The life swap begins with Consort Hua becoming Lady Qin.

"I may be ugly, but I'm still a person! I also have someone I like!"

"We're getting married soon!"

With each shout, she would stab again with the dagger in her hand!

Use all your strength!

Blood splattered all over her face and body, but she seemed oblivious, staring intently at Yinzhen, her voice so shrill it was almost inhuman.

"If you hadn't bullied and humiliated me because of your status, and sent me to Fourth Master's bed, I wouldn't have ended up like this!"

"I've wanted to stab you like this for a long time! I wanted to when you picked me out like an animal! I wanted to when you arranged for me to come into the house to serve Fourth Master!"

"But I didn't do it, I ultimately didn't!"

"Because I want to live!"

"Even if you treat me like a breeding pig, a lowly thing to be manipulated and played with at will, I still want to live!"

"Yes, Hongli wasn't a member of your Aisin Gioro family, so what!"

"My beloved and I have long since consummated our marriage! In your eyes, he is nothing more than the lowest of stable boys, but he treats me with genuine kindness, better than any of you!"

"You beasts bullied me, you all bullied me, I accept it!"

"But if you're willing to raise my son properly, give him a decent status, and prevent him from being as lowly and bullied as I was, I can endure any hardship!"

"I've even made up my mind! As long as he catches the eye of some childless master and is taken in to be raised, I'm willing to die of illness!"

"I can die cleanly, so no one can find fault with him!"

"Why! Why won't you even give me this little bit of hope!"

"Why!"

Yinzhen's guards were already stunned by this scene.

No one expected that this seemingly frail and lowly woman would become so crazed upon meeting them. They rushed forward to try and pull her away, but they didn't expect her to be so strong. Even two adult guards working together couldn't budge her an inch. They could only let her finish speaking, and during that time, she was stabbed several more times.

Yinzhen had been stabbed multiple times in the chest and abdomen, and blood was flowing all over the ground.

Then two more people came up, two to carry Li Jingui away and two to drag Yinzhen away, thus ending this absurd and ridiculous scene.

But it was too late.

Yinzhen's pupils were dilated, indicating that he was gone.

Li Jingui continued to struggle, and four more guards, hearing the commotion, rushed to help.

Li Jingui was held down tightly, her hair disheveled and her body covered in blood. When she saw that Yinzhen was dead with his eyes wide open, she stopped struggling and a strange and sad smile appeared on her face.

She looked up at the sky, as if she had finally reached the end of her madness, uttering the most vicious and desperate curse of her life.

She cursed these beasts from beyond the Great Wall for being unworthy of their positions, cursed them to be childless and without descendants, cursed them to be reborn as animals in their next life, and cursed them to suffer a terrible death for all eternity.

After shouting the last sentence, she suddenly broke free of the restraints and slammed hard into a pillar or wall.

Blood splattered.

The person died on the spot.

-

Such an ending left even seasoned veterans of the capital sighing with regret.

Everyone in the imperial clan felt insecure.

No one expected that a prince would die at the hands of a lowly woman who had once been regarded as a plaything.

What's even more terrifying is that Li Jingui's screams before she died were like a knife, unexpectedly slicing open the layer of skin that these people had always been most reluctant to look at closely.

It turns out that those who are arbitrarily despised, bought and sold, coerced, and manipulated can also hate, can endure, and at the last moment, will risk their lives to save the lives of their high and mighty masters.

After returning to the capital, the first thing Yinwu saw was the body of the Fourteenth Prince.

He stood before the coffin for a long time.

No one dared to urge them, and no one dared to advise them.

After a long while, he turned around and calmly issued a decree—

The titles of Yinzhen and Yinzhen were both reduced by one rank.

They were not originally hereditary princes; according to old custom, their sons would be demoted to county princes after inheriting the title.

If we go down another level now, even if our descendants inherit it, the wealth will only be less.

This can be considered a solution.

The case is now closed.

After a pause, Yinwu added, "Li Jingui, give her a proper burial."

The moment those four words were uttered, the entire hall fell silent.

But no one dared to refute it.

Ultimately, everyone is dead, and in such a way that they die together with each other. At this moment, talking about hierarchy, etiquette, or master-servant rules seems too trivial and useless.

That night, however, Yinwu still couldn't sleep.

Yan Zhi stayed quietly by her side for a long time before speaking softly: "If you also feel sorry for people like Li Jingui, then do something for people like her."

Yinwu suddenly turned to look at her.

Yan Zhi, like him, stared at the bed curtains with his eyes open.

In the darkness, her expression was calm, and her voice was not loud.

"The land belongs to the Aisin Gioro clan, and the people belong to the Qing Dynasty. But they are just people, not pigs or dogs."

"Even if pigs and dogs fight back, they might only bite you once. If you react quickly, you can always dodge."

"But if people resist, especially if they fight to the death, things will be much more serious."

She paused, her gaze fixed on his face.

"Even when you chase a dog into a dead-end alley, it may turn around and bite."

"Besides, there are far more people than pigs and dogs."

These words struck Yinwu's heart like a heavy blow.

He was suddenly jolted, and in the end, he simply reached out and hugged Yanzhi tightly in his arms, as if trying to find some strength from her.

The next morning, Yinwu issued an edict summoning all members of the imperial clan with titles, his brothers, and court officials of the third rank or above to the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

"I have summoned you all here today for no other reason than to amend the palace rules and the laws of the land," Yinwu said slowly.

A slight commotion immediately broke out below.

Yinwu didn't give them much room to react, and continued, "From the imperial family down, under the rule of my Great Qing, no one shall treat servants lightly. Even if they have signed a death contract and entered the lowly status, they are not people who can be killed at will or whose lives are treated like dirt."

"Furthermore, the practice of forcibly taking women from respectable families as concubines or maids should also be stopped. Regardless of their social status or wealth, if a woman does not wish to be taken, she should not be forced."

He spoke slowly, but every word carried great weight.

"I have summoned you here today to establish these regulations."

Someone opened their mouth to speak, but he interrupted them directly: "I don't want to hear your grand theories. I wasn't asking you whether this matter is feasible."

"My mind is made up. All you need to do is formulate the rules for me, or even perfect my will."

A hammer is fixed.

Everyone fell silent, but those with sharp minds immediately thought of Yinzhen's death and the palace maid named Li Jingui's tearful curses before she died.

The ninth prince, who usually didn't take these things seriously, stood on the side of the imperial clan. This time, however, he was unusually listless, his eyes lowered, and he remained silent.