The life swap begins with Consort Hua becoming Lady Qin.

She knew where her attraction to Zhao Xu lay.

There is beauty, novelty, and the desire to conquer.

But these are things that ordinary, warm, and soft women can also provide.

If you want to last, you need to show some unique skills.

For example, perspective, information, or a path that is quietly presented to him.

Even though that road is still very far away.

But once he knows there's a way out, he can never go back to his carefree, decadent lifestyle.

By the time the carriage returned to the Prince of Yan's residence, it was already dark.

Zhao Xu naturally stayed in Qin Yanwan's courtyard.

The two took out the chessboard and started playing.

Just as the fight was reaching a stalemate, a maidservant came in to report: "Young Master, Consort Liu is outside. She said she has personally prepared some soup and would like you to try it."

The room fell silent for a moment.

Zhao Xu's smile faded slightly, and he subconsciously looked up at Qin Yanwan.

The latter remained holding a white piece, looking at the board without raising his eyes, as if he hadn't heard anything.

From the moment she entered the house, she never paid any attention to his former concubines and maids in the backyard. She neither made things difficult for them nor treated them harshly, but she also did not try to win them over.

Zhao Xu suddenly felt bored and said coldly, "Tell her to go back."

The maidservant quickly replied, "Yes."

Zhao Xu added, "Tell her, and tell everyone in the backyard, that from now on, no one is allowed to come here without the Crown Princess's summons."

The maidservant replied, "Yes."

After everyone left, Qin Yanwan made his move.

Zhao Xu looked at her and deliberately asked, "They came to steal your man, and you didn't even try to stop them?"

Qin Yanwan smiled and said, "What's there to stop you? You are the head of this family. If you want to go, who can stop you? If you don't want to go, even if someone else offers themselves to you, you might not want them."

Zhao Xu choked, feeling rather discouraged.

Qin Yanwan finally raised her eyes, a faint smile in them: "I don't care how they fight, I only care how the young master chooses."

Zhao Xu's heart skipped a beat.

He suddenly pulled her hand and kissed her fingertips: "Then I choose my wife."

Qin Yanwan did not dodge.

She simply withdrew her hand slowly, picked up another piece, as if nothing had happened.

-

The days passed quietly by.

Before long, the deadline set by the emperor for all the nobles to repay their debts arrived.

Unsurprisingly, the Marquis of Ningyuan's household did not pay a single penny.

Their family's affairs have caused the biggest uproar. Now, everyone in Bianjing knows that the Gu family has truly fallen into ruin. It's understandable that they can't come up with 800,000 taels of silver, but it's impossible to say that they can't pay back a single penny.

Such despicable behavior directly angered all the civil officials in the court.

The Ningyuan Marquis's mansion became the first to have its title stripped and its property confiscated.

And they copied it without any mercy!

As Zhou Wanru had predicted, most of the other people's homes, estates, and shops were confiscated, and the officials who raided the homes of women and children mostly turned a blind eye to the valuables they had taken.

But when it came to the Gu family, it was a completely different story. The three Gu brothers even had their outer robes stripped off.

Gu Laosi and Gu Laowu jumped up and down in the street, looking as pathetic as two plucked roosters.

Gu Yankai stood in the crowd, his face flushed red, feeling ashamed and indignant.

He had never suffered such humiliation in his entire life.

Madam Gu, however, remained the most composed.

She calmly watched as the furnishings she had used for decades were moved away one by one, as the storeroom was emptied, and as her imperial robe, a symbol of her status and honor, was taken away.

Finally, they watched as the plaque of the Ningyuan Marquis's residence was taken down and fell heavily to the ground, raising a cloud of dust.

His face remained largely expressionless.

After being expelled from the Marquis's mansion, Old Madam Gu took her three sons to a house under her own name.

She came from a prestigious family and received a generous dowry when she married into the Gu family. However, she was used to being a vegetarian and a Buddhist and did not like to show off.

This residence is much smaller than the Marquis's mansion, but it still has three courtyards and is in an excellent location, close to the inner city.

When the fourth and fifth brothers went in, their eyes were shining.

No wonder Mother wouldn't let those women contribute money; she wanted to hide some of her own dowry. Mother was so thoughtful; otherwise, the whole family would be wondering where to go right now.

Let it be hidden, as long as Mother is willing to take it out now.

Madam Gu ignored their eager gazes and made no attempt to have new robes brought for her sons. After sitting down, she simply ordered her trusted servant to fetch her dowry list.

Then, in front of the three brothers, he announced, "All my property will be left to Yu-ge'er in the future."

There was silence in the room.

"Mother!"

"Mother!"

The fourth and fifth brothers called out almost simultaneously.

Old Madam Gu ignored them.

She had someone lay out paper and grind ink, and wrote down these words in black and white. She then pressed her fingerprint and stamped her personal seal, making three copies.

She gave two of them to Gu Yankai.

"Take this to Madam Qin. If she still has even a shred of maternal love, she will eventually reconcile with you for the sake of the child."

Gu Yan's eyes lit up instantly.

