The life swap begins with Consort Hua becoming Lady Qin.

The Li family had already endured this for a long time.

Hearing the matchmaker's words, which made it seem as if the Sheng family was desperately clinging to the Sun family, and now that it was the Sun family who had backed out, it was the Sheng family who should thank them for their dignified withdrawal. She couldn't sit still any longer and immediately got up to retort.

Sheng Wei raised his hand to stop her.

He still had a smile on his face, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

He took back the betrothal letter, his tone still relatively calm: "Since the Sun family has such concerns, then this marriage is off. A forced marriage won't be happy, and our Sheng family isn't the kind of family that clings on relentlessly."

Just as the matchmaker breathed a sigh of relief, Sheng Wei added, "But please also return the gifts that were sent earlier."

The matchmaker's smile froze instantly.

"this……"

Sheng Wei looked at her with a forced smile: "What? The things you gave me before were just polite gestures because we were about to become family. Now that the connection is gone, naturally I have to take them back. It's not like Sun Dalang, a scholar with a bright future ahead of him, would still be greedy for the petty profits of a mere merchant like me, would he?"

The matchmaker was speechless for a moment... although the Sun family lady... well, she did have this plan.

Sheng Wei didn't wait for her to hesitate any longer. He simply put the betrothal letter into his pocket, picked up his teacup, and said slowly, "Never mind, I'll have someone come and bring it back in a little while. When you get back, tell the Sun family so they won't be caught off guard."

The matchmaker knew there was no turning back, so she could only force a smile and agree.

But he couldn't help but wonder to himself, this eldest son of the Sheng family, who usually seemed so amiable and good at making money, was actually unwilling to suffer even the slightest loss when it came to money.

No wonder they were able to amass such a large fortune!

After the matchmaker swayed away with a cold face, Li finally couldn't help but curse aloud:

"That jinx Sheng Hong! All the money we've spent on him over the years has been wasted. We were hoping he could support us and help our children find decent marriages. But now, not only has he failed to uphold the Sheng family's reputation, he's dragged Shulan down with him!"

Sheng Wei did not speak immediately.

The hall remained quiet for a long time, with only the sound of Li's chest heaving with anger.

After a long while, Sheng Wei slowly said, "There's no need to bring up the past anymore."

Li's eyes reddened with anger: "How can we not mention it? How much silver was spent? How many favors were done? And this is what we get in return?"

Sheng Wei's face also turned cold: "What can we do? It's too late to say anything more. Are we supposed to go down to the underworld to collect debts? There's a saying that debts are settled after death, aren't we afraid of shortening our lifespan? Forget it, consider this a reminder. These scholars are arrogant when they take money, acting as if we're humiliating them with gold and silver. But when it comes to actually doing things, they don't care about our lives at all. One such humiliating, losing deal is enough."

As Li listened, her anger subsided slightly, but the thought of her daughter's marriage still caused her worry.

Their family was merchants, which naturally brought them benefits. They had no worries about food and drink, and even when they lived a secluded life, they had many servants and no shortage of gold and silver. However, when they were out in the world, they were looked down upon. Sometimes, even when they encountered the wives of impoverished officials, they had to lower their heads and smile obsequiously, rushing to give them gold and silver to coax them into submission.

That feeling was truly frustrating.

So when it came time for her daughter to get married, she only wanted to find a scholar who had the potential to pass the imperial examinations!

Every family holds their daughters high when they marry. Of course, Madam Li also hoped that her daughter could have a good marriage, at least one that was better than hers, so that she wouldn't have to spend her whole life smiling in front of others.

Sheng Wei was silent for a moment, then suddenly gritted his teeth and said, "It's better to rely on yourself than others! Let Changwu go back to his studies. Stop spending all his time dealing with account books and the shop. Our Sheng family can afford the tuition and the tutor. Even if he's not ambitious, he should at least pass the imperial examination and become a scholar! If he doesn't think about protecting his own sisters, who will he ask?"

Li was taken aback, but then her face hardened.

Yes,

It's better to rely on yourself than on others. She refused to believe that all the literary talent had been taken over by the second wife!

What's wrong with her wutong tree?

Even if it's forced, we must force someone to become a scholar, even if it's just a mere candidate for the imperial examination!

