Chapter 306 After Dying, I Woke Up In Ancient Times With My Pharmacy 5.0
The Lu mansion was quite large. Considering the amount of family members that had to be accommodated, it wasn't all that surprising.
Besides the Matriarch, Prime minister Lu's mother, the Prime minister himself had one official wife, one secondary wife, three concubines and nine children -six males and three females.
When Fang Lan lost her position as official wife 2 years ago, the secondary wife, Bai Yun, had taken over the position of main wife and when she returned with Lu Xuilan, she did not dare to resume her position but remained as a concubine in her courtyard with her daughter.
This meant that there were now one official wife and four concubines.
That very morning, they all gathered at the grand hall to pay their respects to the Matriach. The first to arrive were the official wife, Bai Yun with her daughter, Lu Yunyue and her son, Lu Peng.
The moment Bai Yun became Lu Qian's official wife, her children had automatically gotten the position of official Eldest young miss and Eldest young master.
Lu Yunyue was actually the first born daughter in the household and was older than Lu Xuilan by a couple of months. As for Lu Peng, he was the third born son.
The second Lu Yunyue walked into the hall, a smile graced the Matriarch's lips. The young girl was a beauty of Nation destroying proportions. When she was born, a Taoist priest had divined that she was destined for greatness.
Destined to be above all but one. What else could such a divination possibly mean if not that she had the fate of the Phoenix? A natural born Empress!
Lu Yunyue finally got to the front of the hall and her eyes lit up beautifully. "Grandmother!" She lowered herself gracefully in a perfect curtsey. "Yunyue has come to pay her respects. Wishing grandmother good health and a prosperous day."
Bai Yun and Lu Peng were right behind with their greetings.
"This daughter-in-law is wishing Mother an eventful day."
"Greetings grandmother."
After the greeting, Lu Yunyue climbed the dias and took over from the Matriach's head servant in gently massaging the woman's neck.
The Matriarch smiled helplessly. "Yunyue, you don't have to do that. What if you develop callouses on your beautiful hands? Not a single part of your body should be ruined else I might get blamed..." Since no outsider was present, she didn't hold back from saying, "...By the future Emperor..."
Lu Yunyue blushed. "Grandmother must be joking. What future Emperor? Unlike second sister who is already bethroded to the Fifth prince, this granddaughter doesn't even have a suitor yet!"
Bai Yun rolled her eyes with a sneer. "The physical state of the Fifth prince isn't news in the Capital. I'm afraid even if he wasn't bethrothed to Lu Xuilan, no one else would want him!"
The Matriarch frowned but remained silent, showing her agreement and Bai Yun felt much better inside. She'd been really irritated since Lu Qian gave the order to bring Fang Lan and Lu Xuilan back. She'd even sent out some thugs to finish them on the way but apparently the idiots hadn't been successful!
With Lu Xuilan's bethrothal to the Fifth prince, it was only a matter of time before the little slut used the power of the prince to pressure Lu Qian into giving the position of official wife to her mother!
Thinking of this, Bai Yun felt a sense of crisis. She'd worked so hard to become the official wife of the right Prime minister so how could she just let it go without a fight? She wasn't willing!
She had to apply pressure on Lu Qian so he could hasten up Lu Yunyue's bethrothal to one of the other princes -preferably the one who had the best shot at the throne. By then, she wouldn't have to worry about Lu Xuilan or the Fifth prince.
Afterall, a prince who would never have the chance to ascend the throne was useless compared to a true contender.
From behind the Matriarch, Lu Yunyue eyed her mother's expression and satisfaction bloomed in her heart. The desperation she saw in her mother's eyes was exactly what she wanted.
In fact, she wanted to thank Lu Xuilan. Afterall, if the slut hadn't returned to the Capital because of that bethrothal to the useless prince, her mother wouldn't try to hasten up her own bethrothal to a prince.
Lu Yunyue could barely restrain her smile at the end. The faces of the other princes flashed in her mind. They were all very handsome in their own unique way. Who to choose? Aaahh the options were too much, her head ached from thinking so much!
The others soon began arriving at the hall to pay their respects. Starting from Concubine Shi, the mother of Lu Jingye and the Leaser, Lu Wenduo. She had come without her sons because it was forbidden in the Lu home for Lu Jingye to leave his courtyard and as for Lu Wenduo... Well he was currently unconscious.
Shi Meifen was a quiet woman who minded her business and although she looked drained because of her troubles, she did her best to hide it and smile at the Matriarch. "This concubine wishes the Matriarch a blissful day."
The Matriarch barely acknowledged Shi Meifen. She simply eyed the woman from head to toe before looking away. She did not like this Shi person at all.
Why? Well...
The first son the woman gave birth to had suddenly fallen terribly ill two years later. So ill that he constantly slipped in and out of consciousness even until this moment. As for fhe second son she'd given birth to... He was cursed.
What kind of child was born with silvery white hair and abnormally coloured eyes? Even the Taoist priest had said the child was bad luck from birth. The only reason Lu Qian hadn't killed off the cursed being was due to a moment of weakness when Shi Meifen had pleaded with her life.
