The life swap begins with Consort Hua becoming Lady Qin.

In retrospect, this marriage, from its initial mention to its finalization, and now with both my uncle and aunt arriving in Bianjing... everything has happened so fast.

She was still in the orphanage when she and Zhao Zhen were already in love.

The next day, Wang Ruo and that incident occurred.

The edict appointing the empress, which should have been finalized in due course and would have taken at least three to five days, was drafted and read abruptly ahead of schedule.

Fortunately, the reputation of virtue she had painstakingly cultivated came in very handy. The court officials knew that Zhao Zhen and she had met through the charity work at the orphanage, and they also heard that she had only ever associated with women and children and had never deliberately seduced or flattered them.

In addition, her father had an excellent reputation as an official and was well-regarded in the court. With all these factors combined, she was able to smoothly secure the position of empress.

Otherwise, there's probably still a lot of work to be done.

With the imperial decree issued, her status changed instantly from a young woman waiting to be married to a soon-to-be empress with a marriage contract.

That's how the courtyard ended up with all the palace maids and female officials it is today.

They said they were there to teach her manners, which wasn't entirely untrue, but she knew in her heart that their primary responsibility was to watch over her and keep an eye on her, lest she do anything out of line before her wedding.

Therefore, she could no longer sneak out the door in civilian clothes as she had done before.

He could no longer meet with Zhao Zhen in private.

They could only communicate by letter.

The first letter was written by Zhao Zhen.

At that time, the troubles in the Wang family had just ended. He was worried that she would suffer, so he wrote a long letter. In the letter, he first comforted her, saying that even blood relatives do not necessarily have to be of one mind, and told her not to get angry and ruin her health.

He then said, half-jokingly, that he had remembered both the man surnamed Kang and the man surnamed Sheng, and that he would one day avenge her.

When Langhua watched it for the first time, she had to admit that she was moved.

Zhao Zhen was actually the husband she had chosen for herself, a husband she had meticulously planned and schemed for step by step.

From their first meeting to their subsequent encounters and acquaintances, almost every step, every word spoken during their conversations, including their actions and postures, was the result of her repeated deliberation and consideration throughout countless nights.

She was indeed the legitimate daughter of the Fucha clan.

Langhua thought that as long as you put your heart into doing something, there is nothing you can't do.

This elaborate and painstaking planning truly won Zhao Zhen's heart.

For a fleeting moment, she actually felt a very faint sense of guilt.

But that guilt came quickly and went quickly.

She quickly put it down and wrote back a letter that was equally heartfelt.

I thanked him for his comfort and appreciated his kindness. Then, without making a fuss, I wrote down my own generosity, magnanimity, and open-mindedness for him to see.

Finally, she didn't forget to ask about his health, reminding him to read less folded paper at night to avoid headaches.

The second and third letters were also written by her first.

Sometimes I'd be reading in the yard, and a few thoughts would occasionally pop into my head.

Sometimes it's just a couple of lines of poetry that come to mind on a whim.

She just wanted him to know that she cared about him.

Zhao Zhen was indeed delighted and replied to each letter very quickly.

Sometimes, a letter would be sent out in the morning and someone would bring back a reply by the afternoon.

Over time, the two developed a habit of communicating, and the frequency of their correspondence gradually reached the point of exchanging two letters a day.

As letters were exchanged, their understanding of each other deepened.

Putting aside any deliberate attempts, Langhua genuinely found it novel.

Because in both her previous and current lives, she had never had a romantic relationship with a man on paper like this.

That sense of novelty is clearly not unique to Langhua.

Emperor Zhao Zhen also had one.

Gradually, their words in their letters became less cautious and restrained, their tone became more relaxed and comfortable, and even carried a subtle intimacy that belonged only to each other.

This is exactly what Langhua wanted.

last life.

She never dared to relax her adherence to the rules for a moment, and was the most impeccable empress in the Forbidden City.

She earned Hongli's respect, but never truly received his love.

At first, she thought it was because Hongli loved Qingying and Ruyi in his heart, and once his heart was filled with one person, there was no room for anyone else.

