Neighbor’s Baby Had My Husband’s Face

On Valentine's Day, my husband transferred 0-0 million to our female neighbor, but only gave me 0-00.

In a fit of rage, I accidentally pushed him downstairs. He died on the spot.

Although my mother-in-law signed a settlement agreement, I became a criminal from that day forward, subjected to daily abuse from the female neighbor.

To atone for my sins, I worked as my mother-in-law's unpaid maid.

Five years later, the female neighbor gave birth to a son. My mother-in-law happily went to take care of her, even treating the neighbor's son as her own grandson.

Looking at the baby's face---identical to my husband's---I felt doubt for the first time.

Later, I heard sex noises coming from the female neighbor's house.

I opened my door and saw a man walking out of her room.

That silhouette looked exactly like my dead husband.

Possessed by some inexplicable force, I quietly followed him.

When we reached a deserted area, the man removed his hat and took off his mask.

Looking at that familiar face, I felt as if I'd been struck by lightning. I nearly screamed out loud, but managed to cover my mouth just in time to stifle the sound.

That face was identical to my husband Sebastian Hunt's.

Could he really be Sebastian Hunt?

But five years ago, I had accidentally pushed him downstairs to his death!

Could this just be someone who looked like him?

My fists clenched tightly as my mind tangled with indecision. I was about to approach and demand answers.

Just then, his phone rang.

After answering, his voice was exceptionally gentle: "Lauren, don't worry. There's no way that idiot Claire could discover me."

"Relax, I've already safely left the complex."

He really was Sebastian Hunt.

I immediately understood---he had deliberately faked his death and kept it from me.

It felt like plunging into an ice cellar. My heart seized with violent pain, as if pierced by millions of arrows, leaving my flesh torn and bloody.

Sebastian had once made vows at our wedding, promising me a lifetime of peace and swearing never to tell me a single lie.

Who could have known he would tell me such a monstrous deception?

My eyes burned with unbearable acidity. Scalding tears froze in the cold spring wind.

I reached up to wipe them away, but the tears only came faster, like a broken faucet that wouldn't stop.

After a long while, my tears finally dried. When I looked up again, Sebastian had vanished without a trace.

My phone suddenly vibrated---a SnapChat voice message from the female neighbor, Lauren Evans.

I took several deep breaths, desperately trying to suppress the waves of cold rising in my chest. My fingertips turned white from the pressure as I clicked it open.

"Claire, I suddenly want lobster and shrimp soup. Go to the supermarket right now and buy me some imported ones."

Even through the screen, I could feel the entitled tone in her voice.

On the day Lauren gave birth, my mother-in-law had declared that I should be Lauren's on-call servant.

Before, though I had my suspicions, I mostly believed my mother-in-law was projecting her longing for her son onto the child, using the baby's face to ease the pain of losing her son.

So I had been willing to set aside my grievances and serve Lauren hand and foot.

Who could have known this was all an elaborate scheme they had carefully planned?

I steadied my trembling breath and calmly replied with a simple "okay."

Lobster and shrimp?

I'll satisfy you.

But I dare to buy it---do you dare to eat it?

I didn't go to the supermarket to buy any imported lobster or shrimp. Instead, I bought some expired, rotten products from a roadside stall.

Rotten people deserve rotten food.

A perfect match!

As soon as I opened the door, a wet baby diaper came flying at my face.

Along with the stench of urine and feces came my mother-in-law's venomous curses.

"You husband-killing whore! Where have you been slacking off? Don't you know Emma and her baby need care, or are you trying to work these old bones to death?"

Unlike before, I didn't stand still and take the abuse. I quickly dodged to the side.

The diaper flew past the bag of lobster and shrimp, and baby feces dropped inside.

My mother-in-law hadn't expected me to dodge. She froze for a moment, then became furious, her face contorted with rage. Like a madwoman, she rushed over, raising her arm high to viciously slap me.

Looking at the old woman resembling a vicious wolf, I dodged again.

Images of the beatings I'd endured over the past five years flashed rapidly through my mind.

She had first laid hands on me the day Sebastian faked his death.

That day, she beat me until I nearly vomited blood. Back then, consumed by guilt, I wanted nothing more than to die alongside Sebastian. How could I have fought back?

Later, she signed the settlement agreement, sparing me from prison. I felt even more indebted to her.

But she seemed to have found an outlet for venting, beating me more viciously and cursing me more filthily.

Before, I couldn't understand why---despite my servility and meticulous care for her---she never showed the slightest mercy when striking me.

Now I finally understood.

She tormented me not because I had killed her son, but because cruelty flowed through her very bones.

A natural-born monster.

I wanted nothing more than to strangle the old woman right then and there, but if she died so easily, how would that repay my five years of suffering?

These scumbags had to pay ten times, a hundred times over.