The Matriarch humphed. As long as that boy existed, she would never be settled. From the moment the boy was born, she'd been getting less and less returns in her businesses. Not just that, even Lu Qian seemed to have made less achievements as a Prime minister too.
None of the male children were married and the amount of banquet invites that the Lus had received over the years were much less too.
Lu Yunyue was still not bethrothed up till now and even Fang Lan had returned to the Lu mansion, staining the Lu home with the filth of the destroyed Fang family.
The list was endless and if this wasn't due to the bad luck radiating from that boy then she would swallow her own tongue! This was the reason she'd forbidden the boy from ever appearing before her -or even leaving his courtyard for that matter.
Things were already bad enough as it was.
The Matriarch eyed Shi Meifen thoughtfully. Maybe she should also forbid this concubine from appearing before her in the future. Afterall, the woman hanged around that curse all day long so it was natural that some of his bad luck had rubbed off on her.
Hence why things weren't going smoothly for the rest of them even when the curse hadn't shown his face here since he was a baby.
As soon as Shi Meifen moved to the side to stand obediently, the remaining members of the Lu family walked in.
Fang Lan and Lu Xuilan walked in first, Lin Liang and her daughter, Lu Zhenzhen walked in next and coming in last place were Tan Hong and two of her three sons, Lu Yi and Lu Aiguo.
After they all echoed their greetings, Lu Zhenzhen turned to Lu Xuilan with a mocking smile. "Eldest sis-" She paused with a gasp and raised a hands to her lips. "Silly me, I forgot you are no longer the official daughter. I meant to say Second sister.
-How have you been? I had attended a gathering of the noble ladies and Imperial princesses so I failed to welcome you yesterday. I hope you forgive my slight."
Lu Xuilan eyed the troublemaker with a bored look. If it were the real Lu Xuilan maybe hearing such words might've filled her with envy and sadness but to the transmigrated Lu Xuilan, those words were as useless as the appendix in the human body.
She simply turned her sight to the Matriarch. She might not know much about ancient times but from the little she knew, survival was near impossible without a backer -especially in harems as messy as Lu Qian's.
She detested both the Prime minister and his greedy mother but she still didn't want her mother's life to be hard in the Lu home so she hid her hands properly in her large sleeves and took out an item from her pharmacy, plastered a fake smile on her face and stepped forward.
"Grandmother. I seem to have heard that you have troubles sleeping. Forgive Lu Xuilan for not fulfilling my filial duty all these while but now that I'm back, I would definitely make sure that grandmother lives as comfortably as she could!"
Lu Yunyue, Bai Yun and the others narrowed their eyes at Lu Xuilan, Shi Meifen looked over in interest whilst the Matriarch raised both brows.
What did the girl's words mean? Did she think that she could get her to go easy on the both of them with a few sugary words? Humph!
Before she could ask, Lu Xuilan took out a manual neck massager from her sleeves and two packets of quick action soothing tea.
The Matriarch's eyes beamed. Aside from saving face, what did she like most in the world? Receiving unique gifts of course! To the annoyance of Lu Yunyue, she stretched her neck a bit. "You. What do you have there?"
Lu Xuilan lowered her head and smirked before raising it once more. "I'll show you."
She started with tearing open one packet of the soothing tea and simply dissolving it in a jade cup full of hot water before walking forward to offer it to the Matriarch.
Before the Matriarch could accept it, Lu Yunyue cleared her throat softly. "Second sister, what is it you're offering to grandmother like that? It looks like tea but what kind of tea is simply made by dumping it in a cup like that?
-You must have gotten such a thing from the people in the countryside right? I'm afraid you've been conned by them. This thing might not only be unpalatable but even detrimental to grandmother's health."
The Matriarch withdrew her hand at the speed of light and narrowed her eyes at Lu Xuilan.
At that, Lu Zhenzhen eyes sparkled. She was still angry at being ignored so how could she let this go? She sneered. "Even if you'd lived in the mountains for sometime, you shouldn't forget that you're still the daughter of a noble. Getting decieved so easily, I'm afraid you've made us Lus lose a lot of face. Those people must be laughing at us wherever they are now."
The Matriarch's face turned dark.
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Fang Lan (Concubine Fang, former official wife.):
Child: -Lu Xuilan (Second born daughter, former official Eldest young miss. Age, 15)
Bai Yun (Madam Bai. Former secondary wife, now official wife):
Children: -Lu Peng(Third born son but official Eldest young master, Age, 20)
-Lu Yunyue (first born daughter and official Eldest young miss. Age, 15)
Shi Meifen (first concubine, Concubine Shi):
Children: -Lu Wenduo (Fourth born son. Age, 19)
-Lu Jingye (Fifth born son. Age, 18)
Lin Liang (second concubine, Concubine Lin):
Child: -Lu Zhenzhen (Third born daughter. Age, 14)
Tan Hong (third concubine, Concubine Hong):
Children:
-Lu Chao (First born son. Age, 23)
-Lu Yi(Second born son. Age, 21)
-Lu Aiguo(Sixth born son. Age, 17)
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