The life swap begins with Consort Hua becoming Lady Qin.

The British Duke's family ultimately failed to propose marriage.

Three days later, Songzhi rushed in, not bothering to tidy her clothes and demeanor, and hurriedly handed over the note in her hand. It was written by Zhang Yun, saying that his grandmother had passed away and that his family had to set off to return to their hometown immediately.

Shilan's eyebrows were tightly clustered.

Why now of all times?

Songzhi, panting, said, "The messenger even asked if the young lady had any message to bring back. No matter what it was, he made sure to deliver it."

What else could Shilan say? With her grandmother gone, the eldest son and grandson had to observe a year of mourning. During the mourning period, marriage was not to be discussed. Although the elders of both families had verbally agreed, she was only fifteen years old and was not afraid of being delayed.

Zhang Yun is two years older than her, and by the time the mourning period ends, he will be even older and probably more anxious to get married than she is, and he will be even less afraid that the Zhang family will change their minds.

But this is under normal circumstances.

If Qin Nanyan is divorced next year, her reputation as the second legitimate daughter of the Qin family will be completely ruined, and then the Zhang family...

"Please accept my condolences."

Shilan's heart sank, and she became somewhat melancholy.

It's a shame that the Zhang family wasn't allowed to leave a keepsake that day.

Zhang Yun waited anxiously at the side gate for a long time before Songzhi finally returned. After watching her finish talking with Shanzhu and leave, he rushed to greet her, asking, "What did she say?"

Shan Zhu looked at her young master with a troubled expression: "Third Miss, please accept my condolences."

Zhang Yun was waiting for more, but unexpectedly, Mangosteen shut her mouth tightly.

I was taken aback: "It's gone?"

Mangosteen said with a bitter face, "Young Master, why don't we just inform them and ask the Third Miss to come out? That way you can say what you need to say in person."

Zhang Yun looked disappointed: "Grandmother has just passed away, how can I only think about my personal feelings? Father, Mother and Elder Brother have already left the city, I must catch up with them no matter what, otherwise it will not be good for her reputation. You stay at home and come back tomorrow to give her this."

He took out an old-fashioned dagger.

With a solemn expression, he said, "Remember, either hand it to her yourself, or watch her receive it. If you have the chance, tell her..."

wait for me.

But those two words stuck in my throat, and I couldn't say them no matter what I did.

He always keeps his word. Although the failure to formally propose marriage this time was sudden and understandable, a breach of trust is a breach of trust, and he has no excuse.

He was too ashamed to let Shilan believe him a second time.

"That's enough."

He turned and left, his dark cloak drawing a bold arc in the air. He mounted his horse with a swift and decisive motion.

With a lingering reluctance and a deep sense of guilt, Zhang Yun turned back for one last look, took a deep breath, and stopped being coy.

"drive!"

They galloped away.

Shilan, leaning against the soft couch in the room, had no idea what kind of torment Zhang Yun was going through after he left.

Her delicate brows furrowed as she thought about the current chaotic situation and the various changes that might occur in the future. Unconsciously, she waved the exquisite round fan in her hand faster and faster.

I'm really upset.

"Bang!"

She slammed the fan onto the table.

"Bring me my storeroom ledgers."

Shilan gave the instructions.

The maids immediately sprang into action upon hearing the sound.

Shilan then took out an exquisite and small gilded abacus, opened the account book with her left hand, and skillfully started using the abacus with her right hand.

A series of crackling sounds followed.

It is simply the most beautiful music in the world.

After an unknown amount of time, looking at the numbers displayed on the abacus, Shilan breathed a sigh of relief, all her worries vanished, and the corners of her mouth involuntarily turned up.

Two hundred and thirty-six thousand seven hundred and ninety-five taels!

With such a family fortune, who wouldn't want to marry her?

She could even marry the Jade Emperor in heaven!

She just looked down on all of them.

Yes, they're all ugly ducklings and swans; she has no interest in marrying them.

If she's going to marry, she'll marry the best; otherwise, she won't. At worst, she can take this large sum of money to Jiangnan, buy land, build gardens, and live a comfortable life. After a few years, when everyone has children and becomes a haggard old woman, or is overwhelmed with worries about their children's future and marriage, she can come back and stroll around in style, and she'll be better off than them!

At worst...

She wanted to emulate Gu Tingye, the son of a merchant's daughter in the storybook, by contributing her efforts during the change of the throne and cultivating good relations with the new emperor when he was still a rising star, hoping to eventually become a princess.

