No More Lucky Star

Graham laughed as he held me in his arms, then told the butler to order a pure gold necklace for me.

"We can't mistreat our little lucky star. All these things are for Mindy from now on!"

My brothers and Jade stared at us in shock.

John glared at Graham and yelled, "Dad, how can you show so much favoritism toward Mindy? Jade is our real sister!"

Jade's eyes turned red at just the right moment, and she stubbornly lowered her head.

Graham quickly put me down and cleared his throat. "I've treated Jade as my own daughter all these years. Why would I play favorites? Didn't Jade say she liked that two-million-dollar necklace the other day? It will arrive at our home today."

Jade immediately broke into a cute smile and ran over to him. "Dad, you're the best! I thought you guys wouldn't care about me anymore after Mindy was born..."

Graham patted her head in a caring manner. "My sweet girl, you'll always be mommy and daddy's little princess."

Jade turned and shot me with a provocative smile. I couldn't understand why Jade was so hostile to me when I was just a year old, but it was obvious that she was determined to get rid of me right from the start.

Graham often asked me what to do for good luck, but I didn't always grant his wishes.

Every time they wanted me to share my luck with Jade, I would start crying. After that, the whole family would be hit with bad luck for a month.

My parents' business would go downhill, James would be set up by a competitor, Jimmy would run into poltergeists in the morgue, and John would be swindled out of all his money after he thought he met a talent scout.

The more it happened, the more they noticed the pattern, but they still couldn't figure out why.

But I was still less than two years old and barely able to speak, so I just pretended not to understand a word they said.

Jade's face grew darker. At this point, everyone started connecting the family's bad luck to her.

Then Graham made another bad decision and nearly bankrupted the company, and the whole family started to panic.

Jade covered her face and cried. "I'm the only one who keeps having bad luck! It must be because Mindy doesn't like me. If I leave, I won't drag everyone else down with me."

They all rushed over, anxious.

"Jade, it's not your fault. You're our daughter too. This will always be your home!" Amanda said.

"Yeah! If anyone's to blame, it's Mindy. She stole our luck, and that's why we keep having bad luck!" Jimmy said.

With just one sentence from him, Amanda then glared at me with resentment. "If only Jade were my real daughter. She's so sweet... Not like this one, who's already causing trouble when she's barely two years old."

Graham made up his mind on the spot and called the shaman to perform a ritual. "The shaman said Mindy can bring us good luck. I want to know why she's been making us unlucky instead!"

The shaman arrived and stared at me for a long time.

I pointed right at Jade and babbled, "Black...black..."

James's face turned sour. "Jade's clearly fair and pretty. She's just talking nonsense. No wonder we're unlucky."

The others didn't look happy either, and Jade's pitiful expression only made them feel worse.

To everyone's surprise, the shaman stroked his beard and said, "This has nothing to do with Miss Mindy. The real source of all this bad luck...is Miss Jade."