Because my husband had been absent for a long time, my daughter Amelia believed I was the mistress.

"They all say you had me as a mistress. I don't want a mom like you!"

I tried to explain to her, but she wouldn't listen. While I was asleep, she secretly took pictures of my severe tear from a difficult birth and posted them in the parent group chat with the caption: [I'm a shameless mistress. I'm disgusting and ugly. I deserve it.]

I was shamed and insulted by everyone. Amelia even personally led my husband's childhood friend to my home, letting them in to confront and beat me.

"Eva, hurry up and beat her to death. Then I can leave her and call you mom."

I was beaten and stripped. They exposed the ugly scars on my stomach and hung a rusty lock on them, planning to parade me in the streets.

But how could Amelia know that the grandmother she always longed for never actually disapproved of me?

She disapproved of her granddaughter simply because she was a girl.

——

At dawn, I woke up from the cold and realized my pants were missing. My clothes were pulled up high.

Amelia was sitting quietly at the foot of the bed, playing with my phone.

When she saw I was awake, there was a hint of disgust on her young face.

"The woman is awake. I'm done talking."

I didn't notice her inappropriate tone. I quickly pulled down my clothes and questioned her, "Who were you talking to on the phone so early? Why didn't you stay in bed instead of playing with my phone?"

Amelia looked at me holding her hand, the disdain in her eyes barely concealed.

"Let go of me. It's none of your business."

I refused to let go. She struggled violently, even biting my fingers.

The pain made me instinctively release her, causing her to lose balance and fall to the ground.

Her tears immediately started flowing from the pain.

"Eva was right. You're a vicious mom, a mistress, a shameless tramp!

"Wah! I don't want a mom like you. Go away!"

After saying that, she dashed into the bedroom and locked the door before I could react.

No matter how much I knocked, she wouldn't open the door.

Worried that she might harm herself, I didn't care what Eva had been teaching her.

I anxiously explained, "Amelia, I'm not a mistress. Don't listen to others' nonsense.

"Please open the door. I'm worried about you."

But Amelia shouted hysterically from inside the room, "You're lying! If you're not a mistress, why doesn't Dad come home every day?

"Grandma doesn't acknowledge you, so she doesn't come to see me. You're a mistress!"

Amelia's screams felt like a dull knife stabbing into my chest, each word bringing deep pain.

She didn't know that the grandmother she longed for didn't reject me but rather rejected her as a granddaughter.

But Amelia stubbornly believed that the grandmother who had wanted to throw her away after birth and had threatened to cut ties with me was only doing so because of me.

I looked at the closed door and recalled those painful memories.

For some reason, memories that had never felt painful now caused my heart to ache.

I sighed and told Amelia it was still early. I urged her to get some more sleep before dragging my exhausted body back to my room.

As soon as I stepped into my bedroom, the phone Amelia had thrown on the floor started ringing.

It was Amelia's teacher.

I was confused. The voice on the other end was angry.

"The parent group chat discusses the children's progress.

"Please refrain from posting inappropriate photos in the future."

I was completely baffled.

"What photos? I haven't posted anything in the group."

The teacher didn't explain further and just told me to check the group.

Feeling utterly confused, I opened the group chat. After scrolling through over 99+ unread messages, I found that I had posted photos of my severely torn and scarred lower body and the stretch marks on my stomach.

And I had added the caption: [I'm a shameless mistress. I'm disgusting and ugly. I deserve this.]

There were many nasty comments from other parents.

[How could you post something so disgusting in the group?]

[Your conduct is questionable. You shouldn't disgust everyone like this.]

[A mistress should die along with her entire family. How dare you post this?]

I stood there in shock, the sound of the phone dropping snapping me back to reality. When I looked up, I saw Amelia standing at the door, glaring at me with hatred.

"Now they all know you're a mistress! Shameless! You're a bad woman!" she shouted.

After saying that, she ran out without looking back.

Worried about her safety, I quickly chased after her. I finally caught her in the stairwell and immediately scolded her,

"Where are you running off to? What if you fall?"

But Amelia frowned and looked up at me. In an instant, she forcefully pushed me down the stairs.

The intense pain caused me to briefly lose consciousness. Instinctively, I reached out to grab her as she tried to run away.

"Amelia, help me," I pleaded.

I could feel blood running down my leg, possibly even reaching her feet. She stepped away in disgust.

"Let go, you filthy woman. You're disgusting."

With that, her blurry figure quickly disappeared from my sight.

It took a long while before I regained feeling in my limbs. I sat up and started walking home.

I wanted to take out my phone to call the police, but Eva's message popped up.

She didn't say anything. She just sent a video.

In the video, Amelia was sitting in Eva's lap, laughing and they seemed very close.

I felt a sense of relief seeing Amelia was safe. But then Amelia said to Eva, "My mommy is so shameless for being Daddy's mistress.

"She's so ugly. Her face is ugly, her belly is ugly, and her hair falls out like a bald person."

Eva held her and smiled, asking, "She's your mommy."

Amelia scrunched up her little face and said to Eva, "She's not my mommy. Eva, can you be my mommy? Grandma likes you. If you were my mommy, Grandma would like me too.

