2

Actually, I’ve known since I was a child that my parents didn’t love me. Because they had divorced once because of me. The year I was born, my father happened to lose his job. From that moment on, my father regarded me as a unlucky person. “It’s all her fault for bringing bad luck to me. Ever since she was born, nothing has gone right for me. I think she was born to bring misfortune to me!” Ever since I can remember, my father has always said such things in front of me. The look in his eyes was filled with disgust, contempt, and even a hint of hatred. This disgust, coupled with his poverty, slowly took root in his heart, becoming an uncontrollable demon. One day, he placed his hands around my neck and slowly tightened his grip. Though I was too young to understand death, I had already learned to read people's expressions. My father's gaze made me feel endless panic and fear, so I instinctively burst into tears, which attracted my mother who was cooking in the kitchen. “Arno, have you lost your mind? She’s your daughter!” At that time, my mother would protect me. But she was as weak as I was. Her scolding made her father even angrier. The two of them quarreled hysterically right in front of me, as if they were sworn enemies with a deep blood feud. Dad didn't even care that Mom was pregnant with her second child and slapped her hard with his full arm. "Dare to rebel against me? I see you're tired of life. Don't forget who's been supporting you these years. You eat my food and use mine, and still dare to talk to me loudly. If I had known you were so useless, I shouldn't have married you!" " Mom was stunned by that slap all of a sudden. Dad's words were like knives, stabbing her one by one. I ran over and hugged Dad’s legs, crying and begging him not to hit Mom. “It’s Valerie’s fault. Valerie shouldn’t have made Dad angry. Mom has a little sister in her belly. You can’t hit her…” But these words seemed to only fuel Dad’s anger further. “You can’t even give birth to a son. Are you even a woman?” Mom sat on the ground with wide eyes, trembling uncontrollably, and screamed like a madwoman. “Arno, you’re a beast! I’m divorcing you!” “Divorce? Fine! I've had enough of this damned life!!” At that moment, our family was completely shattered. As it was the mother who first proposed the divorce and the marital relationship had indeed broken down, the staff eventually agreed to the couple's request for divorce. It was just about my custody, but the two couldn't reach an agreement and eventually even took it to court. “You gave birth to that brat; why don't you want her? Just don't give her to me. I'm still in the startup phase; I have no money and no time. I absolutely won't raise her!” “Arno, you have no heart at all. I'm still pregnant with another one, and I have no income. How am I supposed to raise her?” “Do whatever you want. If it comes to that, you and your daughter can go out and beg on the streets. There are so many kind-hearted people nowadays; they won’t just stand by and watch you starve to death!” “Listen to yourself! How could I have been so blind to marry someone like you!” They argued fiercely, neither willing to back down. Little me sat on the chair, head down, unable to stop crying. In the end, the judge awarded custody to my father. My father initially refused, but agreed only after my mother promised to provide regular child support. But as soon as we left the courthouse, he hailed a black car and sent me back to my uncle’s house in the countryside. “Raise her however you want, even if it means feeding her pig food every day. If she starves to death, it's her own fault for having bad luck.” He had the taxi driver relay this message to my uncle. So once I arrived in the countryside, you can imagine how my life turned out. My birth was a mistake from the very beginning. But even so, every midnight when I woke up, I couldn't help but think of my mother and the baby in her womb. But I never expected that three months after I returned to the countryside, my parents suddenly remarried. Because my younger sister was born. I thought she,like me, was a daughter and wouldn't be favored by my father either. But surprisingly, she easily won my father's entire affection. Because on the day she was born, my father's business venture succeeded. Compared to me, the unlucky one, she was my father’s lucky star. And I was destined to be the one they abandoned forever. Just like now, when the company is facing a financial crisis and needs a daughter to marry an elderly man worth over a billion as his concubine, they think of me first.