The life swap begins with Consort Hua becoming Lady Qin.

Mother Qi was intimidated by her imposing manner and dared not utter another word.

"Girl! Girl, how are you—"

Xu's maidservant finally rushed over upon hearing the commotion.

The maid screamed almost hysterically when she saw the man on the ground and the bloodstains everywhere.

The woman beside her, Aunt Fang, narrowed her eyes and immediately shouted sternly, "What are you yelling about!"

The maid was so frightened by the shout that she stopped abruptly, her face turning pale and her whole body trembling.

With just a glance, Mrs. Fang understood the situation and said in a deep voice, "A stupid thief broke into the house. He didn't even know where he was going. He fell off the wall, hit his head, and died. What's the big deal?"

The little maid stared at her blankly.

Madam Fang continued, "Go and call a few trustworthy people to guard this place and not allow anyone else to come near. If even one unrelated person hears of this, you will be punished by going to Madam Fang yourself."

The maidservant then seemed to wake from a dream, nodded with a pale face, and stumbled away.

After arranging the scene, Fang's mother glanced at Qi's mother again.

The latter was completely terrified.

Then, Madam Fang slowly walked towards Lin Qinshuang and coaxed her in a low voice, "Good girl, it's alright. Put down what you're holding first. If you have any grievances, we'll go and talk to Madam. She'll take care of things for you."

Lin Qinshuang slowly turned her head to look at her.

As if finally snapping out of her resolute state, her blood-soaked hand loosened, and the hairpin clattered to the ground.

Immediately afterwards, two lines of tears fell.

"I don't know what I did to offend my sister-in-law."

Lin Qinshuang knelt before Madam Xu, crying so hard she could barely breathe.

She had changed her clothes and wiped the blood off her face, but she was still trembling violently, as if she had been terrified: "Qi Mama, who was next to her, said that I had seduced the Sheng family's brother first and that I had impure intentions, so I had to be sold off."

"I'm absolutely terrified!"

"My family has indeed declined. I don't expect to be the daughter of an official again, but I at least want to remain a respectable person, that's why..."

She seemed unable to continue speaking at this point, and simply collapsed to the ground, weeping bitterly.

Madam Xu sat at the head of the table, her face terribly gloomy.

Fang's mother stood behind her, her face almost frozen with coldness.

Lin Qinshuang cried for a while before continuing, choking back sobs, "I am all alone, with no one to rely on. Even my maternal grandparents have severed ties with me and refuse to acknowledge me anymore. If it weren't for Madam's kindness in taking me in all these years, I'm afraid I would have been dead long ago."

"I cannot repay such a great debt of gratitude for saving my life in this life, but I will repay it even if I have to be your slave in the next. I would never have the audacity to seduce your husband just to stay in your household."

She raised her tear-streaked face, her voice trembling: "Wouldn't that be deliberately ruining your mother-son relationship and their marital bond?"

Xu did not speak immediately.

She simply stared intently at Lin Qinshuang.

It has an almost scrutinizing sharpness.

After a long pause, she suddenly asked, "Are you really not planning to stay?"

Lin Qinshuang's crying stopped abruptly.

Madam Xu's gaze was like a knife as she asked, word by word, "If I said I could let Hong'er marry you as a secondary wife, would you still refuse?"

Lin Qinshuang seemed startled by those words.

The next moment, she almost without hesitation knelt up again, tears streaming down her face even faster.

"Madam, Madam, please understand, I..."

She seemed unable to speak: "After all, I am from the family of an official; how could I, how could I become a concubine?"

Madam Xu gave her a serious look.

After a long while, she sighed softly, "Then I have no choice but to marry you off."

Lin Qinshuang trembled.

She didn't speak immediately, but cried silently for a long time.

After a long while, she slowly reached out and carefully grabbed Xu's hem.

Xu's gaze suddenly sharpened.

Several years ago, late at night, Lin Qinshuang, who was still a teenager, knelt on the ground like this when she first arrived, cautiously reaching out her hand and grabbing the hem of her clothes, begging her to take her in.

Alone and miserable, filled with despair, it seemed as if she had no other way to survive.

Lin Qinshuang looked up, tears streaming down her cheeks: "If you said this to me during the day, Madam, I would agree to anything you say."

"But it won't work now."

"Just because of unfounded rumors, my sister-in-law... Wang has treated me like this. How will she treat you in the future?"

Xu's eyes flickered slightly.

