The life swap begins with Consort Hua becoming Lady Qin.

After decades of being a stay-at-home wife, she understood a very important principle—

It's not about wearing gold and silver every day, sitting at the head of the table, having others kowtow a few times, and saying "Hello, mistress" to you, and then you're considered the master of the house.

A true matriarch who rules the whole family and has absolute authority in her own home must be good at managing accounts and, more importantly, at managing people!

You should know what each person under you is thinking, who to turn to if something goes wrong, and who has the guts to outwardly comply but inwardly defy you.

I imagine the Empress was the same.

No matter how large the harem is, it is still just a larger mansion, and no matter how many palace maids and eunuchs there are, they are still just servants in the house.

If she, as the Empress, cannot maintain order and instead allows a few stewards of the Imperial Household Department to ride roughshod over her, giving whoever they want good things and deducting from whoever they want, wouldn't that be a huge joke?

She could turn a blind eye to the Imperial Household Department's habit of fawning on the powerful and belittling the weak. After all, that's human nature; it's common for subordinates to act according to their masters' wishes.

Sometimes, when superiors are thoroughly annoyed by someone but are too lazy to spend half a day arguing with them, if their subordinates are perceptive enough to give them a taste of their own medicine, it's considered a way of relieving their master's burden.

Being perceptive is one thing, but lining one's own pocket and overstepping one's bounds is another.

She could skim a few bucks while doing errands for her master, but she understood the principle that too much purity leaves no room for fish. Since the head maid and the chief eunuch had many things to take care of and had their own people, they could accept some gifts during festivals and give the merchants a couple of red envelopes when they went out to shop. If they were to investigate every single copper coin, they would have no future.

But the water couldn't be so murky that turtles were started being raised there. Eventually, the turtles grew bigger and bigger, and even ate all the fish!

Not to mention, relying on the little power they had received from their masters, they desperately squeezed every last drop of profit from those below them.

One steward overpowers a junior steward, the junior steward overpowers the eunuchs, the eunuchs overpower the junior eunuchs, the head maids overpower the lowest-ranking maids, and finally, the lowest-ranking people do the most work and suffer the most humiliation, yet their monthly wages are skimmed off by who knows how many layers of people.

Over time, everyone was scrambling to climb the ranks, and no one was willing to work honestly. They only thought about how to step on those below them and then curry favor with those above them. The whole palace was in chaos, and there was never a day of peace and quiet.

What she couldn't tolerate most wasn't the muddled accounts of these money matters.

In the original story, however, a few servants and concubines joined forces to take the life of the Empress's legitimate son!

The child of the Queen!

Being in one's own home is like being meat in a wolf's den. Today you have to guard against this person, tomorrow against that person. After guarding against the concubines, you have to guard against the palace maids. After guarding against the palace maids, you have to guard against the eunuchs. After guarding against the eunuchs, you have to guard against the imperial physicians.

Does this sound like a word?

She doesn't care about harmony within the harem! If those women want to be friends, then they can drink tea together like sisters; if they don't like each other, fine. If they're really angry, they can tear each other's hair or spit on each other in front of her—that's all fine. But there's one condition: everything has to be done openly! No one can resort to underhanded tactics behind her back!

The purge of the six palaces began with the Imperial Household Department, the Imperial Medical Bureau, the Imperial Kitchen, and even the Imperial Observatory!

Hongli was stunned.

Wang Qin, who was standing to the side, was also sweating profusely.

Hongli carefully considered his words and said, "The Imperial Household Department has been operating for many years, and it involves many powerful families of bondservantes. Their relationships are intertwined, and it's probably not something that can be accomplished overnight..."

"Then let's cut to the chase!"

Ruof answered without hesitation.

Hongli choked for a moment: "What I mean is that some things have far-reaching consequences."

"Go ahead and do it, are you afraid of them?" Ruofu looked at him strangely. "You are the emperor, I am the empress, and what are they? Servants! When the master speaks, the servant must obey, that's only natural. How can a servant become so deeply entrenched that the master dares not touch him? If it really comes to that, what will become of us? Today the Imperial Household Department dares not touch him, tomorrow the Imperial Kitchen dares not investigate, and the day after tomorrow the Imperial Hospital will say that there are rules passed down through generations. We might as well pack our bags and leave, and let them live in the palace!"

Hongli was speechless.

Ruofa wasn't finished yet: "Besides, I'm not going to arrest and behead everyone. Didn't I just say, 'If the water is too clear, there will be no fish.' They do their jobs well for their masters, and others might offer them a couple of jugs of wine, or their subordinates might slip them a few purses during holidays. Can I refuse that? As long as it's not excessive, I'll turn a blind eye! But I absolutely refuse to accept money for sharing tasks!"

Wang Qincai breathed a sigh of relief, but then the pressure returned to normal.

Ruofu grew increasingly angry: "Where did they get the audacity? And who gave them the authority? Does this Forbidden City belong to you and me, or to them? They're openly selling our family's jobs, pocketing the money themselves—what kind of behavior is that? And what are you and me? Is this outrageous?! And the Imperial Kitchen—I've heard about it before. They dared to charge a tael of silver for a single egg!"

