He Meiru’s heart ached unbearably. “Luoxue, kindness must have its edge. Your excessive kindness only ends up indulging wickedness, and you’re the one who suffers in the end.”
“Mom, Gu Mian’s target today wasn’t me,” Yin Luoxue reminded. “The cake wasn’t made for me to eat…”
Li Xingze suddenly realized, “That’s right! This cake was made for me to eat. Gu Mian wanted to poison me! It was only because I took the cake to share with Luoxue that she got poisoned too! Gu Mian, I only argued with you a few times at the dinner table today. I never expected you’d directly poison me to kill me!”
Li Xingze grew angrier as he spoke, directly grabbing a glass vase nearby and lifting it with both hands to smash toward Gu Mian!
Before Gu Mian could react, a figure suddenly enveloped her.
She heard a dull thud, and the next second, glass hit the floor, shattering into fragments.
A familiar masculine scent lingered at her nose. Gu Mian looked up and met the man’s deep, dark eyes.
It was Li Tingshen who had protected her, preventing her from being hit.
Gu Mian couldn’t believe her eyes, blinking hard to confirm whether she was seeing correctly.
The next moment, Yin Luoxue’s shocked voice sounded in her ears, “Tingshen! What are you doing!”
Only then did Gu Mian dare to confirm she hadn’t been mistaken.
“What do you mean, what am I doing? Protecting one’s wife is what every man should do. Isn’t that perfectly normal?” Madam Li was beyond happy, wishing she could immediately set off firecrackers to celebrate.
“Brother, are you okay?” Li Xingze was also shocked. “Why are you protecting this wicked woman? She tried to kill me!”
Li Tingshen turned to look at him, his thin lips parting slightly. “A gentleman uses his words, not his hands. Men of the Li family don’t have the habit of hitting women.”
Li Xingze was slightly stunned.
Of course he didn’t have the habit of hitting women. He had just lost control of his emotions out of extreme anger.
“Young Master, the Eldest Young Master is right. No matter what, you shouldn’t have laid hands on the Eldest Young Mistress,” Zhang Ma spoke up. “Today’s incident is suspicious. The Eldest Young Mistress studies medicine, traditional Chinese medicine at that.”
“Exactly, which is why she chose poisoning – it’s within her field of knowledge,” Li Xingze argued.
Zhang Ma continued, “So if someone studying traditional Chinese medicine wanted to poison someone to death, would they choose such a mild poison that just requires stomach pumping, while bringing trouble upon themselves?”
Li Xingze: “…”
After some thought, he said, “Then Gu Mian didn’t want to kill me. She just wanted to teach me a lesson to get back at me for the dinner table argument. But she’s still wicked, rotten to the core!”
“If the Eldest Young Mistress wanted to teach you a lesson, would she poison the cake she personally made for you, making sure you knew it was her doing?”
“…” Li Xingze was left speechless, complaining discontentedly, “Zhang Ma, why are you protecting her like Grandma? Have you all been cursed or something!”
Zhang Ma looked exasperated. “Young Master, I’m just stating facts…”
“Stop arguing.”
Gu Mian, the person at the center of it all who had remained silent until now, suddenly spoke.
“What, are you ready to confess?” Li Xingze glanced at her disdainfully. “If you admit it now and kneel to apologize, I might consider not turning you over to the police.”
Gu Mian looked at him. “I didn’t poison anyone. I have evidence.”
Yin Luoxue and He Meiru were both stunned, instinctively exchanging a glance as a flicker of panic flashed in their eyes.
Gu Mian took out her phone and played a video.
The video clearly recorded her entire cake-making process, with every step captured in detail. She never left the camera’s view throughout.
Even the ingredients she needed were handed to her by the maid.
“Young Madam, here is the sugar you requested.”
Gu Mian glanced at it and said, “Switch it to sugar substitute. Xingze is a public figure and needs to watch his weight. Besides, I just heard him cough twice—too much sugar might aggravate it.”
“Young Madam is so thoughtful. I’ll go get it right away.”
Li Xingze, sitting on the hospital bed, was taken aback.
He never expected Gu Mian to be so considerate and caring toward him.
A pang of guilt crept into Li Xingze’s heart.
