Farmhouse Green Plum

Chapter 182 Slander

Song Ying looked at the maid for a long time and finally recognized her as Xiaofu, who was responsible for cutting vegetables in the kitchen. Apart from the polite words when they met, she had basically no contact with Xiaofu.

Without giving her a chance to explain, Xiao Fu continued, "If you don't believe me, you can search the small kitchen where she makes her medicinal food. I saw with my own eyes that she took the ginseng to the small kitchen!"

Song Ying's eyes narrowed slightly. He was so confident. Could it be that there was really ginseng in the small kitchen? And when was it put there?

Princess Shunan called out "Mother Zhu".

A well-dressed old woman came out and asked two maids to go to the kitchen. Soon she came back with something wrapped in a small piece of blue cloth.

Seeing the familiar piece of blue cloth, Song Ying was a little shocked. It was a patch on one of her clothes, which fell off just a few days after she arrived at the Shen Mansion.

She thought that since she was staying in the Shen Mansion for a while, she didn't need to wear her own clothes for the time being. After she stopped doing odd jobs, she would have enough money to buy new clothes, so she didn't look for them.

It was just a patch, but someone picked it up and used it to frame her! And it fell off when she first arrived at Shen's house. At that time, the person who picked it up was thinking of using this patch to frame her!

The people in the Shen Mansion are so scary!

"Song Ying, what do you say?"

The words of Princess Shunan brought Song Ying back to his senses.

She calmed herself down and said, "Old lady, please understand. I didn't take the ginseng. I don't know why it was in the small kitchen. The blue cloth was indeed mine, but it was lost on the second day after I arrived at the Shen Mansion."

"You still dare to quibble!" Xiao Fu sneered, "The ginseng was found in your small kitchen, and the blue cloth it was wrapped in is also yours. I caught you red-handed, what else do you have to say!"

Song Ying ignored her and looked at Fang's mother and asked, "Fang's mother, when did you find out that the ginseng was missing?"

Mother Fang bowed to County Lady Shunan and said, "There are so many ingredients and things going in and out of the kitchen, and it's really hard to count them all every day.

However, for important ingredients, I will count them every day, and only lock the door and leave after I am sure everything is correct."

After explaining the situation to Lady Shun'an, she said to Song Ying, "When I counted the ginseng the other day, it was correct. But when I counted it last night, I found that 36 coins were missing. I didn't dare to delay and reported it to Mother Zhu immediately."

Mother Zhu nodded, indicating that she had indeed received a report from Mother Fang last night.

"In other words, it can be confirmed that the ginseng was lost yesterday." Song Ying looked at Mother Fang, and after getting her nod, he turned to look at Princess Shun'an sitting above him and began to describe his whereabouts yesterday.

"Yesterday's breakfast was brought to us by Sister Chunliu from the kitchen, so the first time I went to the kitchen was at noon to make ginseng and black plum tea.

It doesn't take long to make ginseng and black plum tea. I went to the kitchen at the end of the morning hour and met Sister Chunqiao at the gate of the yard. We talked for a few words. When I got to the kitchen door, Mother Fang came out. When she learned that I needed ginseng and black plums, she asked a sister to help bring them. During this period, I didn't go into the kitchen, right?"

When she said the last sentence, she looked at Fang's mother again.

Before Fang's mother could say anything, Xiao Fu shouted, "Not at that time, but at other times. You have plenty of opportunities to go into the kitchen!"

Song Ying responded bluntly: "If we talk about opportunities, you have more."

"How is that the same? The ginseng was found in your small kitchen!"

Song Ying didn't want to argue with her anymore, so she looked at Fang's mother.

Mother Fang nodded: "Miss Song Ying, you definitely didn't go into the kitchen at that time."

After she finished speaking, Song Ying continued to describe her whereabouts yesterday: "I went to the small kitchen after getting the ingredients, and I didn't leave the small kitchen until the ginseng and black plum tea was ready."

"If you say it never happened, then it never happened." Xiao Fu started to refute again.

Song Ying stared at him and said word by word, "Whether I left the kitchen or not, there are people who can testify. You don't have to rush to convict me."

After she finished speaking, she looked at Princess Shun'an and said, "At the time, Sister Xiaohe and Sister Chunfang were washing vegetables by the well outside. They can testify for me."

"They have to wash the vegetables, and they can't keep watching the small kitchen. Who knows if you will walk away when they are not paying attention!" Xiao Fu yelled again before Princess Shunan could speak.

Seeing her impatient look, Song Ying suspected that it was Xiao Fu who hid the ginseng in the small kitchen and framed her. She was very angry, but the most important thing at the moment was to clear herself of suspicion first.

"Old lady, you can see that the door of the small kitchen makes a slight creaking sound when it is opened and closed. It is impossible for the two sisters to be unaware of it."

"What if you climb through the window?"

Song Ying: “…”

This time, before she could refute, Princess Shunan tilted her head slightly, and Mother Zhu immediately walked forward and slapped Xiaofu in the face.

With a crisp sound of "pop", five clear finger marks immediately appeared on Xiao Fu's fair face.

"You can't just interrupt the old lady. It's against the rules!"

Xiao Fu bit her lip, tears welling up in her eyes, but she dared not speak again.

Song Ying was also a little scared. Mother Zhu's strength was quite strong. Mrs. Li would only hit her so hard when she was extremely angry.

She calmed herself down and continued to explain herself: "I cleaned up the small kitchen and left directly. When I went to get lunch at noon, it was Sister Chunqiao who helped me pack the lunch box. I was waiting at the door the whole time."

Since they were very young, whenever there was a banquet in the village, Li would tell them in advance to stay away from it to avoid losing the ingredients.

Of course, only Song Ying took these words seriously and kept practicing them. After arriving at the Shen Mansion, looking at the dazzling array of ingredients in the big kitchen, her subconscious reaction was to stay away.

Unexpectedly, this habit actually helped her this time.

Song Ying kept talking about yesterday's dinner. Whether she went to get the rice or the ingredients for making medicinal food, she was always at the door and never entered the kitchen. The ginseng was kept in a cabinet in a small side room inside, and she had no chance to touch it at all.

Except for making medicinal food, she didn't like to stay in the kitchen at other times, and only talked a few words with the maids in the yard.

Chun Tao, the maid in the main courtyard, interacted with her the most. Seeing this, she spoke up for her: "Old lady, I believe in Sister Song Ying's character. She won't take the ginseng. She usually returns all the leftover herbs and food ingredients. How could she take the ginseng?"

Hearing this, Fang's mother and others tended to think that it was not Song Ying who took it. Song Ying was the only one in the small kitchen, and there were unused herbs and food ingredients. As long as she wanted to hide it, no one would know. There was no need to take the risk of stealing from the big kitchen.

What's more, Dr. Lin now lets her make many medicinal foods, and she has the final say on how much ingredients are needed.