After Shilan figured things out, she was no longer upset and happily asked Songzhi to put away the account books. She then picked up a piece of freshly baked crab meat pastry to eat.

……

The Zhang family's affairs cannot be kept secret.

The Duchess of England was also very meticulous and thorough in her actions. Even though the whole family was in a hurry to set off, she did not forget to send a trusted confidant to inform the Qin family.

He made it clear that the marriage could only be postponed, and that he would personally visit the bride's family to apologize after the mourning period.

They adopted an extremely humble posture, so that no one could find fault with them.

Qin Muchuan and Ying Qiongfang exchanged a glance, both seeing the regret in each other's eyes. They then turned to comfort each other, saying, "What are you saying? Filial piety is the most important virtue. It should be this way."

Fortunately, my Lan-jie is only fifteen. It's only a year, and I can wait.

-

The Zhang family then left Bianjing.

But every ten days a rider would rush to Bianjing, heading straight for the Marquis of Dongchang's residence, to deliver a box of gifts and a letter.

Qin's parents were very happy, after all, it meant that the Zhang family truly valued their daughter.

Shilan's face would light up when she received gifts and letters.

The gifts were not extravagant; the first was a grasshopper woven from straw, and the second was a dried pink flower.

There were no sweet words in the letter, only a few simple expressions of gratitude.

He said that the grasshopper was made by his grandmother to amuse him when he was a child. His grandmother also told him that wild grass is not worth much, but the sentiment she put into making it was worth more than a thousand pieces of gold, because she made it for her beloved grandson.

He said the pink flowers were from a potted plant on his grandmother's windowsill; it had originally been just a half-dead wildflower in the corner of the wall.

The servants said that the grandmother saw that the child was born in a dark and damp corner, yet struggled to grow towards the sun. Such resilience and self-reliance made the child even more deserving of her help.

Shilan didn't dislike such casual conversation.

I even have a faint liking for it.

She thought of the time she spent with Yinzhen in her past life.

At the height of her favor, she had 80% of the time she spent with the emperor, seeing him almost every day.

Putting aside the sleeping arrangements on the tatami mat, the time spent dining together, and the time spent being jealous and calculating, surely we can still have half an hour to talk about our true feelings?

No.

She had never heard, not even once, Yinzhen's true feelings.

Until her death, she never knew that in that person's heart there was such a deep estrangement between her and her birth mother.

……

Shilan thought that the Ministry of Revenue would not make any moves until Qin Nanyan gave birth to this child.

But unexpectedly, on the bitterly cold winter solstice...

My sister-in-law, Wang Ruofu, suddenly fainted. After diagnosis, it was confirmed that she was pregnant.

Qin Muchuan was so happy that he rewarded the entire household with a month's salary, and everyone in the Qin family was overjoyed.

Suddenly, an imperial decree arrived.

With the borders unstable and the national treasury strained, the emperor granted all the nobles a year to pay off their debts.

Otherwise, at best their title will be stripped, and at worst their entire family will be punished.

The nobles of Bianjing City instantly changed their expressions.

Qin's parents were also in a panic, repeatedly asking what to do. Over the years, they had been fortunate to have their daughter's ability to manage the household finances, but the debts owed by their ancestors amounted to at least several hundred thousand taels of silver, which was not something that could be easily repaid!

"We'll take out our most treasured possessions and sell them. We'll raise whatever we can. We'll even accept being stripped of our titles. We just can't let ourselves be punished, and we can't let our grandson, who just came to our family, be implicated."

Ying Qiongfang said, crying.

Qin Muchuan had already looked at the ancient paintings that he loved most, his eyes almost overflowing with reluctance, but he gritted his teeth and stepped forward to take them down: "Madam is right, even if it's reduced, it's still a count's mansion, it can't be reduced to a commoner."

Shilan found it amusing; these parents were truly clueless about practical matters.

Since taking over the management, he hadn't made any mistakes and hadn't forced them to pawn their belongings to make ends meet. So they really trusted him and didn't care, to the point that they didn't even know how much surplus the storeroom currently had.

However, it was thanks to this that she was able to easily accumulate a large sum of private money.

Just as he was about to kindly explain that he had already prepared the large sum of money to pay off the debt, and was only waiting for his father or brother to personally escort him to the Ministry of Revenue to settle the account the next day, a shrill cry suddenly rang out from outside the door:

"Master, Madam, please come quickly and save our young lady!"