serial skinning case has not been solved for several years."

Dongming Ziyu frowned slightly and said, "Let's go investigate at night."

Then he ordered Mo Xiang to lead his men to surround Chu Yanqing's residence, and if there was a chance, go in and check.

Ling Yao said: "I will take Xueqiu to check it out tonight. The murderer must be a master of dissection."
Chapter completed!