dognovel Chapter 164: Find Out
Chapter 164: Find Out
"Who dares to hit her?"
A sharp roar startled the crowd into silence, and everyone's eyes were fixed on Lu Xuan's face.
The shopkeeper heard the sound and stopped beating with the cane.
He turned around slowly, then paused, "Who are you?"
Lu Xuan stood tall and proud, with an outstanding temperament. Today she was wearing an apricot-colored gilded phoenix-embroidered flowing cloud skirt, and on her head were a dragon-and-phoenix jade hairpin and a black gold hairpin with two phoenixes holding pearls and inlaid with gems. Even if no one knew who she was, her outstanding demeanor would make people think that she was probably a prominent figure, not someone they could afford to offend!
For a moment, the crowd on the street, which had been so noisy just now, was completely silent.
Lu Xuan didn't answer the shopkeeper, but strode forward. "What crime did this nanny commit? Why would the shopkeeper tie her up at the door like this and humiliate her like this?"
When Nanny Yu saw Lu Xuan coming, she quickly winked at her, signaling her not to stand out.
But how could Lu Xuan really bear to see Nanny Yu being bullied, so he could only turn a blind eye to those looks.
Seeing that she was disobedient, Nanny Yu simply turned her head away and pretended not to know Lu Xuan.
The shopkeeper smiled and bowed, "My dear sir, it's not that I have to hit her, you don't know, it's this old woman who relies on her status as the head of a wealthy family and steals things without paying!
"My humble servant and the shop assistants all caught her, but she still refuses to admit it! We tried to persuade her with kind words at first, but she didn't have any money. Not only that, but we even told her to ask the owner for it, and she refused to do anything!"
As he spoke, the shopkeeper pointed at the crowd at the door and said, "Look, the people outside are all ordinary people doing business on our Chaihu Street. On weekdays, because our street has a wide range of goods, we often encounter managers from wealthy families coming to buy things, and they often suffer the loss of not paying for the goods they take!
We rely on this to make a living, how can you take a little today and I take a little tomorrow? If that happens, how can we continue to do business on this street? "
Seeing the shopkeeper bring up the point, the crowd quickly followed suit, shouting, "That's right! We've given out more than enough, but these noble families' housekeepers are getting worse and worse. We can't tolerate them!"
"Don't speak for this old woman. If we don't punish her, we won't be able to get rid of the anger in our hearts. These officials are really too bullying!"
"Are you her master? She did something like this, and yet you still want to help her? Did you know from the beginning and deliberately allow her to bully the weak?"
Seeing the crowd's increasingly excited cheers, Lu Xuan raised his hand to stop them: "Everyone, please listen to me! This maid is indeed mine..."
"No, no!"
Before Lu Xuan could finish his words, he was interrupted by Nanny Yu's voice.
"I didn't recognize this noble man in front of me. It's my fault. It's all my fault. I'm a thief. I shouldn't have stolen things..."
As she spoke, she slapped herself hard.
One after another, the loud slaps were like vines, not only hitting Nanny Yu's face, but also hitting Lu Xuan's heart, making her heart hurt as if it were pierced by a poisonous sting.
Lu Xuan glanced at Sang Luo, who quickly stepped forward and stopped Nanny Yu's hand.
Lu Xuan knew that Nanny Yu must have her reasons for doing this. She didn't recognize her identity because she was definitely protecting her.
Lu Xuan didn't mention his identity or his relationship with Nanny Yu. Instead, he said calmly, "How much silver is the thing this Nanny took worth? I'll pay it for her. Please let her go."
The shopkeeper glanced at Lu Xuan, his expression not at all surprised. Instead, he said with embarrassment, "Sir, this isn't a matter of how much silver you give me. Even if my Copper Coin Grocery Store doesn't make any money today, I will definitely teach this old woman a lesson!"
"These people usually bully us small vendors. Today, the ones who came are the shopkeepers of this street. We want to make sure that no one dares to do such things in the future, disregarding the common people and claiming to be the boss!"
Lu Xuan knew Nanny Yu. Even when he was a beggar with her in his previous life, he always behaved uprightly. How could he do such an unjust thing as stealing?
I'm afraid he was assassinated.
Lu Xuan asked, "What does the shopkeeper want in exchange for releasing the person?"
