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On the day the daughter-in-law of the Brooks family gave birth in Breezewood Village, a wandering Taoist predicted one twin would be a blessing star. Yet when the elder brother Leon was born, disaster struck the fields; when the younger, Robby, arrived, long-awaited rain came. Declared a curse, Leon was abandoned at five and left to fend for himself. Only Nora Ward, a sharp-tongued widow, offered him kindness, and soon, fortune followed her. As prosperity grew and a city teacher, James Zook, entered her life, villagers began to fear again that Leon’s “curse” had returned.