The life swap begins with Consort Hua becoming Lady Qin.

When Shilan helped the nearly collapsed Ying Qiongfang rush into the west courtyard of the Ningyuan Marquis's mansion, the entire courtyard was already in chaos.

The servants ran around like headless flies, carrying in basins of hot water and out basins of bloody water.

Qin Nanyan's piercing cries of pain emanated from the main room, growing louder and louder, sending chills down one's spine.

"My son—"

Ying Qiongfang's legs went weak, and she almost fell to the ground if Shilan hadn't held her up tightly.

She didn't know where the strength came from, but she broke free from Shilan's grasp and rushed into the delivery room, crying out, "Yan'er! Mother's here! Mother's here!"

Inside the delivery room, the stench of blood mixed with the smell of medicine filled the air.

Qin Nanyan lay on the delivery bed, her head and face covered in sweat, her hair sticking to her pale cheeks, and her lips bleeding from being bitten.

She gripped the mattress beneath her with both hands so tightly that her nails almost dug into the fabric.

"Mother...Mother..." Upon seeing Ying Qiongfang, she cried even harder, tears mingling with sweat streaming down her face. "It hurts so much...Mother, please save me..."

"My dear grandma, please stop shouting, save your energy!"

The midwife was sweating profusely, pressing on the woman's belly while advising, "You're only two centimeters dilated. If you keep shouting like this, you won't have the strength when it really comes down to it!"

But Qin Nanyan wouldn't listen. She clung to Ying Qiongfang's hand as if it were a lifeline, crying out in pain.

On the steps outside, Gu Yankai squatted down, his hands tucked into his hair, his head bowed low.

Hearing the heart-wrenching cries from inside, he felt as if his heart was being torn apart.

Knowing full well that Yan'er's pregnancy was hard-won and arduous, requiring her to take medication almost daily for the first three months to stabilize the pregnancy, he felt he should put aside all other matters and not hold a grudge against her at this time.

Besides, pregnant women tend to overthink, he should spend more time with her, he should...

"Young Master! I'm afraid the eldest mistress's pregnancy isn't going well!"

Gu Yankai looked up abruptly. The midwife came out of the delivery room with a solemn expression, her hands still stained with blood.

"Aunt Wang, Yan'er, she..."

"The baby isn't in the correct position, and Grandma's health is already weak; she's now extremely exhausted," Wang's mother quickly said. "If I may be so bold as to ask—should we save the mother or the baby?"

These words struck Gu Yanxin like a heavy hammer.

He opened his mouth, but his throat felt blocked, and he couldn't make a sound.

"Save the baby!" an urgent voice rang out before he could.

It's Qin Muchuan.

Having been lost in thought all the way here, he immediately reacted upon hearing those words and almost instinctively shouted out those two words.

But the midwife ignored him and kept staring at Gu Yankai.

A woman follows her husband after marriage.

The woman inside was not a member of the Qin family, but a woman from the Gu family. In this courtyard, only one person could determine Qin Nanyan's fate.

Qin Muchuan froze, and subconsciously looked at Gu Yankai.

Gu Yan's lips trembled as he looked at the closed door of the delivery room and listened to his wife's increasingly faint moans inside. The immense pain felt like it was tearing him apart.

That was his wife, the woman he had sworn to protect for the rest of his life.

That was also his child, his firstborn son.

"Protect..." he began with difficulty, the word "big" barely catching his breath—

"Save the baby!"

A resolute voice interrupted him.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw Lady Chen, the wife of Marquis Gu, leading a large group of people into the courtyard.

Her face was solemn, and when her gaze swept over her son who was squatting on the steps, it was filled with undisguised disappointment.

"Mother!" Gu Yankai suddenly stood up: "Yan'er, she—"

"Shut up!" Chen shouted sternly.

Qin Muchuan trembled with rage: "In-law, what do you mean by this?! Your Ningyuan Marquis's bloodline is precious, but my Qin family's daughter deserves to die?!"

"Precious?" Madam Chen sneered, stepping aside to let the doctor speak.

Behind her, an elderly doctor with white hair and beard emerged, carrying a black pottery medicine jar in his hands.

"Reporting to the Lady of the Marquis, the Heir Apparent, and the Marquis of Dongchang," the doctor bowed, his voice calm and even. "This is an excellent labor-inducing medicine, potent as a tiger, yet it also has the effect of protecting the mother's body."

The courtyard was deathly silent.

Everyone understood what was meant—this medicine was to induce labor, but without harming the mother.

"You...you're talking nonsense!" Qin Muchuan's face turned deathly pale. "This medicine could be—"

"Bring it up," Chen said calmly.

The matron behind her stepped forward and clapped her hands.

Two burly old women escorted a trembling kitchen maid forward.

"Speak," the head maid's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a strong sense of pressure: "This afternoon, which little wretch secretly spent an hour brewing medicine on the small stove in the back corner of the kitchen?"

The maidservant knelt down with a thud, trembling like a leaf in the wind, but her finger pointed unequivocally at Dong Shuang kneeling at the entrance of the delivery room: "It's...it's Dong Shuang, the maidservant of the eldest mistress! She gave me two taels of silver to send me away, and secretly brewed it in a corner. She even made me cover for her...that medicine pot, she also ordered me to throw it away!"

Winter Frost's face turned ashen, and she collapsed to the ground, too exhausted to even argue.

Qin Muchuan felt a sudden darkness before his eyes and staggered back two steps before Shilan reached out to support him.

Shilan's arm, which was supporting him, was also trembling slightly.

His face was filled with disbelief.

Is there really such an extremely selfish person as Qin Nanyan in this world?

They can even abandon their own flesh and blood and scheme against them?

Even tigers don't eat their cubs! In her past life, she considered herself a blood-stained, ruthless, and sinful person, but she never thought of harming a child, let alone her own!

"In-law," Chen's voice pulled her back to reality, "There's no point in saying more. My Ningyuan Marquis's mansion is too small to keep such a big shot as your daughter any longer. Since you're here today, I'm not afraid to tell you the truth."

She stepped forward, her gaze sharp as a knife, sweeping across Qin Muchuan's face: "Even if she gives birth to this child safely today, I will still send her a letter of divorce. But if your family knows they are in the wrong, I don't want to push things too far. You can quietly take her home, and we'll just say to the outside world that she died in childbirth, and we'll find Yan Kai another wife in the future. That way, both our families can save face for each other."

She paused, then her voice suddenly turned stern: "But if anything happens to this child, your Qin family should just wait and see!"

Having said that, she turned away without looking at anyone, flicked her sleeve, and led the group of servants away.

Gu Yankai stood there blankly, watching his mother's resolute back, then turned to look at the delivery room. He seemed to have lost his soul, so disoriented that he could barely stand.

Qin Muchuan was swaying precariously, only managing to stay upright thanks to Shilan's support.

Inside the delivery room—

Chen did not lower her voice; every word she spoke was clearly audible.

Ying Qiongfang's arms around her daughter froze.

She slowly lowered her head, looking at Qin Nanyan, who was crying miserably in her arms, her voice trembling uncontrollably: "Yan'er... that medicine... was it really yourself?"

Qin Nanyan simply buried her face deeper into her mother's arms, crying out in pain and avoiding answering the question.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Ying Qiongfang finally broke down, tears streaming down her face. "Are you out of your mind?!"

But what can be done now that things have come to this?

She looked up through her tear-filled eyes at the helpless midwife and doctor at the door, and said in a hoarse voice, "Quick...quick, save them! Save them first! Both mother and child must be saved, everyone must be saved!"