Chapter 353 Loss, Jueming Confesses

A woman wearing a veil?

Sun Yan asked, puzzled, "What does Your Highness wish to ask?"

Pei Yuan asked, "Tell me about her appearance: height, weight, and build?"

"ah?"

Sun Yan looked bewildered, his gaze towards Pei Yuan filled with indescribable horror.

Aside from Lord Shen, when has His Highness ever cared about other people's height, weight, or physique?

Now you're actually concerned about other people?

She's still a woman.

A woman with a large pregnant belly.

Sun Yan expressed his disapproval, saying, "Your Highness, she's married and pregnant. Isn't this a bit too much...?"

That's too beastly.

Pei Yuan understood what he hadn't finished saying, and his face immediately darkened.

“Speak as I tell you to. If you dare utter a single irrelevant word, immediately return to the capital and bring Jinbao back.”

Sun Yan shuddered and quickly tried to recall.

The woman wore a veil, obscuring her features. She was about the same height and build as Lord Shen...

As for her figure, what kind of figure can a pregnant woman have?

"It's just that kind of body shape, like someone putting a watermelon on their stomach."

Pei Yuan...

A bunch of nonsense, completely useless.

Sun Yan carefully observed his expression and asked cautiously:

"Your Highness, you wouldn't...?"

Pei Yuan turned his head and looked over.

Even though he knew the man couldn't see him, Sun Yan still shrank back in fear and swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth.

But in his heart, he kept crying out: Heavens, does His Highness not like Lord Shen anymore?

Pei Yuan then asked, "Tell me more about what you just saw, Chen Chu."

"Young Master Shen?" Sun Yan was even more confused. "Young Master Shen looks no different from before."

"The same height, weight, and build? No change in body shape?"

Seeing that his voice was tense, Sun Yan scratched his head and thought carefully about the "Chen Chu" he had just met.

After a moment, he replied seriously, "Your Highness, I understand. You must be worried that Lord Shen will not adapt to the climate and water after arriving in Yangzhou and that he will lose weight, right?"

"Don't worry, Young Master Shen looks exactly the same as when he was in the capital. He hasn't gained or lost weight, and his physique is the same as before."

Pei Yuan felt a strange, inexplicable sense of loss welling up inside him.

Although his face showed no emotion, his heart was in turmoil.

For a moment, he was almost certain that the pregnant woman was Ah Chu.

But then Shen Chu appeared, and he was confused again.

Now that Sun Yan also says that Shen Chu looks the same as she did in the capital, it's clear that his previous guess was wrong.

So who exactly is this woman?

Why does he feel the same way Shen Chu does?

------

Not long after Shen Chu and Ling Ce returned to the prefectural government office, Prefect Jiang also returned with his men and the remains.

Ling Ce yawned. "Looks like I won't be able to sleep tonight."

Shen Chu pointed to the screen next to him.

"I'll hide behind the screen later and listen to you interrogate Jueming and Granny Fang. If you encounter any questions you don't know how to answer, just ask Prefect Jiang."

Ling Ce nodded, poured her a cup of hot water, and pushed her behind the screen.

"Just stay here quietly, drink your hot water, and listen to the case. I guarantee I'll get to the bottom of it in no time."

As soon as he finished speaking, Prefect Jiang and Yu Feng entered one after the other with their men.

Prefect Jiang's face was so dark it could drip water.

"The coroner has finished examining the remains. There are exactly twenty skeletons, no more, no less, and the estimated age of all the remains is that of girls around fifteen or sixteen years old."

Ling Ce's expression was grave.

"A girl of fifteen or sixteen years old, this could very well be one of the missing girls."

"Yes, I have already sent people to notify the missing girl's family. They will come to identify the body tonight."

Ling Ce gritted his teeth.

"What kind of corpse are you talking about? Didn't you see that all that's left are bones? Who can identify a person from bones unless there are some special markings on them?"

Prefect Jiang looked embarrassed.

"What Lord Shen said makes sense. I have been troubled by this case for months, but now I am finally seeing some progress."

In a moment of excitement, I lost my sense of proportion.

Ling Ce waved his hand and instructed Yu Feng, "Go get a basin of water and splash those two people to wake them up."

A basin of cold water was poured over them, and both Granny Fang and Jueming woke up.

Ling Ce had no patience to drag things out with them, so he directly resorted to torture. Before the torture could even begin, Jueming and Granny Fang both confessed.

Twenty years ago, Jueming was just an inconspicuous sweeping monk at Qingshan Temple. With his gentle appearance and his skill in making lanterns, he won the favor of the abbot at the time.

At that time, Qingshan Temple was still an inconspicuous temple.

Because of its somewhat remote location, wealthy families in Yangzhou preferred to burn incense at nearby temples, so Qingshan Temple was not very popular.

Without incense offerings, the temple naturally fell into disrepair, and the monks inside were all emaciated and pale from hunger.

By chance, a distinguished person passed by Qingshan Temple to take shelter from the rain and happened to see the two flower lanterns made by Jueming.

The lanterns were not only exquisitely designed, but also, when lit, their light was not as dim and yellow as other lanterns.

The lanterns made by Juemingzha have a bright white flame and burn for a much longer time than ordinary lanterns.

The nobleman liked them very much and spent fifty taels of silver to buy the two lanterns.

Jueming said, "This matter gave me a great inspiration; I sold two lanterns for fifty taels of silver."

If I make more lanterns, can I sell them for more money and then we can all live a better life?

Recalling the past, Jueming appeared somewhat dazed.

"I carefully made many beautiful lanterns and took them out to sell, but reality soon gave me a harsh slap in the face."

My lanterns are exquisitely crafted, but they are priced too high, making them unaffordable for ordinary people.

I felt the money the people offered was too cheap, so many lanterns ended up piling up unsold.

I remembered the kind person who bought my lantern, and I realized that my lantern could only be sold if it became more unique and beautiful.

To make a good lantern, I tried many methods, and finally discovered that using human skin to make the lantern cover...

Humans can not only carve various patterns, but also filter light, making the light brighter than before.

Then, the oil from the human body is extracted, processed in a special way, and added to the candle.

Candles made in this way will burn out only after they have completely burned out.

I first sent the lanterns I made to the dignitaries in Yangzhou, and they loved them so much that they came to place orders one after another.

I earned a large sum of money for the temple by selling lanterns, which improved the temple's living conditions, and the abbot valued me even more.

Upon hearing this, Chen Chu's heart clenched slightly.

Human skin lantern, human flesh wick.

Such a vicious and cruel act is simply outrageous.

Outside, Ling Ce couldn't help but scold her loudly.

"You bastard, so you killed those girls to make lanterns for you?"

Jueming suddenly shook his head and continued, "Those human skins were all peeled off from dead people."

"A dead person?" Ling Ce frowned.

"That's right, they are dead people. I collect fresh corpses from the mortuary every day and secretly carry them to Daqingshan."

They skinned the animals there, took the flesh, and made lanterns from it.

Later I discovered that lanterns made from dead human skin had a particularly strong odor, which easily aroused suspicion.

Ling Ce asked coldly, "So you've set your sights on those girls? You want to use their skin?"

Jueming looked at Ling Ce and let out a strange laugh.