Lin Qinshuang took a deep breath and finally mustered up her courage to say, "Madam, I am a useless person, of humble origin and with little knowledge, but I know that a drop of kindness should be repaid with a spring of gratitude."

"Madam, I'm not getting married."

"Let's make a pact. You can take me in as your maid and keep me by your side."

"I will protect you."

Her tears fell again: "I want to stay by your side!"

Xu was startled.

The room was eerily quiet.

Looking at Lin Qinshuang kneeling on the ground, and then at Xu Shi who hadn't spoken for a long time, Fang's mother felt a pang of sadness in her heart.

Xu looked down at the slender, pale hand on the hem of her dress.

After a long while, she slowly raised her hand and placed it on Lin Qinshuang's head.

The movement was very gentle.

This made Lin Qinshuang freeze completely.

Xu closed her eyes, her voice so hoarse it was almost unlike her own.

"Silly child."

-

Langhua soon heard about the lively atmosphere at the Sheng family from her mother.

There were too many taboos during her postpartum period, and she was often bored. Zhou Wanru would come to talk to her every few days. Zhao Zhen was happy to see this and even gave her a waist token, allowing her to freely enter and leave the palace.

"Madam Xu bought a large house and has moved out of the Sheng family. She also sent out invitations to announce that she was going to adopt a daughter. She was making a big show of it by holding a family reunion banquet and inviting acquaintances to witness it."

She also said that she would find a husband for her adopted daughter in the future, and all the children born would take her surname, Xu.

Langhua was stunned. Even though she had lived two lives, she had never seen such a lively scene.

What does Ms. Xu mean by this?

She wants to divorce her deceased husband who is in the coffin?

Or should we just abandon Sheng Hong altogether?

"And what is the adopted daughter's name?"

Zhou Wanru thought for a moment: "It seems to be someone surnamed Lin. He said his family had fallen on hard times and he came to live with her years ago, where he has been raised by her for several years."

Langhua's eyes widened slightly.

His surname is Lin.

They were raised under the care of the Xu family.

Isn't that Lin Qinshuang?

But shouldn't Lin Qinshuang be deeply in love with Sheng Hong, unable to control herself, and have a son and a daughter, causing countless troubles in the Sheng family's inner quarters?

How did she become Xu's adopted daughter?

She actually agreed?

Once their relationship is established, there will be no possibility for her and Sheng Hong.

How exactly did things get to this point?

Zhou Wanru was obviously very curious, but no matter how many connections she had or how many eyes and ears she had, she could never find out the secrets of the inner quarters of other people's homes.

The mother and daughter could only look at each other longingly, their hearts feeling like they were being scratched by cat claws.

At the crucial moment, it was Wang Shi'an who provided the answer.

"Kaifeng Prefecture recently solved a kidnapping case. Because it involved a murder, the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review also got involved. Tracing back to the source, it turns out to be somewhat related to the so-called theft case of the Sheng family."

When he spoke of the theft, his tone was somewhat meaningful.

The Sheng family originally reported that a clumsy thief had broken into their home, and that the thief, in his panic, had fallen off the wall and killed himself.

Since it was a human life at stake, the Sheng family dared not suppress it easily and took the initiative to report it to the authorities.

How could those veteran officials in Kaifeng Prefecture believe such rhetoric?

Following the clues, a search was conducted, and it turned out that Mother Qi had also been sent to Kaifeng Prefecture and imprisoned for two days.

At first, she was stubborn and only said that she had a disagreement with Lin Qinshuang and couldn't stand that she acted like a young lady even though she was not a member of the Sheng family. She just wanted to find someone to scare her.

She had no idea about kidnapping or selling people.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Wanru sneered, "What do you mean, 'scare'? Sending a stranger to scare someone? How dare she say that!"

"The people from Kaifeng Prefecture didn't believe her either. They lied to her, saying that if she could reveal more locations of the kidnappers, she could atone for her crimes and have her punishment reduced." Wang Shi'an said, "After all, Mama Qi was a woman confined to her home. How could she withstand such coaxing and intimidation? So she revealed the location of that group and their method of contact."

As a result, Kaifeng Prefecture followed the clues and indeed solved a major case, wiping out the entire gang of kidnappers.

But now that things have escalated to this point, Wang Ruoyu's actions have been completely exposed.

It's only because someone specifically came to smooth things over that the news didn't leak out.

Zhou Wanru immediately understood: "She's a real troublemaker, no, a vengeful spirit! If I were Xu Shi, I'd run away too if I had a daughter-in-law like that!"