She both resented and envied Ruyi, so much so that she forgot the proper way of being a wife that she had learned: not to be jealous or resentful.

His jealousy was so intense that the few times he harbored murderous intent throughout his life were all directed at Ruyi.

But it wasn't until her deathbed that she realized how ridiculously wrong she had been.

Hongli's love wasn't for Ruyi, nor for Qingying.

He clearly only loves himself.

Therefore, in this life, she will still be an impeccable empress.

But she will no longer live her life cautiously, like a bodhisattva devoid of joy or anger.

Men will not fall in love with a Bodhisattva.

The empress, high above, dignified and holy, yet indifferent to joy or sorrow, deserves at most a word of respect.

She doesn't want that.

She wanted the husband she had chosen to fall in love with her.

Even if he is the emperor.

The summit of ten thousand people is cold. The long night is endless. No matter how brightly lit or how wealthy Changchun Palace is, it is still cold.

It would be so much better to have someone to snuggle up with for warmth.

As for how long they can stay close, she doesn't insist, but she's willing to wait as long as possible.

-

The adoption ceremony was held on the third day after the second wife arrived in Beijing.

The clan elders who had traveled all the way from Sichuan finally caught their breath. In addition, Wang Rucheng had specially invited his elder brother to drink most of a cup of wine the day before, and the two brothers talked about many old stories, which finally made the decision.

Incense smoke curled from the ancestral hall.

The family genealogy was laid out.

Zhou Wanru watched as a neat new name appeared in her name's column:

The third daughter, Langhua.

She only glanced at it, and tears streamed down her face.

As soon as the ceremony was over, she turned around and hugged Langhua in her arms, crying uncontrollably: "I have a daughter, I finally have a daughter."

Langhua was both crying and laughing, wiping away her tears with a handkerchief while gently coaxing her, "Auntie, don't cry."

Before she could finish speaking, Wang Shi'an immediately corrected her in a serious tone: "You can't call her 'Auntie' anymore."

Upon hearing this, the entire room fell silent.

Zhou Wanru stopped crying, her eyes red as she gazed longingly at Langhua.

Langhua looked at her and suddenly burst out laughing.

She softly uttered the name that had been brewing in her heart for a very long time:

"Mother."

"Why!"

Zhou Wanru responded very loudly, her voice trembling with tears, yet she was as happy as a child.

Langhua then turned to look at Wang Rucheng, who was eagerly crowding around.

"Father."

"Why!"

Wang Rucheng responded just as loudly, even more so than usual, with an undisguised air of pride.

Everyone in the room burst into laughter.

Wang's father stood not far away, but a trace of disappointment flashed across his eyes.

But when his gaze fell on the empty seat beside him, he forcefully suppressed that sense of disappointment.

Over the years, she has always been the one finding fault with Third Sister.

He always favored his eldest daughter, and it was always Langhua who suffered injustice.

After the orphanage incident, it was still her who, without any regard for the consequences, wanted to use Third Sister to fill the hole left by the Kang family.

Now that the Third Sister is truly going to be Empress, but she has to be adopted out, preventing her from enjoying the honor of a Lady of the State, she has changed her mind at the last minute and no longer wants to be adopted.

Wang's father shook his head inwardly.

But no matter what, for Langhua's sake and for the future of the Wang family, he had to do it.

After the ceremony, Wang's father called his younger brother, Wang Rucheng, to the study alone.

After entering the room, he took out a sealed letter from the drawer and handed it to Wang Rucheng.

He only said one sentence:

"If one day I am gone, and your sister-in-law tries to use her status as the biological mother to manipulate Third Sister, or forces other family members to do things that are harmful to the Wang family, then you should take out this letter."

Wang Rucheng paused for a moment, then subconsciously opened it and took a look.

The next instant, he was so startled by the two enormous characters above that he gasped in shock—

Letter of divorce.

He looked up abruptly, staring at his brother in disbelief.

The father remained calm, his eyes even carrying a hint of resolve:

"If it really comes to that, then this is the only way."