Sang Wan, both shocked and furious upon hearing all, instantly turned pale. No wonder Gu Fangzi was so endearing and affectionate in front of Mrs. Wang, constantly addressing her as "sister"; she was backstabbing her all along! Sang Wan mockingly chided herself, realizing that Gu Fangzi had always been adept at scheming behind others’ backs—it was her own foolishness to not have taken guard after so many repeated offenses.
"Third Auntie, thank you for telling this!" Sang Wan expressed her gratitude, "With so many servants in the mansion speaking carelessly, who knows from whence such irresponsible words arise! It is unnecessary trouble for Third Auntie! Thankfully, Third Auntie is sensible, otherwise, even if I had mouths all over, I couldn’t clear things up!"
"Rest assured, you’ve always handled things properly and never spoken ill of others behind their backs; these rumors I certainly do not believe! However, I cannot guarantee what others might believe if they hear sothing!" Third Madam Shi said with a faint smile, leaving behind these words.
After seeing off Third Madam Shi, Sang Wan imdiately summoned Mrs. Li, requesting her to find out who exactly had passed by that part of the hedge wall at that specific ti and day. Mrs. Li, upon hearing the reason, also beca indignant, "Madam, you’re too kind, which only encourages people to act recklessly! Not to ntion the incident with the crispy ringue so ti ago, clearly ant to incite conflict between you and the senior madam, and now even Third Madam is involved!" she added, "Luckily, Third Madam is understanding. If it had been the second madam—"
Though Mrs. Li did not continue, Sang Wan understood her aning and said coldly, "Mama, you must find those two gossipers for !"
"Madam, don’t worry. It’s actually not too difficult, just a bit troubleso!" Mrs. Li said energetically, "After we catch those two, we must strip them of their pretenses!"
Although there were many servants in the mansion, all were assigned specific tasks, and who was on duty on which day and what they were doing could all be checked. After a systematic investigation, they quickly narrowed it down to five maids, and after intensive questioning, the remaining two who cleaned the garden could no longer deny their involvent.
The maids from Liu Shun’s and Wu Chunfang’s families were brought before Sang Wan in Ningyuan, still unaware of what was happening. Mrs. Li imdiately asked, "On the afternoon of the twenty-third of March, during the Shenshi hour, where were you two?" Both won were stunned.
Neither could rember the exact date, but they were vaguely nervous about what they had done around that ti.
Not just them, even Gu Fangzi, who had been invited by Sang Wan and was now hiding behind a screen, seed slightly flustered.
"You don’t rember?" Mrs. Li scoffed, "Shall I remind you? Have you ever been to that row of hedge walls in the eastern garden?"
The two won looked at each other, dumbstruck.
"Yes, yes, we were there," Liu Shun’s maid said with a nervous smile, "That day we sisters were in charge; it was our duty to clean up the fallen leaves. Mrs. Li, why suddenly ask about this? Did we do sothing wrong?"
"Right, right," Wu Chunfang’s maid nodded repeatedly, "We just went there to clean."
Mrs. Li coldly said, "Just cleaned, didn’t say anything? Did you talk about Third Madam and the Madam?"
Liu Shun’s maid and Wu Chunfang’s maid protested loudly at this accusation, staunchly denying any involvent.
"Hold your tongues!" Mrs. Li commanded coldly, "Don’t rush to claim injustice. Let finish!" She then ticulously explained, detailing who was on duty in the garden that day, what each person was doing at any given hour, and everything matched up, except for them being near that section of the hedge, "Do you have anything else to say? Unless soone else has appeared out of nowhere in this mansion?"
Wu Chunfang’s maid’s face turned white, hastily clarifying, "I rember now, at that ti we were cleaning near the Furong Pavilion, not near the hedge wall, yes, we were there in the morning!"
"Nonsense!" Mrs. Li snorted, "Would I confront you without evidence? In the morning you were clearly in the plum garden, then by the wisteria trellis, staying there until lunch. After lunch, you hung around with a few sisters from the kitchen for a while, then walked from the northeast corner of the garden towards the hedge wall to clean. Am I right? I have witnesses here, if you don’t co clean, you can kneel in the courtyard and reflect until you are ready to talk!"
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