Mrs. Lu felt that the blood in her body was rushing to her head. Looking at Mingyu who was smiling calmly, her eyes went dark. "You... you are so shameless!"
Mingyu smiled and said, "It's my business if I have no shame, it's none of your business."
"How dare you disrespect me?" Mrs. Lu was extremely angry, and her originally pale and thin cheeks turned red. "How dare you disrespect me? How dare you disrespect me?" Mrs. Lu was so angry that she felt dizzy, and these were the only words she kept cursing over and over again. She thought Mingyu should respect her, be afraid of her, and most importantly, try to please her, which was in line with her imagination. However, the reality was too different from her imagination, and she could not accept it.
Mingyu grinned, smiling naturally, and said, "Why shouldn't I dare? Madam Lu, you are not my biological mother, nor my mother-in-law, and you have spoken ill of me. I have to respect you even if I am crazy!"
Ah, bah, bah, damn it! She just couldn't swallow this anger! If you don't like her, then don't like her. You use Fu Lemei to step on her, and chase her over to say these unpleasant words. Do you really think she is clinging to Lu Hao and won't let go? Don't say that she didn't want to marry Lu Hao. Even if she had such a little idea, she would have run away as far as possible when she met such an annoying mother-in-law.
Fu Lemei, who was watching in amazement, looked at Mingyu with a look that could almost be described as worship. When Mrs. Lu spoke, she was angry and panicked. She had no idea how to refute her elders who were lecturing her. If she just listened to Mrs. Lu's bad words, she would feel extremely unhappy. If she cursed back, she would be accused of being unruly and uneducated.
Madam Lu was a widow who supported the family independently and raised her son to adulthood. She was definitely not the type to be obedient and allow others to bully her. She quickly found her clues, calmed herself down, and said with a straight face, "Do you know that if I don't nod, you can forget about entering the Lu family!"
Mingyu also nodded, and said with a pleasant smile: "You are right. Without your nod, no one can marry into the Lu family. But tell me. Is it fun for you to be so aggressive?"
Mrs. Lu was speechless, but she was justified in her heart. She was doing it for her son, so everything she did was justified! But she was too disdainful to talk to a little girl like Mingyu.
"If Madam Lu has nothing to do, Mingyu will leave first." Seeing that Madam Lu did not say anything for a long time, Mingyu said goodbye. Pulling Fu Lemei, she walked out without looking back. When they arrived at the gate of Prince Li's mansion, they asked the maid guarding the gate to call Lixiang and Cui'er who were resting in the servants' room, and several people took a carriage back to Xu's house.
"Mingyu, you are really amazing!" Fu Lemei came back to her senses with a sly smile on her face. She reached out and patted Mingyu on the shoulder, teasing: "You are great, the real person never shows his true colors. I always worry that you will be bullied by others, but it seems that I worry for nothing!"
Mingyu smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. She felt a little embarrassed after Fu Lemei said that. Thinking back to the quarrel with Mrs. Lu just now, it seemed that she was so fierce. In fact, she didn't intend to be so sharp, but Mrs. Lu's words were fierce and aggressive, and she couldn't stand it.
After laughing, Fu Lemei started to worry again and whispered to Mingyu, "I talked about that old woman today, and she is venting her anger, but she must be holding a grudge against you. You and Lord Lu..."
Mingyu shook her head and said frankly: "It is definitely impossible. I never wanted to marry Lord Lu and climb up the social ladder of his family." Seeing the look on Mrs. Lu's face, she was afraid that she would keep thinking about Lu Hao.
Seeing Mingyu being so open-minded, Fu Lemei was also happy and clapped her hands, "That's right, that old lady Lu is so difficult to serve, no one would want to marry her. I don't know how they could raise someone as gentle and kind as Lord Lu!"
Mrs. Lu did not stay long in Prince Li's mansion. After Mingyu left, she returned to the flower hall with a lot of anger and found the Princess of Li. She said goodbye to her. Princess Minhua was very satisfied with the fun and enthusiastically asked Mrs. Lu to stay, asking her to see Furong before leaving. Mrs. Lu reluctantly smiled, declined everyone's request, and went directly back to Lu Hao's residence in the capital.
When Mrs. Lu arrived home, Lu Hao had just returned home as well. He was a little surprised that his mother came back so early, so he hurriedly went to greet her and asked with a smile, "Mom, you're back so early?"
Mrs. Lu glanced at her smiling son and nodded with a stern face.
Lu Hao and his mother had been dependent on each other for many years, so he could naturally see that his mother was in a bad mood. He kept silent about other things, helped his mother, and slowly walked into the house.
Halfway through the walk, a girl of about fifteen or sixteen came over quickly. She was wearing a brand new Hangzhou silk skirt, and two red gold twisted wire bracelets on her wrists clashed with each other, making a jingling sound. When she got closer, the girl called out to Lu Hao and Madam Lu in a crisp voice, "Cousin, aunt!"
Seeing the girl, Mrs. Lu had a faint smile on her face. The girl came over with a smile and came to Mrs. Lu's other side to support her. Mrs. Lu waved her hand and said, "Fang'er, you go back first. Your aunt has something to say to your cousin. Come out again when it's time for dinner."