"And last time she came to my school's sports day, she couldn't even hold her pee while jumping rope. It was so embarrassing. I don't want someone like that as my mommy."

The cruelest words came out in Amelia's innocent voice, piercing like a curse.

After giving birth to her, I didn't have the energy or time for postpartum recovery. So I silently endured embarrassing issues like incontinence caused by childbirth.

I never imagined my observant daughter would notice. Instead of understanding, she found me disgusting.

Just as I was heartbroken, Eva suddenly sent another message: [Sorry, Mia. I accidentally sent it to the wrong person.]

[I was planning to send it to a group of 500 people so everyone could have a good laugh.]

[Luckily, I just sent it there again.]

I was still hesitating on how to reply to Eva, to ask her not to manipulate and mislead my child.

The next second, the door suddenly opened.

Thinking it was a thief, I immediately sat up and looked over.

I saw Amelia struggling to open the door on tiptoes. When she saw me approaching, she immediately pointed at me and shouted, "This is my Mommy!

"Eva, hurry and beat this evil woman to death so I can go with you!"

Before I could think further, Eva barged in with a group of people.

"This is the shameless woman who knowingly became a mistress and insisted on having a child with my husband.

"Today, we'll carry out justice and show her the consequences of destroying someone else's marriage."

I angrily spoke up, "Eva, you're trespassing. You know..."

Before I could finish, a middle-aged woman rushed over and pushed me to the ground. She straddled me, slapping me left and right.

"I don't care about your house. I hate mistresses the most in my life. Shameless bitches like you don't deserve to live!"

The woman was incredibly strong. Just a few slaps had me seeing stars, dizzy and disoriented.

She wanted to hit me again, but Eva pulled her up.

"What's the use of just slapping? No wonder you can't outfight that vixen."

Then she turned to the others behind her.

"Strip her clothes off! Let everyone see how these vixens use their bodies to seduce men!"

Following her orders, the group swarmed over, tearing my clothes and pulling out my hair.

I struggled with all my might but couldn't fight off so many people. Instinctively, I looked toward Amelia, crying and pleading, "Amelia, please call Daddy, okay? You know his number.

"Just one call and Daddy will know I'm not a mistress. Please..."

But Amelia just held the phone she was using to take pictures and took a few steps back.

"I don't want to. Eva said mistresses always lie. You'll just trick Daddy into defending you."

I had hoped that Amelia, seeing her mommy being hurt, would have a change of heart and save me.

Instead, she became the sharpest blade that hurt me.

I closed my eyes, hiding the pain within. With all my strength, I broke free from everyone and ran into the house.

Eva panicked and shouted from behind, "Stop her! Don't let her lock the door!"

Before they could react, I quickly locked the door and started searching inside.

Finally, I found the marriage certificate, but then I heard Amelia's voice.

"Don't worry, Eva. I have the key."

As soon as she finished speaking, I heard the sound of Amelia running back and forth.

With the turning of the lock, the bedroom door swung open.

The crowd was about to rush in, but I shouted, "Wait, I have a marriage certificate!"

Everyone was stunned for a moment. But Eva walked up and snatched the marriage certificate from my hand.

She glanced at it and immediately tore it apart.

"Don't let her fool you.

"It's a fake certificate bought online. She filled in some details and added a photo, thinking it was real.

"I know my husband. I know if you're the mistress. Keep stripping her!"

Hearing Eva's words, everyone hesitated no more and pressed on.

My already tattered clothes couldn't cover me anymore. They were completely torn off.

Eva arrogantly pointed at the stretch marks on my belly and laughed.

"How ugly. Did you use this disgusting body to seduce Luke? Hahaha," said Eva, laughing.

As Eva laughed, all the women in the room joined in, even Amelia peeking from the doorway.

I closed my eyes, feeling an overwhelming rage.

"You've laughed enough. Can you leave now?" I said.

I was exhausted. Especially with Amelia outside. I really didn't want her to see me like this.

But Eva wasn't ready to let me go.

"Enough? As a mistress, anything we do to you is justified.

"Ladies, put a chastity lock on her. Take her out and teach her some manners," said Eva.

I seemed to understand something from Eva's laughter. I struggled desperately.

"No. What are you doing? This is illegal!" I shouted.

"Stop!" I screamed.

But no amount of screaming could help. A group of them held me down. They lifted my legs and pushed a large iron hook through my already scarred skin.

The excruciating pain made me scream in agony. But no one flinched. They quickly hung a rusty, heavy lock on the two holes they made. Bright red blood flowed onto the floor.

Seeing the lock in place, Eva sneered.

"Alright. Let's go," said Eva.

Then they dragged me by my remaining hair, forcing me to crawl towards the door.

Just as the door opened, we were met by the police, called by a concerned neighbor.

With just one look, the officer frowned in shock.

"What are you doing?!" the officer demanded.

The group never thought my cries would lead to a neighbor calling the police. They began to panic, avoiding eye contact with the officer.

But the officer walked straight over. He saw my condition and the trail of blood behind me.

"Do you know this is illegal?!" the officer said.