Faced with Tang Xiaomin's aggressive questioning, Tang Yiyi panicked.
She continued to feign ignorance, offering continuous apologies.
"Dad, I'm so sorry," Tang Yiyi choked out.
"It's all my fault. I haven't been paying attention to your health, and I overlooked your medicine."
"I was really flustered just now and couldn't find it. Dad, it's all my fault, please punish me. I deserve it."
Having acknowledged her mistake, Tang Zhongcheng sighed softly and remained silent, his face still etched with disappointment.
Tang Xiaomin smiled. In front of everyone, she decided to expose Tang Yiyi's wicked intentions.
She wanted her to experience what it felt like to be utterly ruined.
"Tang Yiyi, if you refuse to speak honestly, that's fine. I'll do it for you."
"This medicine was originally in the drawer, but after I went upstairs just now, I found it in the trash can. I was wondering, who would be so foolish as to throw emergency medicine into the trash can?"
Tang Yiyi's face turned ashen. From the moment she saw Tang Xiaomin find the medicine, she knew things were not good.
But what of it? Without evidence, no one would dare accuse her of throwing it away.
On the contrary, she would frame Tang Xiaomin instead.
Tang Yiyi gathered her courage and said, "Oh, no wonder I searched the drawers everywhere and couldn't find the medicine. So someone threw it in the trash. I wonder who it was."
Aunt Xue suddenly recalled something and said, "Sir, Madam, I saw Tang Xiaomin go into the study a few days ago. I didn't dare to say anything then, and I don't know if it was her who threw the medicine away."
Tang Yiyi seized the opportunity to say, "Sister has been very dissatisfied with Mom and Dad recently, often speaking harshly. Sister, no matter your grievances, you can't throw away Dad's medicine. Dad was in such danger just now. Fortunately, he's okay now."
Tang Yiyi's implication was that Tang Xiaomin, out of spite towards her parents, had thrown away the medicine.
With a motive established, the action seemed plausible.
Zhang Meiyu began to scold Tang Xiaomin vehemently.
"Tang Xiaomin, you eat from the Tang family, you live in the Tang family, and everything you have is earned by your father. How could you be so venomous as to throw away your father's medicine? You're trying to murder your own father!"
Attempting to murder her own father. What a charge!
Tang Yu couldn't stand it anymore and said, "Mom, you can't say such things without proof. If Xiaomin truly didn't want to save Dad, why did she tell me just now that Dad had emergency medicine in his clothes?"
"And Xiaomin remembered it very clearly, in the pocket of the blue suit. I found it as soon as I went up."
Tang Yu was not muddled. He reasoned logically, unlike Zhang Meiyu, who was blinded by anger.
"Heh..."
Tang Xiaomin laughed, a playful curve at the corner of her lips.
"May I ask Ms. Zhang, if I really tried to murder my own father, how would you deal with me?"
Zhang Meiyu replied without hesitation, "Of course, I'd send you to the police station to be reformed! And then you'd be expelled from the Tang family, never to set foot in our home again."
* * *
Tang Xiaomin clapped her hands, applauding Zhang Meiyu.
Tang Xiaomin also felt that such a punishment was excellent.
"Tang Xiaomin, don't think you can do whatever you want just because you're strong. There's always someone who can control you," Zhang Meiyu said coldly.
In her words, her hatred for Tang Xiaomin reached an unprecedented level.
Tang Xiaomin stood up and looked at Zhang Meiyu mockingly.
"Remember what you said. Don't pretend to have amnesia later."
After speaking, Tang Xiaomin turned and went back to her room on the second floor, returning with her laptop.
She effortlessly opened a video. The screen showed Tang Zhongcheng's study.
At this moment, Tang Yiyi's face was pale. Without thinking, Tang Yiyi deliberately bumped into Tang Xiaomin's laptop.
However, Tang Xiaomin was not to be trifled with. She shoved Tang Yiyi away forcefully, sending her sprawling to the side, and without hesitation, played the events that had transpired in the study not long ago.
At this point, everyone's attention was focused on Tang Xiaomin's laptop, and no one paid any mind to Tang Yiyi, who had been pushed and fallen to the ground.
In the video, Tang Yiyi was seen rushing into the study in a panic, opening the drawer, finding the medicine, and after a few glances, throwing it into the nearby trash can.
Not only that, but she had also specifically rummaged through some waste paper to cover the medicine in the trash can, concealing it thoroughly before leaving the study.
Irrefutable evidence.
Now, the members of the Tang family looked at Tang Yiyi with coldness and disgust in their eyes.
Aunt Xue suddenly asked, "Tang Xiaomin, when did you install a surveillance camera in the study? What was your intention?"
At this point, rather than Tang Xiaomin's unauthorized installation of surveillance, the Tang family was more concerned about Tang Yiyi.
Why had she done such a thing?
Tang Xiaomin ignored Aunt Xue's question, put away her laptop, and looked at Tang Yiyi, a hint of arrogant smile on her lips.
Tang Yiyi was still in the position she had fallen into, or rather, her legs were so weak she couldn't stand.
Her body trembled, and tears fell like pearls from a broken string.
Usually, her family doted on her and loved her. When she cried, the whole family would comfort her, afraid she would suffer even the slightest grievance.
Now, looking at Tang Yiyi's tears, they were clearly crocodile tears, filled with malice.
If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they would never have believed that Tang Yiyi, who had always been well-behaved and understanding, would commit such an act as trying to murder her own father.
Zhang Meiyu's eyes were filled with disbelief, her expression exceptionally complex.
After a long pause, she said weakly, "Why... why?"
"Why would you do this? Your father loves you so dearly, yet you would throw his medicine into the trash and hide it when his life was in danger!"
This question baffled everyone in the Tang family.
Under their piercing gazes, Tang Yiyi broke down and cried, her tears flowing like a pear blossom in the rain.
"Dad... *sob sob*... I know I was wrong, Dad. I was temporarily confused, my mind was clouded. Dad, please forgive me."
Tang Yiyi knelt and approached Tang Zhongcheng, grabbing his knees and apologizing incessantly, hoping for his forgiveness.
"Dad, I truly know I was wrong, *sob sob*..."
"Dad, please punish me. I'll accept any punishment. I truly know I was wrong, Dad..."
This time, Tang Zhongcheng did not forgive Tang Yiyi as easily as he had before. His gaze towards her was colder than ever.
Humans are strange creatures; the more perfect someone is, the more their mistakes are magnified.
Seeing Tang Zhongcheng's indifference, Tang Yiyi gritted her teeth and raised her hand, slapping her own face repeatedly.
* * *
"Dad, I know I was wrong."
* * *
"Dad, I was wrong."