The life swap begins with Consort Hua becoming Lady Qin.

Hongli continued, "Xiyue is pregnant, how many times have you visited her? Jingxuan and Yongzhang are ill, have you even asked about them once? Have you even sent anyone to visit them? Consort Wan has no grudge against you, have you ever spoken a few words to her? You keep the doors of Qingzhi Courtyard and Yanxi Palace closed every day, thinking that everyone else is vulgar and only knows how to curry favor. You think that because they are close to the Empress, they are all part of your faction. But when they actually stop trying to get close to you, you say that everyone has united to isolate you. What kind of logic is that?"

Ruyi's face grew paler and paler. Her lips moved a few times, but she couldn't find the words to refute them.

After a long while, she slowly shook her head again, and when she looked up at Hongli, a kind of pity and disappointment gradually emerged in her eyes.

"You are beyond saving."

Hongli: ?

Ruyi, however, seemed to have finally seen through the true nature of the man before her, and her voice calmed down: "You don't even know that your own circle is now filled with her people. How much of what you hear, see, and know every day is the truth, and how much is a lie she's woven? Can you tell the difference?"

Hongli frowned deeply: "Ruyi!"

Ruyi chuckled softly, but the laughter was full of bitterness: "Brother Hongli, I told you, you have become a puppet in her hands, yet you are unaware of it."

"Enough!" Hongli finally snapped, "If you can't figure it out, then close the door and think about it properly until you do."

He turned to leave, but Ruyi continued to chuckle, "Very well, I have already presented all the evidence to the Empress Dowager."

She raised her eyes, looked at the bright palace lanterns, and murmured, "If there is really anyone in this palace who is unwilling to watch you be bewitched by the Fucha clan, it is probably only the Empress Dowager."

Hongli stopped abruptly, the veins on his forehead throbbed, and a sense of foreboding suddenly arose in his heart.

He turned around in disbelief: "What did you do?"

Ruyi quietly turned to look at him, her expression even carrying a hint of certainty that she had finally taken control: "Yuanxin should have already gone to see Hailan by now. I've been keeping an eye on her secret dealings with Hailan these past few days, and I even deliberately changed one of the medicinal herbs, forcing her to go to the Imperial Hospital to get a new one. Right now, the two of them should be meeting in secret somewhere in the palace. I've already sent Rongpei with men to follow them. As long as they're caught red-handed, we'll immediately send them to Cining Palace, along with all the evidence, and ask the Empress Dowager to make a decision herself."

Hongli looked stunned.

Seeing his expression finally change, Ruyi assumed her move had indeed hit the nail on the head, and even a hint of bittersweet satisfaction appeared in her eyes: "And what about Wang Qin and Li Yu by your side? How were they seduced by the Empress's head maid with their beauty, and how did they use their position before the Emperor to leak information and deceive the Emperor? I have already sent all the relevant witnesses and evidence to Cining Palace. Brother Hongli, I know you don't want to believe it, but once the Empress Dowager personally interrogates you, you should understand."

Hongli stood there, speechless for a long time.

The next moment, he raised his hand in anger, pointing at Ruyi, his fingertips trembling slightly: "You... how could you be so stupid!"

Ruyi's expression immediately changed: "I'm stupid? I went to great lengths to investigate all the demons and monsters around you, and you call me stupid?"

"What else could you be but stupid?" Hongli had completely lost his patience this time. His chest heaved a few times, and he finally blurted out the words he had been holding back. "You keep saying that Yuanxin is the Empress's person, then I ask you, who asked her to come here in the first place? What family did she originally belong to? Why was she able to enter Yanxi Palace, and why was she able to serve by your side? Have you forgotten all of these things?"

Ruyi's anger slowly subsided.

Hongli continued, "You really can't blame the Empress for her coming to your side! If you hadn't been so incompetent in managing your subordinates, allowing that A'ruo to repeatedly defy the Empress when she was still a Fujin (princess), until things got out of hand, she wouldn't have been sent away. After A'ruo left, you didn't trust Suxin, feeling that she was constantly being controlled by the Empress, and insisted on working with the people your Ulanara clan sent in to make some kind of fertility-enhancing medicine. That's how Yuanxin had the opportunity to come to your side!"

Ruyi blinked: "But what about those medicines..."

"Did the Empress prepare those medicines for you?"

Hongli interrupted her bluntly: "Who found the prescription for those fertility-enhancing medicines you drank, who delivered the herbs, and who initially told you they could help with conception? Wasn't it all your Ulanara family's doing?! The Empress didn't even know what the prescription looked like from beginning to end, and when the medicine had problems, you confidently claimed that she was the one who switched it, ignoring everyone involved? And what are you then, the Empress's accomplice?"

Ruyi was speechless for a moment.

Hongli, however, was thoroughly enraged by her, and decided to pour out all the remaining words in one go: "I'll ask you one more thing. Back when we were still in the Prince's residence, the Empress summoned an opera troupe to perform, specifically the play 'Over the Wall.' On the same day, the Empress Dowager suddenly sent someone to deliver an imperial decree, ordering Lüyun and Wanyin to be brought to the residence. Since you're so intelligent, do you remember what the person who delivered the decree said that day?"

Ruyi was stunned, her brows furrowing slightly as she tried to recall, but all she could remember was that day when the Empress deliberately built a high platform to mock her for always having that phrase on her lips, a phrase that symbolized her affection for Hongli.

Seeing her bewildered expression, Hongli was utterly exasperated: "You don't remember? I will! The day the Empress Dowager sent someone to publicly ridicule you for being in the household for several years and for your eagerness to have a child! Why would she say that? It's all because of that joke that happened between you and your family the night before!"

But the Empress manages the household, and information is always kept strictly confidential, especially private matters within each courtyard. Unless they become public, they rarely reach outside the manor. What you did that night wasn't particularly high-profile, so why did the Empress Dowager know about it so early the next morning? And why were even the princesses sent to serve in the manor able to arrive so promptly?

Ruyi's face finally turned completely pale.

Hongli saw all this, but he showed no mercy. He coldly pierced through the last layer of pretense: "You suspect the Empress of planting spies around you every day, and you think that Changchun Palace has woven the entire harem into a net, but you have never looked back at your own home."

He sighed deeply, "Your Ulanara clan has been riddled with holes over the years. Outsiders know whatever they want and can send whomever they want to you. Ruyi, the Empress is right, your Ulanara clan truly has no manners!"

Ruyi's legs went weak, her mind went blank, and her small body swayed precariously.

But Hongli had an even colder remark waiting for her:

"Since you are so intelligent and insightful, why don't you think about this again? Has the Empress truly been the one who has been planting people in your Ulanara clan's residence for years, and who most wants your clan to be utterly destroyed?"

Ruyi's body went limp, and she collapsed to the ground, feeling as if she had fallen into an ice cave.