It was indeed shocking. Madam Lu actually looked so...exceptionally gifted. She was tall with a frame that seemed to measure between one meter ninety and two meters, easily half a head taller than the not-so-short, peach-eyed Master Lu.
Her features were also unlike the soft beauty of women, with a large nose and mouth, and even sporting a light beard, it was truly a man’s face.
She looked as if she had a severe excess of male hormones.
But it wasn’t just her ugliness; she also wore heavy makeup. The blush on her cheeks was as red as a monkey’s bottom, quite glaring to look at, and indeed, she resembled a man dressed in women’s makeup.
Madam Lu, with a pleasing smile on her face, handed a delicate basket to the handsome Master Lu, who received it with great disgust, shooing her off toward the women’s side as if swatting away a fly.
Madam Lu, however, was not perturbed, saying, "Oh my son, won’t you see if what mom prepared pleases you?"
When she spoke, it turned out she had a voice like a drake’s.
This led to a burst of laughter from the men around Master Lu.
"Master Lu, is that your mother or your father, haha..."
Master Lu, with his face turning bright red with restraint, quickly urged Madam Lu to leave.
"I’m satisfied, satisfied!" He spoke hurriedly without even looking: "Alright, go over there. You could have had a maid bring this. What’s the meaning of this? It’s beneath your dignity; you’ll be the laughingstock of others."
Madam Lu, in a loud voice, retorted: "Who dares to laugh at me? I’ll tear them to pieces."
No sooner had she spoken than a middle-aged man approached with a cold face, snorting, "Who are you going to tear to pieces? Me?"
This middle-aged man bore a strong resemblance to Master Lu – it was General Lu himself.
Seeing the angry look on General Lu’s face, Madam Lu sheepishly returned to the women’s side.
Lin Qianqing was already laughing uncontrollably, yet she desperately tried to hide behind Gu Youyou.
The other madams and misses, as well as the men opposite, were pointing and whispering behind covered hands, occasionally laughing out loud.
Gu Youyou thought that the Lu Family had probably become quite the joke in Beijing.
In ancient times, women had little entertainment, and they loved to chat about the scandals of others. No wonder Lin Qianqing knew so much about the Lu Residence.
Qianqing said with a laugh: "Cousin, see, this is Madam Lu. It’s said that when General Lu lifted her veil on their wedding night and saw her for the first time, he was sobered from fright and vomited out all the wine he had drunk during the day. The next day, he clamored to divorce her.
But it was the elder Madam Lu who strongly persuaded him otherwise, saying that this marriage was arranged by the late Elder General Lu, and that there was no noble family in the current era that would divorce a bride the day after the wedding. She told him to take another look, and if the wife had a good temperament, it wouldn’t hurt to keep her.
The elder Madam Lu was also extremely surprised, as she had seen Madam Lu when she was a child and she was pretty back then; no one knows how she ended up growing into her current appearance."
Seeing that the ceremony couldn’t start for a while and the madams and misses were all gathered in groups chatting, Gu Youyou also became interested in the gossip about the Lu Residence.
"And how did she end up as a concubine afterwards?"
"General Lu simply couldn’t bring himself to be intimate with her, and since the Lu Family couldn’t be without an heir, the elder Madam Lu had no choice but to let him take several concubines. Although Madam Lu had the appearance of a man, her jealousy was not trivial. Using her status as the principal wife, she harmed two pregnant concubines of the house in a row; in a fit of rage, General Lu demoted her to a concubine.
But after all, she was the legitimate daughter of the Minister of Personnel. A legitimate daughter becoming a concubine did not look good for the Minister. With his higher rank, he found a fault with General Lu and wouldn’t let it go, using it to threaten and eventually restore her status as the primary wife."