The shopkeeper raised his head in indignation, a hint of pride unconsciously appearing on his lips. "Today, I want nothing else but to make this old woman kneel down at the door of my shop every day, slap herself in the face and repent towards the street, so that all the managers of the wealthy families who come out to buy can see it and serve as a warning to others! As for how many days I will release her, that depends on her sincerity!"
"No!"
Lu Xuan stopped him immediately.
It took her a lot of effort to finally heal Nanny Yu's leg. It was obvious that she didn't want to let her go. If she kept kneeling for a few days, it would probably return to its original state.
Besides, how could she tolerate being slandered for no reason?
At this moment, a loud male voice rang out from the crowd: "Isn't this Princess Jin? Hey, Nanny Yu?!"
As he spoke, the man squeezed to the front of the crowd and said, "Princess, why is Nanny Yu tied up? Her legs and feet are not in good condition. Princess, you should spend some money and rescue Nanny Yu!"
Lu Xuan looked back and saw that it was the disciple from the Song family before!
However, since the Song family fell into decline, all the servants had taken their deeds and ran away. How could this disciple appear at this critical moment?
Based on today's movements, Lu Xuan had a hunch that someone must be behind this.
Sure enough, the crowd's indignation grew.
"She's still the princess!"
"Princess Jin allowed her servant to do such evil things, and just now she even tried to stop this old woman from being punished!"
"How could such an unscrupulous person, such a wicked person, be allowed to be a princess? Her virtue is unworthy of her position, yet Prince Jin actually married such a woman!"
Seeing that things had come to this, Lu Xuan simply stopped hiding his relationship with Nanny, but it would cost Nanny Yu a lot of effort.
She glanced at Nanny Yu and then spoke loudly, "Everyone, I am indeed the Princess Jin. This is indeed the Nanny by my side. But Nanny Yu has always been of good character and upright heart. I dare to guarantee her with my Princess Jin's reputation. There must be other reasons behind today's incident!"
Her sharp eyes swept over the shopkeeper, the others, and the chaotic crowd. "If I find out that someone is persecuting her today and deliberately plotting to murder her, no matter what the consequences, I, the princess, will not tolerate it!"
As she spoke, she gestured directly to Sang Luo to go and untie Nanny Yu and help her over.
She looked at the shopkeeper and said, "Madame Yu is here today. You said she stole something. Let me see what she took."
Seeing that Lu Xuan had acknowledged her relationship with her, Nanny Yu quickly confessed the matter: "I didn't take it! I didn't take anything from them at all. It was that clerk who took a bag of tea from the shop and secretly stuffed it on me, then he accuses me of it!"
After hearing what Madam Yu said, Lu Xuan snorted coldly: "Shopkeeper, it seems that you are really the thief crying thief, trying to take advantage of the opportunity to blackmail me, right?"
She picked up the bag of tea that Nanny Yu had been kneeling on, opened it, and took a look. "This kind of tea is usually purchased in the palace for the servants to drink. But what Nanny Yu drinks and uses in the palace is always the same quality as mine!"
"Besides, because she had a leg injury, she had been taking medication for a long time and was worried that it would affect the efficacy, so she never drank tea! So the shopkeeper's accusation that Madam stole tea is completely nonsense!"
The crowd was silent for a moment, then began to whisper.
"This princess is so kind to her servants?"
"The princess herself has testified, so it shouldn't be false, right?"
"I remember that the old woman did say at first that she didn't want to drink tea, and she also protested that she didn't take it herself. Could it be that the shopkeeper was really trying to extort money from her?"
"Look at what you said. Shopkeeper Zhu is an old acquaintance of ours, but he's not that kind of person!"
Listening to the chatter in the crowd, most of them had already believed Lu Xuan's words, and panic suddenly flashed in the shopkeeper's eyes.
Nanny Yu was brought by Sang Luo to stand next to Lu Xuan, and the ropes on her body had been untied.
She immediately caught the guilty conscience and anxiety in the shopkeeper's expression: "Shopkeeper, I was worried about ruining the princess's reputation, so I had to admit under your coercion that I took the things. But you and your men know the truth!
I see, you clearly have ulterior motives, either you want to gain benefits from the princess, or you accepted money from someone to do this to harm me!"
Just then, another voice sounded from the crowd.