Fang'er nodded obediently, smiled at Lu Hao, and walked away briskly.
After entering the house, Mrs. Lu sat down on the main seat with a serious face and said to Lu Hao: "I saw Xu Mingyu today."
Seeing Mrs. Lu's expression, Lu Hao guessed that this might not be a good thing, and said with a smile: "Mingyu's personality is different from that of ordinary people. I was also shocked when I saw her for the first time."
"What girl?" Madam Lu looked disdainful. "How can a woman who has been divorced be called a girl? Only a fool like you would treat her like a treasure!"
Lu Hao sighed in his heart, but he didn't dare to show it on his face. He still had a good-tempered smile and didn't argue with his mother on this issue. His father died early, and after the Lu family fell into decline, except for his aunt's family, all the families he had been close to in the past stopped contacting him. His mother, a widow, raised him as a young child and set up her own business. She relied on doing work for others to supplement the family income and support his studies. After more than ten years of hard life, his mother's temperament changed from the original gentle and soft to the current strong and radical.
"It's getting late. You haven't had lunch yet. I'll ask Xiaoqi to set the table. Fang'er and my aunt haven't eaten yet either!" Lu Hao said with a smile, changing the subject.
Madam Lu stretched out her rough hand and knocked on the table, saying sternly, "Don't try to fool me. I tell you, I don't recognize that Xu Mingyu. She is so shameless and dared to scold me in front of me. No wonder she was divorced! We in the Lu family don't want a daughter-in-law like this!"
Lu Hao was stunned for a moment, then drooped his eyelids. He certainly didn't believe what Mrs. Lu said. Mingyu dared to scold people in person. This girl's temper was a bit harsh, but she was quite sensible. If she wasn't forced into a corner, she would never do anything out of line. Thinking of his mother's strong and domineering personality, he must have done something excessive again.
"As soon as you heard that she was divorced, you had a preconceived not to like her." Lu Hao said in a low voice with a hint of pleading, "If that's the case, you won't like her no matter what. I'll find an opportunity to arrange for you to meet her. You'll definitely like her."
Mrs. Lu slammed the table in anger and shouted, "Don't worry about it! If we meet again, I will be pissed off to death by that little vixen, and you will get what you want. That little vixen is very good at talking. She can reply to ten of my words. Even the king of heaven can't talk as well as she can! God, I have committed several sins in my lifetime! You beast, you forgot your mother after you got married, right? You have grown up and don't need your mother to support you anymore. You just hope that your mother will die soon and won't be a burden to you anymore, right?"
Lu Hao knelt down immediately and said helplessly, "What are you talking about, mother? When have I ever thought that you are a burden? I respect you and am filial to you..." After a few soft words, seeing that Mrs. Lu's anger had subsided a lot, Lu Hao shook his head and said, "Mother, calm down. Let's get over it today and don't take it to heart. You have worked hard all your life, and you still can't live a peaceful life in your old age. It's your son's fault."
Mrs. Lu looked down at her son with a pleading look. Her heart softened and she swallowed the curse she was about to say. She reached out and stroked her son's head, whispering, "Son, I know that you are thinking about that little vixen now. I don't agree to this marriage, and you are actually angry with me. But tell me, if I don't become the bad guy, who will? Can I let you be so foolish as to marry Xu Mingyu?"
Lu Hao held his mother's rough hand and squeezed it tightly, feeling a little bitter in his heart. Life had gotten better over the years, but his mother's rough hands, which were left by her hard work when she was young, had not changed much. Lu Hao smiled and said, "Actually, Mingyu is a very sensible... person, courageous and knowledgeable, much better than the average girl in the boudoir." Lu Hao wanted to say "girl" but changed his words abruptly out of consideration for Mrs. Lu's mood.
Madam Lu glared at Lu Hao, snorted and said, "You are quite courageous. You dare to point your finger at me and scold me. There is no one else in the world who is as brave as you!"
Lu Hao smiled helplessly, "Mom, there must be a misunderstanding."
Mrs. Lu couldn't listen, so she pulled her hand out of Lu Hao's hand and pulled Lu Hao to another room. There were portraits of Lu Hao's father and grandfather enshrined in the room. Mrs. Lu said sternly, "Your grandfather and your father are watching here. I ask you, have you forgotten how our family failed? Your father just made a small mistake, and he was exiled after squandering all his family wealth, and died in a foreign land. Those who committed more crimes than him were all safe and sound. The root cause is that our Lu family is too honest and will not form cliques to gain personal gain. When something goes wrong, there is no one to help! Although you are in a high position now and are favored by the emperor, what about ten or twenty years later? A new emperor has his own ministers. Will he still be so fond of you when the new emperor ascends the throne? There are many people who are jealous of your position and are waiting to pull you down! You don't want to marry a lady from a famous family, and have a father-in-law who can help you at a critical moment, so that you can have a solid foundation. Instead, you are so stupid as to marry a divorced merchant woman!"
Mrs. Lu stamped her feet, feeling very disappointed with her son. "My foolish son! Why don't you think about the future?"