A Fatal Glow

My mother-in-law threatened to teach me a lesson about wasting money. While I was visiting my parents, she planned to team up with my sister-in-law and livestream themselves dumping my expensive skincare serum, worth thousands of dollars, down the toilet. "Once a woman gets married, she should learn to be frugal and take care of her household! This stuff is ridiculously expensive. Today, I'm dumping every last drop just to hear it splash!" "My sister-in-law is so vain! Mom is teaching her how to be a good wife!" "Going live at 2 pm sharp! We are cleaning out that wasteful woman's vanity!" The moment I saw the announcement in the family group chat, I started panicking. I immediately called my husband, Chester Lloyd, and begged him to stop them. "Stop your mother! Don't let her pour the stuff in those bottles by the sink down the toilet!" Chester sounded completely unconcerned. "What am I supposed to do? My mom can't stand watching you waste money. "They are just a few bottles of skincare products. So what if she dumps them? Why get upset with an older woman over something so trivial? "Once you learn to stop wasting money and start living frugally, I will buy you a cheaper set." I was frantic. "But ..." Before I could finish, Chester hung up and went back to his video game. The problem was, what she had taken was not skincare serum at all. It was highly concentrated industrial sulfuric acid, the kind that could trigger a violent explosion when it came into contact with water. Chapter 1 I listened to the video game kill sounds coming through my phone, followed by the cold, relentless tone of a disconnected call. My whole body trembled with panic. I was a chemical restoration specialist. To make it easier to work on certain restoration projects, I had converted a room in my house into a private workshop. It contained hazardous chemical reagents that I had properly registered and stored in compliance with safety regulations. I did not have my mother-in-law's or my sister-in-law, Jeannie Lloyd's, contact information, so my only option was to keep calling my husband, Chester Lloyd. I called him more than a dozen times in a row. Every single time, he hung up on me. With no other choice, I immediately hailed a cab from my parents' house and urged the driver to turn around and head back. Throughout the ride, I kept refreshing Jeannie's livestream. They were already live. The moment I saw what was happening, my hands began to shake uncontrollably. On the screen, the workshop door that I had securely locked was bent out of shape. The lock hung uselessly from the damaged door, and a hammer covered in wood shavings lay on the floor. The number of viewers was climbing rapidly. Jeannie greeted her audience excitedly. "If you just joined us, don't forget to follow my channel! If you like what you see, hit that like button. Let me see how many people are watching!" When I saw that they had already broken into my workshop, my legs nearly gave out. All I could do was frantically type warnings into the live chat. [Don't touch anything in there! Those are hazardous chemicals!] However, the livestream already had well over a hundred thousand viewers. Thousands of comments flew across the screen, and mine disappeared into the flood almost as soon as I sent them. Jeannie was too busy interacting with her followers to notice my warnings. There was nothing I could do but watch helplessly as my mother-in-law rummaged through my workbench. On the screen, she ripped the warning labels off my cabinets. Then she reached into the back and pulled out a specially designed, light-resistant glass bottle. "Everyone, take a look at this expensive skincare essence my good-for-nothing daughter-in-law bought! "This tiny little bottle costs over a thousand dollars! "She has nothing better to do than waste her time and money on all this beauty nonsense! "If she spent half as much time taking care of my son, she might actually be useful! "Today, I'm going to teach her who really runs this household!" Jeannie followed close behind with her phone, watching the viewer count soar as donation alerts kept popping up. She was grinning from ear to ear. "Everyone, you get to decide what happens to this ridiculously expensive essence! "If you want to see my mom dump it, send us some gifts! The bigger the donations, the harsher the punishment!" Watching from the other side of the screen, I could barely hold back my tears as their cruel words rang in my ears. Back when Chester and I were dating, he had warned me that his mother was domineering and controlling. However, he had repeatedly assured me that after we married, we would live our own lives and rarely have to deal with each other. I believed him. At first, my mother-in-law had been reasonably polite to me. However, everything changed when she learned how much money I spent on expensive restoration materials for my work. From that moment on, she strongly opposed me buying any more. In her eyes, a married woman should learn to live frugally and spend her money on her family and husband instead of wasting it on herself. She was always saying that since I had married into their family, I should put my husband and household first and fulfill my duties as a wife. To her, all those little bottles and jars were nothing but useless luxuries. Spending money on them made me vain, wasteful and utterly irresponsible. At first, I dismissed her attitude as nothing more than outdated thinking from an older generation. I patiently explained to her, time and time again, that those materials were