Gwyneth's voice went shrill, and in one second every customer in the restaurant turned to look.
The two influencers caught on instantly, locking their cameras onto Gwyneth's belly.
Under the eyes of every customer in the room and every viewer online, the fabric of Gwyneth's pants slowly darkened with red.
She stared at that patch of red and burst into sobs, her voice thick with despair.
"I'm bleeding!"
"My baby, my baby isn't moving!"
"There's something wrong with the food here. I only ate a few bites, and now my baby's stopped moving!"
At the sight of it, every customer in the place went pale.
"Oh my God, can food actually make a pregnant woman miscarry?"
"What on earth did they put in this dish?"
"That's terrifying. Didn't they say this place was opened by a state-banquet head chef? What kind of ingredients are they using?"
Customers gasped and set down their forks. A few of them started gagging right where they sat.
In an instant, food that had filled the room with its aroma became poison in everyone's eyes.
Gwyneth lay half-slumped in her chair, clutching her belly and wailing without pause, looking pitiful and in agony.
The two influencers played their parts with practiced ease.
One pushed the camera in close, snapping tight shots of the blood spreading across Gwyneth's pants.
The other shouted at the tens of thousands watching the livestream, his voice hot with outrage.
"Everyone, look at this. Gwyneth is seven months pregnant. She came out of pure kindness to support her best friend's restaurant, and after just a few bites she's bleeding. She could lose the baby!"
"We've been filming and streaming this whole time. All Gwyneth ate today was the food from this restaurant, and then she suddenly started hemorrhaging. There is definitely something wrong with the food."
"State-banquet head chef? Devoted best friend? These are just a heartless husband and wife who'd kill for money. A restaurant this rotten, anyone who walks in is asking for trouble!"
With them fanning the flames, the viewers online turned furious in a heartbeat. The screen filled wall to wall with abuse.
"My God, this place hides behind a state-banquet head chef's name, and this is the garbage they serve? They can make a pregnant woman miscarry after two bites?"
"You can tell at a glance they're a pair of rotten, evil animals. Call the cops and arrest them now!"
"Yes, call the police. This place needs to be investigated!"
"Exactly. A murderous, money-grubbing restaurant like this has to be shut down hard, or who knows how many innocent people will get hurt!"
The stream's numbers exploded. Everyone was cursing me as a monster without a shred of conscience, wishing me a quick and sudden death.
Some of the more worked-up customers even threw fish bones at me, saying I didn't deserve to live.
Facing the flood of curses and humiliation, I said nothing. I only looked coldly at Gwyneth.
Right now she lay half-slumped in her chair, face twisted with pain, crying as she pointed at me, her voice raw with grief.
"Hope, we grew up together. We've been best friends since we were little."
"Your restaurant opened and I came, big belly and all, to support you and promote it. Why would you do this to me? Why would you feed me poisoned food?"
"My husband and I tried for three years to have this baby. We finally got pregnant. Do you hate to see me happy that much…"
Gwyneth cried until she couldn't get the words out, as if I'd wounded her body and soul.
In my last life, seeing her like this, I panicked and didn't know what to do.
I kept explaining that every dish had passed strict quality inspection, that there was absolutely nothing wrong, while I rushed the ambulance to hurry.
But before the ambulance even arrived, the baby in her belly was already dead in the womb.
Because of it, I fell into deep self-doubt for a long time. If she hadn't told me everything herself in the end, I might have gone to my grave without ever understanding what had really happened.
Living it all again, watching her put on that picture of unbearable grief, I felt perfectly calm inside.
Since she was cruel enough to use the dead fetus in her own belly to destroy me, she had no right to expect any mercy from me.
