"Humph! Nanny is wrong! The door was closed at that time!"
Shen Li walked to the door of the small courtyard and pointed at a door. "This door was closed. Nanny kicked it open with one foot. There are still Nanny's footprints on it!"
"Nanny can come and check it for yourself!"
Nanny Zheng nervously moved her feet, trying to cover them with her skirt. Then she hurriedly changed her words. "The door was closed. It was closed! I said it wrong!"
"Since the door was closed, how did Nanny see what was in the yard?"
"I... I saw it through... through the crack in the door!"
"Okay! I guess Nanny is old and can't remember clearly. Let's take a look at how big the crack in this door is!" With that, Shen Li stepped outside the door, put both hands on it and closed it from the outside.
The surrounding villagers didn't know what she was up to and all looked at her curiously.
Shen Li turned around and said to the people around her, "Excuse me, could you kind folks come forward and take a look? Can you see into the yard through the crack in this door? If you can, how much can you see?"
As soon as she finished speaking, several villagers near her gathered around to take a look. They saw that the wooden door was painted black and looked quite new, as if it had just been made. There was a muddy footprint on it.
These people didn't even need to get close to know that the crack in the door couldn't be very big. Since it was a brand - new door, it would fit tightly. The longer it was used, the bigger the crack would become.
Sure enough, after four or five people took a look in succession, they all said that the door was very tight. Even if they got close, there was only a very narrow crack, and they could only see a small area right in front of the crack, and nothing more.
Shen Li nodded. But to avoid suspicion, she found a few more people from the crowd who were willing to come forward and verify. Their statements were the same as the previous ones.
So Shen Li opened the door and let those who had just verified come in. Pointing at them, she said, "These are all on - looking villagers. They all came forward to look at this door just now and said that the crack in the door was very small. They could only see the area right in front of the crack."
"That is the position where I am now. Jiaoyue, stand at the position that Nanny Zheng just mentioned!"
After Jiaoyue stood in position, Shen Li pointed at the two positions and said, "These two places are completely different. They are seven or eight steps apart. May I ask Nanny Zheng, how did you see through the crack in the door?"
"I... I was at that time..."
Shen Li didn't give her a chance to explain at all. She loudly scolded, "You didn't see anything at that time! Tell me, why did you lie?"
"Who instructed you to lie and frame me?"
Nanny Zheng's eyes were flustered. "I... I... I really didn't see anything! I was just talking nonsense! Please spare me, Young Lady! This servant deserves to die! I shouldn't have wronged the Young Lady! Please spare this servant!"
While crying, Nanny Zheng kowtowed to Shen Li to apologize.
Seeing this, the surrounding villagers all understood. It turned out that it was this servant who had been lying and wronging her master. But how could a mere servant dare to wrong a noble young lady?
Could it be that she was really instructed by someone?
Thinking of this, they all cast suspicious looks at Mrs. Shen and Shen Miao.
Mrs. Shen's face was extremely ugly. A well - planned scheme had now been completely ruined!
This Nanny Zheng was so useless!
And Shen Li, she had underestimated her!
But now that things had developed to this point, she could only sacrifice the pawn to save the general.
"Slap!" Nanny Zheng received a solid slap on the face from Mrs. Shen. "You audacious servant! How dare you lie and frame Li'er! Fortunately, I didn't believe your nonsense. Otherwise, your plot would have succeeded!"
Nanny Zheng looked at Mrs. Shen who was glaring at her fiercely and said in disbelief, "Madam? Isn't it you..."
"Come here! Cover this servant's mouth and tie her up! Wait for me to interrogate her properly when we get back to the mansion!"
Immediately, two young servants came up, grabbed Nanny Zheng's arms and were about to take her aside to tie her up.
"Stop!"
Shen Li loudly scolded the two young servants.
"Auntie, you're being hasty! This Nanny Zheng does deserve to be punished, but not now!" Shen Li looked up at the villagers outside the yard. "I said before that if the evidence was conclusive today, I would admit my guilt. If someone framed me, it wouldn't end well. I would go to the Prefectural Yamen and beat the drum of grievances to ask the Prefectural Magistrate to uphold justice for me!"
"Now that it has been proven that Nanny Zheng lied and framed me, I will keep my word and go to the Prefectural Yamen to beat the drum of grievances!"
Mrs. Shen's face stiffened. She tried to persuade Shen Li. "Li'er, the matter is over, and it has been proven that you were wronged. After all, this is our family matter. Since so many people already know about it, don't bother the Prefectural Yamen anymore. Let's go home and solve it ourselves!"
How could Shen Li let her have her way? She was determined to make a big deal out of this no matter what.
"Everyone has seen what happened today! Before, I asked everyone to be my witness. Now I need to trouble everyone to go to the Prefectural Yamen with me to dispose of this audacious servant!"
Hearing this, the surrounding villagers all shouted in agreement.
Shen Li then turned to Mu Ruchu, Lord Ye and Lord Dong and asked, "I wonder if you three have the time to go to the Prefectural Yamen with me and be my witnesses?"
Mu Ruchu nodded first. Lord Ye said straightforwardly, "I'll go and join in the fun too."
Lord Dong said with a smile in his eyes, "I haven't encountered such an interesting case for a long time. I'll go and take a look too!"
So, except for Mrs. Shen and Shen Miao who were extremely reluctant, everyone else agreed.
Shen Li led the way with Jiaoyue and Hanyue. Mu Ruchu and the two lords followed behind. And behind them were more than a hundred villagers who had just been watching the show.
In this way, the group walked mightily towards the Prefectural Yamen.
Although Mrs. Shen and Shen Miao knew what Shen Li was probably going to do, they had no choice. Now Nanny Zheng was in Shen Li's hands, and Nanny Zheng knew a lot about them. So they had no choice but to get into the carriage and follow behind.
The yamen runners outside the Prefectural Yamen saw a large group of people walking towards them from afar. They had never seen such a sight before and were all in a panic. They thought that someone was going to rebel and surround the Prefectural Yamen. These yamen runners all drew their swords and guarded the door.
"Who are you? This is the Prefectural Yamen. It's not a place for you to cause trouble! Get out of here quickly!" Lord Liang, the Prefectural Magistrate who had been disturbed, now stood at the door and shouted loudly.
Shen Li didn't expect such a misunderstanding. She had to explain, "My lord! I'm here to beat the drum of grievances and tell my story of injustice. Please uphold justice for this humble girl!"
Hearing this, Lord Liang heaved a sigh of relief. "Since you're here to beat the drum of grievances, what are all these people doing here?"
Shen Li looked at the villagers behind her and said, "My lord, most of them are witnesses!"
Lord Liang was quite surprised. He didn't expect there to be so many witnesses. He couldn't help but pay more attention to this case.