After sorting things out in her mind, Nurse Zheng wiped the tears off her face and said, "My lord! This servant was just outraged to see that the eldest young lady had taken control of the household and was being so harsh on the servants at home. That's why I wanted to frame the eldest young lady! This servant deserves to die! Please forgive this servant just this once!"
Hearing this, not only did Lady Shen and Shen Miao heave a sigh of relief, but even Lord Liang thought that Nurse Zheng was a sensible person who didn't make things difficult for him. He felt a bit happier and was thinking about closing the case quickly.
"Bold and evil servant! You dared to defy your master and frame her. Now that the case has been thoroughly investigated, this evil servant..."
"Your lordship, please wait!" Shen Li interrupted him and said, "Apart from this Nurse Zheng, this commoner girl has another witness! Please interrogate him and listen to his testimony!"
"Another witness?" Lord Liang didn't understand what Shen Li meant. "Then bring the witness up!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a man and a woman came out from the crowd behind.
The woman was tall and cold. It was undoubtedly Han Yue. The man was wearing a pink robe, with powder on his face and a big red velvet flower on his head.
Seeing the man's dressing, the surrounding commoners all shook their heads and sighed, looking extremely disgusted.
"Go quickly!" Seeing the man walking in a coy and affected way, Han Yue couldn't help but give him a push on his back.
The man stumbled and angrily waved his handkerchief. He shouted at Han Yue behind him, "What are you doing! You don't know how to be gentle with a beauty at all!"
Not only did Han Yue dislike him in her heart, but everyone who saw this man was also disgusted. If it weren't for his male face, his whole outfit and behavior would probably make people mistake him for a woman!
Some on - lookers who recognized this man covered their noses in disgust and didn't want to smell the overpowering scent of powder on him.
"Who are you in the hall? Why don't you kneel when you see this official?"
Hearing Lord Liang say this, the man in the pink robe reluctantly knelt on the ground and said in a shrill voice, "Replying to your lordship, this humble one's name is Yun Lan. I'm an actor in the Lianyuan Opera Troupe in the capital."
Lord Liang frowned as he looked at his effeminate appearance and said, "Speak! What's your connection with this case? What crimes have you committed? Confess them all one by one!"
"Oh! My lord, the prefect, this humble one is just an ordinary and law - abiding citizen. What crime could I possibly commit? Don't scare me!"
"Smack!"
Lord Liang said angrily, "Confess honestly! If you don't say anything, I'll have to use torture on you!"
Shen Li looked at the man who claimed to be Yun Lan. He looked around the situation and then pursed his lips and said, "This humble one doesn't know what case your lordship is talking about! As soon as I woke up just now, I was brought here by that woman! Your lordship might as well ask her if you have any questions!"
As he said this, he pointed at Han Yue.
Hearing this, Han Yue frowned involuntarily, as if she was dissatisfied with the man's words. But she still opened her mouth and said, "This man was found in a side room of a small courtyard in Lvyi Alley. He was acting furtively at that time, so I brought him here!"
Of course, the truth was not like this. In fact, Shen Li had already detected Lady Shen's evil plan and guessed that she would surely take some action. So after everyone left Lvyi Alley, she had someone search the place again and found this man.
Without even thinking, Shen Li knew that this must be the lover that Lady Shen had arranged for her. It was really hard for Lady Shen to deliberately find such a person just to disgust her.
"Confess honestly. What were you doing furtively in Lvyi Alley?"
Yun Lan seemed to be startled by Lord Liang's sudden question. He patted his chest and said, "Oh! This humble one was just taking someone's money! A few days ago, someone came to me and gave me a sum of silver and asked me to do something for her!"
"What was it? And who came to you? Confess quickly!"
"It... it was to admit that I had an affair with the eldest young lady of the Shen family!"
"You're talking nonsense! When did I ever come to you!" Lady Shen ignored Shen Miao's support and took a few steps forward. She pointed at Yun Lan's face and said.
"Lady Shen, it's only been a few days. How could you forget? It was you who gave Yun Lan fifty taels of silver that day and asked me to hide in the yard of the third household in Lvyi Alley today!
"Just wait until there are a lot of people and then jump out and admit that I had an affair with the eldest young lady of the Shen family. In case the eldest young lady denied it, you even gave me one of her handkerchiefs! You said that you would give me another one hundred taels after the matter was done."
"Here! This is it!" Yun Lan took out a handkerchief from his bosom. It was exactly the handkerchief with the twin lotus flowers that Shen Li had lost before.
"You! You're lying! I don't even know you! How could I have bribed you!"
Hearing this, Yun Lan looked at her aggrievedly. "What? Is Lady Shen going to renege on her debt now? I didn't expect a family like the Shen family to renege on us little people!"
"You... you! You're talking nonsense!" Lady Shen's face flushed red. She was obviously extremely angry but couldn't refute, because what Yun Lan said was indeed something she had done.
The on - looking commoners outside burst into laughter.
"Silence!"
"Come here, present the evidence!" Lord Liang said with a cold face.
Then, a yamen runner came over and took the handkerchief from Yun Lan's hand and showed it to Lord Liang. On the lotus - colored handkerchief, there was a twin lotus flower embroidered on it, and in the lower right corner of the handkerchief, there was a character "Li" embroidered in black thread.
Obviously, this was Shen Li's handkerchief.
Jiao Yue saw this and said, "This is our young lady's handkerchief. We didn't know how it got lost before! I even searched our yard for a while but couldn't find it. I didn't expect it to be stolen!"
"Nurse Zheng, didn't you say that you framed me on your own initiative? But according to what he said, it seems that my aunt also intended to harm me. In that case, both you and my aunt wanted to harm me!"
After Shen Li said this, everyone just remembered that Nurse Zheng had said before that no one had instructed her, but just now the man said that he was instructed by Lady Shen to harm Shen Li.
In this case, there were indeed two people who wanted to harm the eldest young lady of the Shen family!
Lord Liang was in a dilemma. After thinking carefully, he said, "In the end, it was this Nurse Zheng who succeeded today. Although Lady Shen also took action, she didn't succeed. Come here, drag this evil servant down and give her fifty heavy blows with the big board!"
Hearing this, Nurse Zheng trembled and fell to the ground.
After fifty heavy blows with the big board, not only her but even a strong and healthy man would be on the verge of death.
"Madam! Madam! Please save this servant!" Nurse Zheng crawled on her knees in front of Lady Shen and hugged her leg to plead.
But now Lady Shen was only concerned about saving herself. How could she care about her? She kicked her to one side.
Nurse Zheng looked at Lady Shen's heartless face, gritted her teeth, and decided to take a risk: "My lord! It was our madam who instructed me. It was she who asked me to frame the eldest young lady!"