This sudden joy made him miss the strangeness in Madam Gu's words, and he only felt that his mother was finally willing to accept Yanyun again.

Madam Gu didn't mind and continued, "Until Yu-ge is fifteen, all of these belong to him. He can spend all his earnings and dividends as he pleases. But when Yu-ge turns fifteen, they must all be returned to him."

She picked up the third document and said calmly, "I will have this one sent to the Ministry of Revenue to be documented in writing, so that no one can change it."

Gu Yankai solemnly accepted it, but the fourth and fifth brothers were completely furious.

"Mother, this isn't fair!"

"We are your biological sons! How can we be inferior to Gu Tingyu, a mere infant?"

Madam Gu didn't even lift her eyelids, and simply ordered, "Tie them up and throw them out."

"Mother!"

"Mother!"

The two exclaimed in disbelief.

Old Madam Gu finally looked up at them: "This is my residence, not your Ningyuan Marquis's mansion. If you want to have food to eat here, you'd better behave. Otherwise, get out."

His tone was calm.

But more than any of his previous outbursts of cursing and shouting, it made the two brothers tremble with fear.

The two fell silent instantly.

Only then did Madam Gu have someone help her slowly back to her room.

-

It is no coincidence.

The Marquis of Dongchang's mansion only repaid 30,000 taels.

However, Qin's father went to the palace to meet the emperor and expressed his willingness to return the title and the imperial residence, along with all his properties and assets, and have them confiscated, only asking the emperor not to pursue the matter any further.

This move shocked everyone.

Even Zhao Zhen, looking at the old ministers who seemed to have aged more than ten years, couldn't bear it. He first gently persuaded them to go back, and then sent someone to find out the inside story.

When news about the Dongchang Marquis's residence was sent back to the palace, Zhao Zhen was greatly surprised after reading it.

It turned out that Qin Yanyun finally relented.

She expressed her willingness to leave her dowry to her family for emergencies and agreed that her parents should give up their family fortune to retain the hereditary marquisate.

But she had one condition.

This title must eventually fall to her son, Gu Tingyu.

If the frail Gu Tingyu couldn't hold on, she would have Gu Yankai marry into the Qin family and then inherit the title.

In short, the title obtained in exchange for her dowry should not be left to Qin Zhengyang.

These words completely threw everyone in the Qin family into disarray.

Qin's mother kept crying, but after her eldest daughter argued with her reason, she showed signs of softening.

But Qin's father didn't say anything. He just carefully looked at his daughter again, as if he had never really known her before.

That night, Qin's father barely slept a wink.

The next day, he forced his wife to reveal a dowry list from many years ago.

Qin's mother was not from a prestigious family; in fact, her family was quite poor during her childhood. She was Qin's father's mother, the daughter of a cousin of the previous wife of the Marquis of Dongchang, making her Qin's father's cousin. Years ago, she accompanied her mother on a visit to her parents' home, and at first sight, she fell in love with him, determined to marry him, which led to this marriage.

When they got married, Qin's mother's dowry was not generous. The most impressive part of it, 30%, was a gift from the previous wife of the Marquis of Dongchang, which amounted to no more than 10,000 taels of silver.

Most of the valuable items in the dowry were given to the eldest daughter.

Following the dowry list, Qin's father filled in the missing items one by one, and for some things, he even went directly to Qin Yanyun's dowry to find them.

After completing the task, he divided the items into three equal parts.

One copy was returned to Qin Yanyun, and the other two were sent to the Prince of Yan's residence and given to Qin Yanwan, with instructions that one of them was for Qin Zhengyang.

It will be handed over to Qin Zhengyang when he returns from the border.

After doing all this, Qin's father went to the palace and asked to have his title removed.

Zhao Zhen almost immediately realized the Marquis of Dongchang's intention and sighed, "He doesn't want to make another mistake."

If he were to grant his eldest daughter's request, he would be utterly destroying his only son. It would also cause the siblings to become bitter enemies in the future.

Even to the death.

"Unfortunately, it's too late."

Zhao Zhen sighed softly and finally granted Qin's father's request.

On the day the title was revoked, Qin's father and mother had already made their preparations. They even took the initiative to change out of their fine clothes. Qin's mother removed all her jewelry and wore only a simple cloth dress, with no servants attending to her.

The couple handed over their household account books, and after the Ministry of Revenue officials completed the handover, Qin's father said gently, "My wife and I would like to take one last look at that peach tree in the backyard. We planted it ourselves when we got married."

The officials from the Ministry of Revenue, unsuspecting, simply said, "Please do as you please."

Qin's father led Qin's mother slowly towards the backyard.

Half an hour later, the person in charge of taking inventory of the property in the back house suddenly rushed over in a panic.

"Something terrible has happened!"

"The Marquis of Dongchang and his wife have both committed suicide by poison!"

Everyone was shocked and rushed to the backyard.

Sure enough, the two of them were seen sitting together under the peach tree.

His eyes were tightly closed, and he was completely lifeless.

Qin's mother still had tear stains on her face.

Qin's father, however, seemed to have finally unloaded some heavy burden, and even had a relaxed smile on his face.