Lu Family
I Became an Immortal in Tang Dynasty
Biodata
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Lu Family (卢家) |
| Alias(es) | Xiangyang Lu Clan 5 |
| Species/Race | Human family 5 |
| Status | A declining local gentry household whose wealth was partly recovered after a swindler was exposed 5 24 |
Background and History
The Lu family is a local gentry household in Xiangyang, distinct from the renowned Fanyang Lu Clan. Its lineage had endured for centuries, but by the Grand Matriarch’s seventieth birthday, the family had sold most of its fields, furnishings, and valuables 5 6.
The family’s connection to Lumen Mountain began roughly eight hundred years earlier. An ancestor, also called Scholar Lu, bought an injured spiritual deer from a hunter, treated it, and released it. He later lent the deer books and recited Daoist scriptures to it. In gratitude, the deer—who became the Lumen Mountain Deity—promised to watch over Scholar Lu’s descendants. He kept that promise through thirty-two generations, although the later descendants no longer knew of it 3 4.
In the present generation, Lu Pei, the family’s sole male heir, believed Zhang Zhenmei was an immortal master. He sold family property to pay him and intended to sell the last eighty mu of farmland despite the household’s protests. News of the proposed sale caused the Grand Matriarch to faint during her birthday celebration 6 8 11. Jiang She exposed Zhang and his accomplices as swindlers; Zhang subsequently returned money to the Lu residence 11 23 24.
Afterward, the Lumen Mountain Deity revealed his ancestral bond to the family and declared it ended. His departing gift of spiritual energy left those in the courtyard feeling lighter and more at ease 24.
Household and Relationships
- Grand Matriarch Lu — Head of the older generation. She had distributed grain to villagers during drought years and retained local respect despite the family’s decline 5. She tried to arrange a marriage between Li Bai and a young woman of the family 5 6.
- Lu Pei (Scholar Lu; Lu the Eldest) — The sole male heir of his generation. His pursuit of an alleged immortal master drove the sale of family property 6 8 11.
- The ancestral Scholar Lu — Lu Pei’s distant ancestor, whose kindness established the family’s bond with the Lumen Mountain Deity 4.
- Lumen Mountain Deity — Protected the descendants of the ancestral Scholar Lu for eight hundred years. He asked Jiang She to help when Lu Pei’s behavior changed, then later parted ways with the clan 3 4 24.
- Zhang Zhenmei — A fraudulent “immortal master” who took money and a county-seat property from Lu Pei. After Jiang She exposed him, he was made to repay the family 11 23 24.
- Jiang She — Intervened at the deity’s request, exposed the swindle, and advised the Grand Matriarch to guard against future fraud 3 11 24.
Notable Events
- The birthday gathering — Guests still came to honor the Grand Matriarch despite the family’s financial troubles. Her collapse brought Lu Pei’s plan to sell the remaining farmland into the open 5 6 7.
- The Ancient Locust Kingdom dream — Nineteen people connected to the birthday gathering, including Lu Pei and guests, disappeared for seven days. They returned describing lives that had lasted forty years in a shared dream; the kingdom was associated with ants beneath the Lu residence’s locust trees 15 16.
- Recovery of the family’s money — Zhang Zhenmei counted out 680 strings of cash for return to the Lu family. The Grand Matriarch thanked Jiang She and the mountain god when carts carrying recovered wealth arrived 23 24.