Hongli opened his mouth.

Wang Qin lowered his head even further.

Ruo Fu sneered, "One tael of silver for an egg! Did this chicken grow up eating gold, or does it sleep with silver notes every night? The late emperor always said the national treasury was empty and the six palaces should be frugal. Frugal? All this talk about frugality, so it's just telling us to cut off a few clothes so we can eat an egg that costs one tael of silver?"

Hongli finally couldn't help but say, "It's not necessarily true that every egg needs to be one ounce—"

"Then we must investigate even more!" Ruofu immediately said, "If it's really worth one tael, it means that all the people in the world have chosen the wrong profession. Why bother farming and paying taxes? They should all go home and raise chickens. A brood of chickens can lay dozens of taels of silver a day. In less than three years, everyone in our Great Qing will be a rich household! No way!"

She thought for a moment, then realized something was amiss: "If the common people raise chickens, who will farm the land? If no one farms, there won't be enough grain for people to eat, and even the chickens won't have anything to eat! Why don't we raise chickens in every courtyard of the six palaces, two hundred in Changchun Palace and another two hundred in Xianfu Palace? At their prices, that'll be at least several hundred taels a day. Good heavens, these aren't chickens, they're walking gold ingots! In the future, when the national treasury is short of silver, the Emperor won't have to worry; he can just bring a hen to court!"

The veins on Emperor Hongli's forehead began to throb.

Wang Qin felt that Heaven was going to kill him, but he also found it funny. He opened his mouth wide and then closed it, then couldn't help but open it again.

Ruofu suddenly remembered something else: "And then there are the allowances for each palace. Do you know why all the women in the harem are so competitive and ambitious, fighting tooth and nail for you?"

Hongli was taken aback, and before he could answer, Ruofu couldn't wait to say, "To put it nicely, they're vying for your favor. To put it bluntly, isn't it all for that little bit of allowance and a better life? Whoever isn't favored, those servants dare to mistreat them and cut off their allowance! Whoever gains favor, they immediately change their tune, rushing to give them the best things, practically calling them 'mother' the moment they see them."

Hongli's expression gradually became somewhat subtle.

"Not all people are competitive, but they are all mortal beings who need to eat and drink, and they get sick and suffer!" Ruofu spread his hands and said, "But if they don't compete, they can only eat leftovers, they have to endure the cold, and if they get sick, they can't even afford a royal physician or take a single dose of medicine. How can they not try their best to please you? How can they not fight tooth and nail for you?"

Hongli frowned deeply: "Empress—"

Ruofe suddenly scoffed, "That's right, you couldn't be happier! If they don't fight, how will they show how important you are? If everyone is content with losing favor and having no good days, who will bother to please you? If no one fights for you, where will you, the emperor, put your face?"

"Fucha clan!" Hongli's face turned bright red, showing a hint of embarrassment and anger.

But Ruof remained completely unconcerned, even rolling his eyes: "What are you yelling about now? I'm not deaf!"

Hongli was so angry his chest ached. Seeing this, he simply sneered, "Fine, you want to interfere, is that it? I'll let you interfere! The Imperial Household Department or the palace regulations, go ahead and interfere. I want to see what kind of mess you'll make in the end!"

With that, he abruptly stood up and walked out, saying, "I have official business to attend to, so I'll return to the Hall of Mental Cultivation first. You may go to bed on your own!"

Ruo Fu, still sitting there with her belly in hand, said coolly, "It would be best if it really were the Hall of Mental Cultivation. You're still in mourning, and the spirit of the late emperor might still be wandering around there. You should do your job diligently and take good care of state affairs. Only then will he be at ease seeing how hard you work."

Hongli paused, turned around abruptly, pointed at Ruofu, and was so angry that his hand was trembling.

But Ruofu looked at him innocently for a moment, then suddenly remembered and said, "Your Majesty, I respectfully see you off!"

Hongli snorted heavily and turned to leave.

Wang Qin naturally followed quickly.

The master and servant left Changchun Palace one after the other. As they walked across the corridor, they were greeted by Hailan leading two palace maids.

She had now changed into the plain clothes of a palace lady-in-waiting. Since it was a time of national mourning, there was not a single bright color on her body. However, she was tall and slender with delicate features, which made her appear even more ethereal in this outfit.

Upon seeing Hongli, Hailan immediately stopped and respectfully curtsied, saying, "This servant greets Your Majesty."

Hongli was already in a bad mood, so he ignored him and walked past quickly.

After walking quite a distance, and seeing that he was almost at the courtyard gate, he suddenly stopped for some reason and turned his head back.

Hailan had already stood up and was leading people toward the main hall.

The plain-colored skirt swayed slightly with her steps, leaving only a slender and graceful silhouette.

Hongli's eyes darkened slightly.

After all these years, that face is still just as beautiful, and just as unenthusiastic.

After staring for a while, Hongli suddenly snorted softly, turned around, and walked even faster.

Wang Qin simply kept his head down and followed, not daring to utter a single word.