essential to my work. However, as far as my mother-in-law was concerned, I was simply being disrespectful and talking back. Time and again, she sent messages through Chester, ordering me to throw away every last bottle and jar in my workshop. Not a single one was to remain. I stood my ground and refused to give in. I thought she would eventually drop the matter. What I never expected was that she would take advantage of my visit to my parents' house to pull a stunt like that with Jeannie on a livestream. "Send me an expensive gift, and you get to decide what happens to this bottle of essence!" Her words immediately sent the audience into a frenzy. Virtual gift animations flashed across the screen as comments flooded the chat. [Streamer, dump that thousand-dollar bottle straight into the toilet! Let's see if you're actually crazy enough to do it!] Similar comments quickly flooded the chat, and more and more viewers joined in the taunting. Seeing the donation alerts pop up one after another, Jeannie agreed without a second thought. Chapter 2 "Coming right up! I'll make it happen!" Holding the light-resistant glass bottle filled with highly concentrated sulfuric acid, my mother-in-law turned and walked out of the workshop. Step by step, she headed toward the bathroom. Jeannie propped her phone on the bathroom sink and adjusted the angle until the camera pointed directly at the toilet. "Everyone, today you are going to see just how much of a rip-off this thousand-dollar bottle really is! "If you want to watch my mom dump it out herself, send gifts and hit that like button! She is opening it right now!" The livestream instantly came alive. Virtual gift animations flashed across the screen as comments flooded the chat. [Come on, streamer! Make it count! Dump the whole bottle in! Don't leave a single drop!] [Exactly! That vain woman needs to learn her lesson!] After reading the comments, Jeannie immediately urged her mother-in-law on. "Mom, everyone says you should dump the whole thing!" My mother-in-law nodded approvingly. "Something this useless and overpriced is a waste of money just sitting around!" Meanwhile, I was sweating bullets on the other side of the screen. That is highly concentrated industrial sulfuric acid! I thought in horror. If it came into contact with the water in the toilet, the reaction would release an enormous amount of heat. The acid could splatter violently, turning the entire bathroom into a living nightmare. I frantically typed comment after comment. [Stop! Don't open the bottle!] [That isn't cosmetics! It can react violently with water!] [And breaking into my workshop is illegal! Get out immediately!] However, no matter how frantic I became, I could not stop them. [LOL, who is this? If you are going to make up a story, at least make it believable.] [It will explode when it touches water? What do you think this is? A movie?] [Breaking and entering? This is the streamer's brother's house. His mother has every right to enter her own son's home!] [Why are you making such a fuss over a few bottles of water?] I wanted to argue with them, but every comment I sent vanished almost immediately. All I could do was call Chester again. A moment ago, the call had gone through, even if he had hung up on me. This time, however, an icy, automated female voice answered immediately. "We are sorry. The number you've dialed is currently busy." Chester had blocked me. I was on the verge of tears, but I forced myself to stay calm. I opened my contacts and found the number for the apartment complex's management office. "Hello, is this the management office? I'm the owner of Unit 1201, Building 8, Block 3. "Someone has broken into my home and is tampering with dangerous chemicals. Someone could die at any moment! "Please, send security over immediately and get the people in the bathroom out of there!" After hanging up, I fixed my eyes on the livestream. A few minutes later, urgent knocking sounded from the front door. "Hello? Anyone home? This is security conducting a routine check!" Jeannie stopped what she was doing and turned toward the bathroom door. Looking thoroughly annoyed, my mother-in-law set down the bottle and stormed out, muttering under her breath. "What is all that banging for? Are you trying to knock the door off its hinges?" Although the camera could not show what was happening at the entrance, her sharp voice came through loud and clear. "What are you checking for? We own this place!" The security guard sounded hesitant. "Ma'am, the homeowner called and said there were dangerous substances in the house. We came to make sure everything was all right." My mother-in-law flew into a rage. "What dangerous substances? That is nothing but cosmetics my wasteful daughter-in-law bought! "I came here today to teach my daughter-in-law a lesson. This has nothing to do with you! "This is a private family matter. What gives you security guards the right to interfere? "Get out of here! If you don't leave right now, I will file a complaint with your supervisor!" The guard was too intimidated to argue back. Soon, the area outside the door fell silent. My mother-in-law returned to the bathroom, looking triumphant. She picked up the light-resistant glass bottle again. Her rough fingers settled around the sealed cap, and she began twisting it with all her strength. Chapter 3 The taxi sped down the road. I stared at my phone, my eyes fixed on my mother-in-law's hands on the livestream. Her fingers were already gripping the cap of the light-resistant glass bottle. My ordinary comments were swallowed up by