"What did Mrs. Shen say to you when she asked you to do something that day?" Lord Liang now assumed a more proper attitude and became much more serious in handling the case, looking quite the part.
Nanny Zheng recalled for a moment and then said, "I remember it was three days ago. The mistress summoned me into her room and instructed me that after the young miss went out today, I should take the servants in the mansion and follow her to see if the eldest young miss was going to Lvyi Alley.
"If the eldest young miss went to the third house in Lvyi Alley, I was to wait at the door. After she entered, I was to rush in with the others and shout that I had seen the eldest young miss having a tryst with someone!
"As for who she was having a tryst with, the mistress only told me to say that the man had fled to the back yard. Then she would send someone to search the back yard. I didn't need to worry about what happened after that."
Nanny Zheng's words at this moment exactly matched what Yun Lan had said earlier about pretending to be the adulterer.
"Mrs. Shen, do you have anything to say about what Nanny Zheng just said?"
Mrs. Shen felt uneasy inside but tried hard to maintain her composure on the surface. She just tightly held Shen Miao's hand, causing Shen Miao a little pain.
"Your Honor, this Nanny Zheng is talking nonsense! How could I harm my own niece? She clearly wants to frame me to avoid punishment."
After Mrs. Shen finished speaking, Shen Miao bowed to the three magistrates at the top and said, "Your Honor, my mother has always been kind - hearted. She treats the servants in the mansion gently. Even when they make mistakes, she can't bear to punish them! So this Nanny Zheng took advantage of my mother's kindness and thought she had a good temper, which is why she framed her!
"I hope Your Honor will look into this carefully and clear my mother's name!"
Lord Liang nodded, then looked at Lord Ye and Lord Dong on both sides in a dilemma. "My lords... this..."
Lord Dong was used to handling cases and was familiar with such situations. He immediately said, "Your Honor can make a judgment after the two constables retrieve the physical evidence."
Lord Liang immediately nodded as if enlightened and said no more.
Mrs. Shen was a bit flustered. A few days ago when she asked Nanny Zheng to do something, she did reward her with a gold hairpin. When the constables came back later, things might be difficult.
But now she was in the court, and there was no one who could help her retrieve the item earlier.
A quarter of an hour later, the two constables returned, bringing back the gold hairpin that Nanny Zheng had mentioned.
The gold hairpin weighed two taels. It was of medium quality and seemed to be worth quite a lot of silver. It really looked like something Mrs. Shen would reward her servants with.
"Mrs. Shen, is this your item?"
Mrs. Shen glanced at the gold hairpin in the constable's hand. "Your Honor, this is indeed my jewelry."
Then she added, "However, it was lost a few days ago! I even ordered the servants in my room to look for it, but they couldn't find it."
"Oh? So this gold hairpin of Aunt's was stolen by Nanny Zheng?"
"Sister is right. It must be Nanny Zheng who was tempted by the beauty of the hairpin and stole mother's hairpin. Now she wants to use it to frame mother."
"Sister's speculation makes sense, but is there really such a coincidence in this matter?" Shen Li asked seemingly casually.
Seeing that both Mrs. Shen and her daughter said she had stolen the property, Nanny Zheng said nervously, "Your Honor, I'm not lying. This hairpin was really given to me by the mistress!"
Lord Liang frowned and looked at both sides. "Nanny Zheng, do you have any evidence that this hairpin was rewarded to you by Mrs. Shen instead of stolen by you?"
Hearing this, Nanny Zheng shook her head. At that time, Mrs. Shen only summoned her into the room alone. There was no one else. After getting the gold hairpin, she carefully covered it for fear of being stolen by others and didn't tell anyone.
Lord Liang then turned to ask Mrs. Shen, "Mrs. Shen, you said this gold hairpin was stolen by her. Do you have any evidence?"
Mrs. Shen shook her head.
Thus, the case fell into a stalemate again.
Seeing this, Shen Li stepped forward and proposed, "Your Honor, since Nanny Zheng and my aunt both have their own stories but can't produce evidence, I have a way to prove who is lying between them."
"Oh? You have a way. Tell us!" Before Lord Liang could speak, Lord Dong spoke first.
"Just now my aunt said that after the gold hairpin was lost, she ordered the servants in the mansion to look for it. So we can go to the Shen Mansion and ask the servants there if they have looked for the gold hairpin."
As soon as Mrs. Shen heard Shen Li speak, she felt something was wrong. Now hearing what she said, she even wished she could tear her apart in her heart.
"Your Honor! After my mother lost the gold hairpin, I helped look for it and didn't trouble the servants in the mansion!" Shen Miao stood up at this time and said.
Shen Li sneered. She knew Shen Miao would say so.
"Just now Aunt said that she ordered the servants in the mansion to look for it. Now why does Sister say they didn't look? These statements are inconsistent. Which one should we believe?"
Shen Li's words pointed out the difference between Mrs. Shen's and Shen Miao's statements.
"This... I remembered wrongly before!"
"Oh? So it was Nanny Zheng who was lying!"
Nanny Zheng looked up in panic and saw Shen Li smiling meaningfully at her. "Stealing Aunt's property. You're so bold! Confess honestly. When did you steal it? How did you steal it? Was anyone else there?"
Nanny Zheng looked into Shen Li's eyes but didn't understand why she was asking about the "theft" situation. When she followed her gaze and looked outside, she saw a familiar face in the crowd and immediately reacted.
"Your Honor! I didn't steal the mistress's things! It was really rewarded to me by the mistress to do something! I have a witness!"
"Where is the witness? Hurry up and tell us!"
Finally having a new lead, Lord Liang was a bit excited and asked loudly.
"Your Honor, the witness is Nanny Wang who is in charge of procurement in the big kitchen of our Shen Mansion! She can prove that I didn't steal the hairpin!"
"Someone! Go to the Shen Mansion and summon this Nanny Wang!"
As soon as Lord Liang finished speaking, a person squeezed out from the crowd outside and said, "Your Honor, I'm Nanny Wang from the Shen Mansion!"
After saying that, Nanny Wang knelt down in front of the court.
"Nanny Zheng said you can prove that the hairpin wasn't stolen by her. Do you have any evidence?"
Nanny Wang was a tall and thin, nimble - looking woman. After hearing Lord Liang's question, she thought for a moment and said, "I'm usually in charge of procurement in the mansion. The masters often ask me to buy things outside.
"I remember it was three days ago. I was going out to buy things. I remembered that the mistress had once said she wanted me to buy some things outside, so I went to the East Courtyard to see the mistress.
"Unexpectedly, when I got to the East Courtyard, I found there was no one there. But I was afraid of missing something, so I boldly wanted to enter the room to see if the mistress was there.
"Unexpectedly, when I got to the door, I saw the mistress give Nanny Zheng a gold hairpin and ask her to do something. I don't know what it was. Afraid of being punished by the mistress, I backed out. After a while, Nanny Zheng came out of the mistress's room and met me."