My fists clenched so hard they broke the skin of my palms. Gritting my teeth, I endured it:

"Lauren wanted lobster and shrimp soup, so she asked me to buy lobster and shrimp to make it."

My mother-in-law snorted coldly, her harsh exterior masking her inner cowardice:

"Then what are you still standing here for? Hurry up and make the soup. If my precious grandson's mother goes hungry and it affects her nursing, I'll skin you alive!"

After speaking, she vindictively pinched the soft flesh at my waist, muttering curses as she went next door to Lauren's place.

Ignoring the bone-piercing pain in my waist, I quickly installed miniature cameras in various corners of the room.

After setting up the surveillance, I rushed to put the doctored lobster and shrimp in a pot to make soup.

When my mother-in-law returned and saw the soup wasn't ready yet, she launched into another tirade of abuse before huffily returning to her bedroom.

In the kitchen, I opened my phone and connected to the surveillance equipment.

In the video, my mother-in-law was on the phone with someone.

"Sebastian, your idea about having Claire bring the baby back to raise is quite good. I support you."

"Claire may be a bit stupid, but she's conscientious and meticulous. When it comes to childcare, she's definitely more reliable than Lauren."

"What? You're worried Claire won't agree? She wouldn't dare!"

My mother-in-law's voice suddenly rose, then dropped again: "If she dares say no, I'll beat her mouth to a pulp!"

Though I already knew Sebastian was scum, his despicable shamelessness broke through my lowest expectations once again.

He deceived me with a fake death for five years, subjected me to both mental and physical torture, and now he wanted me to raise his child with his mistress.

He wouldn't rest until he had extracted every last drop of value from me, crushing me to the bone!

I watched the mother and son chatting enthusiastically in the video, my gaze drifting to the steaming lobster and shrimp soup on the gas stove. My eyes turned ice-cold.

After the soup finished cooking, I served the first bowl to my "poor" mother-in-law who had "lost her son," then delivered the rest to Lauren to satisfy her cravings.

When I returned, my mother-in-law had just finished her soup and set down the bowl. She couldn't wait to speak:

"Lauren is young and had a child out of wedlock---she's unreliable. My precious grandson is the apple of my eye. I can't bear to see him suffer even slightly."

"Didn't you say you wanted to stay by my side to atone? Now I'm giving you that chance."

"As long as you bring him back and raise him well, I'll forgive you for the heinous crime of killing my son."

I nearly laughed from anger. If I didn't know Sebastian was alive, I would almost be moved to gratitude for her magnanimous generosity.

"Fine!"

I agreed without hesitation, so readily that it made the old woman look at me sideways.

After all, raising a child wasn't like raising a cat or dog. Agreeing instantly without thinking seemed far too casual.

"I knew you were obedient and wouldn't refuse."

"Starting tomorrow, I'm entrusting my precious grandson to your care. If he loses a single hair, I'll pluck you bald."

She seemed convinced that five years had completely tamed me. She quickly dismissed her brief suspicion and, after delivering a pile of threats, went next door again.

Presumably to inform Lauren of the great news that I had agreed to bring the child back to raise.

Watching her light, quick steps, a mocking sneer crossed my lips.

Old hag, if you still have the energy tomorrow to care about whether I've brought your precious grandson back to raise, I'll admit defeat!

Before the next day even arrived, around midnight both my mother-in-law and Lauren couldn't take it anymore and rushed to the emergency room.

After five or six IV drips, both finally returned home at dawn, barely alive.

It wasn't for nothing that I worried the expired lobster and shrimp wouldn't be potent enough---I had specifically added two extra tablets of the bisacodyl my mother-in-law took for constipation.

I had to take care of my mother-in-law and couldn't spare time for the baby.

Lauren had drunk more and her symptoms were more severe than my mother-in-law's, so Sebastian had to take the baby away to care for it.

Sebastian had no idea how to care for a child. In less than a day, he was calling my mother-in-law to complain.

He said the baby cried all day and he couldn't soothe it. He wanted to send the baby back to Lauren's place and have me bring it back to care for it as they had discussed.

My mother-in-law usually went on and on about her "precious grandson," but now she flatly refused.

"No way. I'm having dozens of bowel movements a day and can't be left alone. If the baby comes back, how will Claire have the energy to take care of me?"

"Just hold on a bit longer. We'll talk about it when I'm better."

I laughed out loud through the screen. When it came to her own wellbeing, the old woman wouldn't care even about her own son, let alone her grandson.

Sebastian didn't give up and continued to plead pitifully.

My mother-in-law didn't soften or agree. Instead, she started complaining:

"Don't beg me. Speaking of which, this is all your fault. Look at what kind of women you've chosen! One is so greedy she wants lobster and shrimp right after giving birth, and the other is so stupid she can't even handle seafood properly."

"Not only does it mean you, a grown man, have to take care of the baby alone, but I nearly lost my life because of it."