Noticing the shift in his emotions, Yin Luoxue was fuming inwardly.
She feigned casualness and remarked, “Gu Mian, did you already know there was something wrong with the cake? Is that why you filmed the video in advance to clear yourself?”
He Meiru chimed in, “A guilty person often protests too much. Gu Mian, sometimes being overly prepared only makes you more suspicious. Perhaps you poisoned the sugar substitute ahead of time and deliberately had the maid fetch it.”
Hearing this, Li Xingze’s guilt instantly vanished. He snapped angrily, “I knew you couldn’t possibly care about my health! So this was your plan all along!”
Gu Mian smiled faintly. “Since you don’t trust the video I provided and insist it was me, then let’s call the police.”
But this time, she wouldn’t be so easily sent back to prison.
“Shameless people fear nothing! Fine, let’s call the police! If I don’t send you back to jail, I’ll change my surname!” Li Xingze said, reaching for his phone.
“Enough.” Madam Li spoke coldly. “Mian Yatou has already provided video evidence to prove her innocence, yet you still want to destroy her? Absolutely outrageous. It seems I’ll have to step in with my own evidence to clear her name.”
Li Xingze sighed helplessly. “Grandma, I know you like Gu Mian, but this video doesn’t prove anything. Whether you present it or she does, it’s the same.”
“Who said I was referring to this video?” Madam Li smiled. “Zhang Ma.”
“Yes, Madam.” Zhang Ma stepped forward, operating her phone as she explained, “Ever since Young Madam was imprisoned a year ago, Madam has deeply regretted it. To protect the staff’s privacy, we never installed surveillance cameras at home. But precisely because there were no cameras, we couldn’t prove Young Madam’s innocence.”
“To prevent such incidents from happening again, Madam had hidden cameras installed in every corner of the house. Except for the bathrooms and bedrooms, there are virtually no blind spots—everything is clearly visible.”
Li Xingze was surprised. “There are cameras at home? How come I didn’t know?”
“Madam had them installed privately and didn’t inform anyone.”
As she spoke, surveillance footage was projected onto the television screen.
Zhang Ma pulled up the kitchen recording and fast-forwarded to when Gu Mian started baking the cake.
The footage was sharp, even displaying the exact measurements on the digital scale.
Gu Mian showed no suspicious movements throughout the process. She only left the camera’s view when Li Tingshen called her for dinner.
“Zhang Ma, fast-forward.”
“Yes, Madam.”
Zhang Ma fast-forwarded the footage, and soon after, a middle-aged maid sneaked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door.
She took the cake out of the fridge, pulled a small bottle from her pocket, evenly sprinkled its contents over the cake, and then placed it back inside.
“See clearly now—it was this person who poisoned it. It has nothing to do with Mian Yatou,” Madam Li said coldly. “Zhang Ma, call the main house and have this person detained for thorough questioning.”
“Yes.”
Madam Li turned to Li Xingze. “Apologize.”
Li Xingze was in disbelief. He opened his mouth to argue but found himself unable to say anything.
He had wronged Gu Mian—that was an undeniable fact.
“I’m sorry.”
Under Madam Li’s warning gaze, Li Xingze forced out the words with difficulty.
Madam Li was not satisfied. “Who are you apologizing to?”
Li Xingze pursed his lips. “Sister-in-law, I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.” Gu Mian smiled faintly and said calmly, “Because this is the last time I’ll ever make food for you.”
A strange, heavy feeling stirred in Li Xingze’s chest, leaving him deeply unsettled.
Although he disliked Gu Mian, he loved the desserts she made—they suited his taste better than any pastry chef’s.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have scolded her at the dinner table one moment and then asked her to bake a cake the next.
Though he felt a little reluctant inside, Li Xingze never backed down verbally. He snorted disdainfully, “If you won’t make it, then don’t. Who cares…”
Ahem, ahem, ahem…
A sudden coughing sound broke the silence.
He Meiru quickly patted Yin Luoxue’s back. “Luoxue, are you alright?”
“I’m fine, ahem, ahem, ahem…”
Yin Luoxue coughed a few times and looked toward Li Tingshen. “Ting Shen, I’m not feeling well. Could you take me back to my room?”