the flood of messages almost instantly, making them completely useless. I opened the paid interaction page on the livestream and sent the highest-value Super Chat without a moment's hesitation. A bright animation announcing the paid message immediately caught everyone's attention. Jeannie finally stopped what she was doing. Her eyes lit up, and she hurried back in front of the camera, thanking the donor over and over. "Thank you so much for your generous Super Chat!" "Wow, you are incredibly generous! Just tell me how much you want us to dump out. I promise to give you a show you won't forget!" While Jeannie's attention was completely focused on the donation, I quickly typed out a warning. [This is Xena! That bottle contains highly concentrated industrial sulfuric acid! Don't touch it, and whatever you do, don't add water! Put the bottle down immediately or I'm calling the police!] The warning appeared in bright red text in the livestream chat and remained visible for a full five seconds. Jeannie froze. The smile on her face stiffened as she stared at the screen, reading the message several times as if she could not believe her eyes. My mother-in-law noticed that she had stopped moving and leaned over to take a look. The moment she read the warning, she froze for a second, too. Then, both of them burst into deafening laughter. Jeannie laughed so hard she doubled over, tears nearly spilling from her eyes. "Oh my God! I thought some big spender had shown up. It turns out it is just my sister-in-law!" She turned to my mother-in-law. "Mom, look at this! Xena is freaking out! "She is so desperate to protect that bottle that she is making up stories about it being sulfuric acid! Now she is even threatening to have us arrested!" My mother-in-law leaned toward the camera, her face twisted in scorn and her eyes filled with contempt. "Call the police? Go ahead! See if I care! "Xena, do you think everyone watching is stupid? Who in their right mind would put sulfuric acid in such a fancy bottle? "You will tell any lie to protect a few lousy bottles of water! Why not just tell everyone it is full of explosives while you are at it? "Now that you are married into the Lloyd family, you have to follow the Lloyd family's rules! "Let me make one thing perfectly clear. Even the police have no business interfering in our family affairs! I'm dumping this bottle today and nothing is going to stop me!" The viewers erupted. [Holy crap! The woman herself just showed up! Now this is getting good!] [It’s no wonder she was freaking out! So, the bottle really is hers! Hahaha!] [This woman is ridiculously vain. She is making up stories about it being sulfuric acid just to protect her makeup. ] [Come on, streamer! Everyone is watching! If you back down now, she will walk all over you forever!] [Stand your ground! Dump it already! We've got your back!] For the sake of the show, Jeannie immediately clicked on my profile. "Guys, my sister-in-law is such a buzzkill! All she does is lie. I'm kicking her out so we can get back to the fun!" The next second, a notification appeared on my screen. [You've been removed from the livestream by the streamer.] "Please, just drive faster!" I begged the driver. "I will pay the ticket if you run a red light!" The moment the taxi stopped downstairs at my apartment building, I threw open the door and sprinted outside. I had barely reached the entrance when I ran into Chester, who was leisurely heading downstairs to buy cigarettes after finishing his video game. He was carrying a plastic convenience store bag, a freshly lit cigarette dangling from his lips. He was also holding up his phone, where Jeannie's livestream was still playing. He was my last hope.I rushed over and grabbed his arm. "Quick! Call your mother! "Tell her to put the bottle down! It is highly concentrated sulfuric acid! Someone could actually die!" The force of my sudden approach made Chester stumble. Ash fell onto his shirt. He shoved me away with an annoyed look, using enough force that I nearly fell over. "Are you ever going to stop? "It is just a bottle of cosmetics! Do you've to act like a lunatic and scream about it in the middle of the street? "My mom just can't stand how you waste money, so she is teaching you a lesson. Just shut up and take it! That stuff cost thousands of dollars? Fine. Let her dump it. Consider it money well spent on a lesson you clearly need." I shouted so loudly that my voice trembled. "I'm not lying! It really is sulfuric acid! It is a chemical reagent I use for work!" Chester sneered, his eyes full of contempt. "Xena, you are being so dramatic. "Was putting on that whole act in the livestream not enough? Do you now have to perform for me in person, too? "Let me make this clear. I'm not stopping my mother. You need to learn to stop wasting money. Otherwise, who knows how much more junk you will bring into this house?" While we struggled, Jeannie's excited voice suddenly came through Chester's phone. "Guys, my mom is about to do it!" I whipped around to look at the screen. On the livestream, my mother-in-law was determined to prove that I had been lying. She twisted the cap off with all her strength, aimed the bottle of concentrated sulfuric acid at the standing water in the toilet, and poured most of it in without hesitation. "Watch closely, everyone! I'm dumping it right now! Let us see if it explodes!" It was over. There was nothing I could do anymore. The moment the liquid hit the water in the toilet, a loud splash was followed by an ear-splitting explosion that seemed to shake the entire room.