An elderly woman, dressed in a long, dark purple outer garment adorned with intertwined grape vine patterns and holding a round silk fan to half-cover her mouth, turned to her female companion with a look of gossipy intrigue and whispered softly:
"No wonder that day at the imperial banquet, Lady Lin said the eldest Miss Lu was raised in the common streets, crude and completely lacking in decorum. I was wondering back then why she was being so harsh on her own daughter. Turns out she's the daughter of the first wife. No wonder..."
Someone looked curiously at Lu Qingyuan and asked, "Marchioness, if I may be so bold, in what year did your late mother pass away?"
Chapter 33