"If you hadn't embezzled money from the company account to gamble and lost so much you couldn't repay it, I never would have agreed to you faking your death, and we wouldn't have all this trouble today."

She didn't suspect me of sabotage---she simply believed I was too stupid to handle seafood properly.

My attention wasn't on that comment, but on her last sentence.

Embezzled company money to gamble, and lost so much he couldn't repay it?

So that was the real reason Sebastian faked his death.

No wonder after his death, his direct supervisor Mr. Reed came to the funeral and tactfully asked me many questions about his accounts.

At the time, I was drowning in grief and self-blame and hadn't realized it at all.

When a person dies, debts die with them.

Sebastian knew I cared about gestures, yet deliberately provoked me on Valentine's Day with a 0-00 transfer, using my hand to fake his death and escape his debts.

It turned out that in his heart, I was just a tool for him to evade debt and fake his death.

From beginning to end, he never once considered that as his wife, if I pushed my husband downstairs to his death over a 0-00 transfer, how much psychological pressure I would endure afterward, how many contemptuous looks I would face from the world.

The more I thought about it, the more I felt like I'd fallen into an ice cellar, as if a huge hole had been carved in my chest. Cold wind from all directions blew through the opening, devoid of any warmth.

I involuntarily crouched down, hugging myself tightly into a ball, as if this could block out the external cold and give myself a little more warmth.

After a long time, I finally stood up trembling and took out my phone to call Mr. Reed.

"Mr. Reed, hello! There's something I'd like to discuss with you..."

Lauren received IV drips for three consecutive days. When she finally felt better and had some energy, she came to settle accounts with me.

She was an influencer with a modest online following. To gain streaming traffic, she rubbed her eyes red and cried pitifully online.

She accused me---a widow whose husband had died---of being jealous that she had a son, deliberately sending her contaminated food that nearly cost her her life.

My mother-in-law also appeared on camera to corroborate, saying I was extremely jealous and couldn't stand seeing the female neighbor living better than me.

The two sang in harmony, and the livestream's popularity skyrocketed with comments flying by rapidly.

"I was skeptical at first, but with the mother-in-law testifying, I believe it!"

"Shocking inside story---the widow neighbor is the murderer who personally pushed her husband downstairs to his death on Valentine's Day five years ago."

"A woman's heart is the most poisonous. She could even lay hands on her own husband, let alone a neighbor."

"Scum!"

The information was so explosive it immediately shot to the top of trending topics.

I became a rat everyone wanted to beat.

Many netizens threatened from afar to be careful, saying if they found me, they would teach me a good lesson on how to be human.

Everyone thought I would hide in fear, cowering at home and not daring to appear before the public again.

But I looked at the steadily climbing popularity and smiled with satisfaction, dialing the number for the city channel's hottest show, "Neighbor to Neighbor."

This was a program specializing in mediating neighborhood disputes, with a massive viewer base.

The show's director, recognizing my current high topic value, immediately agreed, wanting to ride this wave of traffic.

After I set a time with the director, I went to Lauren's place to clean.

I secretly used her phone to send a message to Sebastian.

"Honey, I'm feeling better. This afternoon is my last IV session. I should be home around 3:00. Bring the baby back then!"

Sebastian, who was nearly driven crazy by childcare, replied almost instantly.

"Okay."

I deleted the sent and received messages, put the phone back where it was, and sat back to wait for the show to begin.

At 3:00 PM, just as Sebastian was holding the baby in one arm and grasping the door handle with the other, I blocked him with the "Neighbor to Neighbor" production team.

I looked at him in full disguise, a flash of amusement quickly crossing my eyes, but my mouth cried out in panic:

"Catch him quickly! He's a thief! Stealing a child!"

A neighborhood mediation colliding with child theft?

This was heaven gifting them traffic!

The director was so excited all the wrinkles on his face smoothed out. He led the production team to quickly surround Sebastian, encircling him completely.

Sebastian was so frightened he trembled, shaking his head like a rattle drum, stammering:

"It wasn't me... I'm not a thief... didn't steal... didn't steal a child..."

I immediately refuted: "Sneaking around like that, anyone can see you're not a good person. If you weren't trying to steal the baby, why are you covered up so much you won't even show your eyes?"

"If you're not guilty, do you dare show your face?"

Of course Sebastian didn't dare show his face in front of me. He stammered, trying to find an excuse.

"My face is allergic... can't be exposed to light..."

The production team wasn't stupid either. No one believed his lie.

The director moved like lightning to snatch the baby from his arms, while others worked in perfect coordination to restrain him, removing his hat, sunglasses, and mask.

My voice rang out loud enough to be deafening: "Sebastian..."

The director's pupils contracted sharply upon hearing this. A husband who faked his death, a female neighbor who had a child out of wedlock---with his keen journalistic instincts, he knew God was determined to make this episode explode globally!