...Even a scholar who has passed the county-level imperial examination will do!

-

In Bianjing, Langhua was talking to Jingse when she learned of the passing of the Wang family elders.

Ah Chang came in looking flustered and handed over a letter. Lang Hua knew that something urgent must have happened, so she asked Jing Se to wait a while. After reading the letter, she was stunned for a moment.

Jingse immediately sensed something was wrong.

She put down what she was holding, walked gently to her mother's side, and reached out to hug her: "Auntie?"

Langhua snapped out of her daze and forced a smile: "I'm fine."

But as soon as she finished speaking, a tear fell.

Jingse panicked.

"Ma'am."

She clumsily wiped away Langhua's tears.

Langhua closed her eyes, slowly calming herself down, and then reached out to hug Jingse.

She sighed softly, "The worst thing for parents is to show favoritism. Why should one child always have the upper hand among children born of the same father and mother? If the other children are easygoing, that's fine. But if they are calculating and sensitive, there will be endless suffering."

Jingse quickly replied, "Because they are all fools and simpletons, unlike Auntie who is smart. Auntie treats all of us brothers and sisters equally."

Langhua looked down at her for a long while.

Jingse felt uneasy under her gaze: "Auntie, what's wrong?"

Langhua suppressed the bitterness in her heart and simply hugged her even tighter.

Because my mother was foolish and stupid enough in her past life.

In her previous life, she paid more attention to Yonglian because he was the eldest son of the legitimate wife, and thus somewhat neglected Jingse, who was only one year younger and was also a princess.

Even when Yonglian was studying in the Imperial Study and was with Jingse, she would sometimes unconsciously get distracted and think about her eldest daughter, Jingning, who died shortly after birth and never even had a name, which she could only secretly choose in her heart.

Later, Yonglian passed away, and she was heartbroken and busy with palace affairs, so she had even less energy and attention to give Jingse.

But for the sake of the empress's position, for Hongli's expectations, and for the Fucha family that her mother spoke of, she still risked half her life to have Yongcong...

She never dared to think about it too much.

Her Jingse, her only daughter who grew up safely under her mother's care, was always the last daughter in her mother's heart, wasn't she...?

Did you ever resent her, or even hate her?

Langhua hugged Jingse tightly, feeling only relief in her heart.

fortunately.

Fortunately, she has one more chance to make it up to her.

Thinking of this, Langhua said softly, "You're right, I will treat all of you equally. So don't be angry with Cong-ge'er about that Duan inkstone, your aunt will compensate you with one."

Jingse bit her lip, somewhat disappointed: "Then it's not the same piece anymore."

But thinking that her mother was in a bad mood, she immediately changed her mind and said in a magnanimous tone, "Forget it, forget it. I've already hit that brat, and I don't want to cause Auntie any trouble because of him. I won't hold it against him."

Langhua laughed: "How can it not be the same piece? I'll have Han Erlang send you another one for the polo match next month, and I guarantee it will be exactly the same."

Jingse was taken aback at first, then her face turned bright red.

"Mother!"

Langhua chuckled, "What's there to be embarrassed about? You're both still young and about the same age, so it's fine to be a little close. In the future, there's no need to be so secretive. When you reach the age where you should avoid suspicion, if you're still this close to him, your aunt will definitely make sure our Jingse gets what he wants."

"Mother!"

Jingse's face turned even redder, and she drew out the last syllable of her sentence, but she couldn't hide the joy in her eyes.

She hesitated for a while before whispering, "I understand."

Langhua was amused by her appearance and laughed.

The mother and daughter sat side by side, and the melancholy that had come from the news of the death of the Wang family elders was finally diluted by this moment of warmth.

And so time continued to move forward.

Spring flowers bloom and fade, autumn leaves fall and grow again.

Five years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Over the course of five years, Jingning traveled across the country with Yang Chenghe and sent back many travelogues.

Huirou and Cao Ping gradually became acquainted. Although they had not yet formally discussed marriage, both families understood each other implicitly.

Jingse still maintained a strained relationship with Han Erlang. Although they bickered every time they met, everyone knew that whenever she got something new, it was always related to Han Erlang.