The life swap begins with Consort Hua becoming Lady Qin.

Two large tears quickly welled up in her eyes, about to roll down.

"Hey, hey, don't cry!" Ruofu quickly pressed him down: "Tell your mother first what's so difficult about this travelogue? Look, there are so many of us here now, it's better than you pulling your hair out alone in the room, right? Tell us, and we'll all help you think of a solution."

Yonghuang finally managed to sniffle and said with a wronged tone, "Everything else is fine, but five hundred words is really too long. There are many words I don't know how to write, and it takes me half a day to look up two words. Also... and it's been so long, I can't remember where I went or what I saw, let alone what I felt."

Hua Lan rolled her eyes at this.

Ruofu and Zhuying were both taken aback. Ruofu asked, "How can you not remember? It was only half a month ago."

Yonghuang said very honestly, "I didn't look at the scenery carefully at the time. I just remember that the horses there were particularly handsome, the chestnut cakes made in the small kitchen were particularly delicious, and the steamed ghee was also delicious. And, and every day when I woke up, I didn't have to go to the study right away, and there wasn't a huge pile of homework waiting for me. I could just get dressed and start thinking about where to go to play today... That feeling was especially wonderful."

At this point, a fleeting look of longing even crossed his face.

She quickly broke down again: "But if I write these things in my travelogue, my older brother will definitely scold me again after reading it."

Ruo Fu was both amused and exasperated.

Hua Lan finally couldn't resist poking her younger brother's forehead with a finger: "What you have isn't a head, it's more like a pastry box!"

Zhu Ying had completely lost the will to speak and just sat there sighing and holding her forehead.

After thinking for a long time, Ruofu also felt that it was really too much to ask Yonghuang to force out 500 words with the few pieces of chestnut cake left in his mind.

Her gaze swept around the hall before finally landing on Hua Lan: "If all else fails... Hua'er, bring your travelogue and let your younger brother take a look at it first."

Hua Lan's eyes widened suddenly.

"No! Your Majesty, travelogues are written based on one's own observations and feelings. How can one simply copy someone else's work? If he can fool us even with this today, won't he imitate it when doing his other homework in the future?"

Hua Lan spoke with utmost righteousness and solemnity, her brows displaying a similar uprightness to Chang Bai's.

"What are you thinking? Who told you to let him copy?"

Ruofu hurriedly defended himself: "What I mean is, shouldn't your travelogue at least describe what places and scenery are in the garden? Let your brother take a look, so he can try to recall them. Maybe if he sees a place name, he'll remember what he did there. That's helping him out, how does that count as plagiarism? We're family, can you really bear to watch him struggle to write five hundred words?"

Yonghuang's eyes, which had dimmed, suddenly lit up again, and he looked at Hualan with hope.

Hua Lan shrugged: "But I already handed in my travelogue yesterday, and it's with Brother Bai now. How could I possibly have it?"

The light in Yonghuang's eyes immediately went out again.

The sudden change from light to darkness was so swift that Ruofu couldn't help but chuckle, and even Zhu Ying couldn't resist turning her head and smiling.

If all else fails, he has no choice but to settle for second best: "Is it really impossible to deliver this today? If we hand it in tomorrow, is there any room for negotiation?"

Hua Lan immediately shook her head upon hearing this: "It should have been handed in yesterday. He dragged it out from morning till night yesterday, using every trick in the book, and managed to get it to today. If it's not handed in today, and he tries to drag it out until tomorrow, who knows if Brother Bai will agree? Anyway, I wouldn't dare to ask him on his behalf."

Upon hearing this, Ruofu knew that this last path was also blocked. He could only look down at Yonghuang, who was still clinging to his arm, and his expression suddenly became unusually loving and solemn.

"Yonghuang."

She helped the child stand up straight, straightened his wrinkled collar, and said softly, "Your Majesty will teach you another lesson today. A real man should be responsible for his actions. If you didn't write it, you didn't write it; if you couldn't write it, you couldn't write it. Just admit it honestly. Let your older brother punish you or scold you if he wants. I know his temper. He won't really hit or scold you. At most, he'll ask you to copy a few more books or write a couple more articles. It'll be over in a couple of days."

Yonghuang stared at her blankly.

He cried all the way to Changchun Palace, first looking for his elder sister, then for his mother... After all these twists and turns, this is the result?

"what?"

That sound was filled with disbelief.

Could it be that there really isn't a single person in the world who can control his older brother?

Just as Ruofu was about to laugh at his look of utter despair, a palace servant suddenly came in to report that the eldest prince had sent someone over, saying that he had something urgent to attend to outside the palace today and would not be able to come and have lunch with the Empress.

Ruofu asked curiously, "Why would he leave the palace for no reason?"

The newcomer's expression immediately turned strange. After hesitating for a while, he said, "I heard that... the Prince He's mansion held a funeral today, and the Prince even... even invited many relatives and nobles to come and send gifts and attend the funeral. When the Emperor found out, he was furious and rebuked the matter as extremely improper. However, he could not personally go out of the palace to handle the matter, so he ordered the First Prince to go and stop it."

The hall fell silent.

Ruofu blinked, momentarily wondering if she had misheard: "Funeral? Why would the Prince He's mansion hold a funeral? Who died?"

The palace maid became even more troubled: "Your Majesty, no, no one died. It was Prince He who said... he himself died and wanted to hold a funeral for himself."

"To mourn myself?"

Ruofu repeated it, finally realizing what was happening: "Hongzhou has gone mad?"

Hua Lan, who had been holding back, finally burst out laughing when she heard this. Ruo Fu immediately looked at her: "What are you laughing at? Do you know something?"

Hua Lan hurriedly waved her hand, but she couldn't suppress the smile on her lips: "At the last family banquet, Fifth Uncle had a few drinks and said that weddings and funerals are the best for bringing good fortune. Putting aside everything else, just the gifts from each household alone would bring in a huge sum of money. He also said that if he ever needed money in the future, he could just host one himself. At the time, I thought Fifth Uncle was joking, but who would have thought he would actually do it..."

Ruofu was speechless: "This is outrageous, utterly chaotic! How can a perfectly healthy person hold their own funeral and send gifts all over the capital? Let Brother Bai have a good talk with him. He's supposed to be an uncle, yet he acts less mature than most children."

She had barely finished speaking when she suddenly noticed that Yonghuang's expression was off.

It was as if an indescribable longing and admiration had suddenly opened up a new world that had never been imagined before.

Ruofu's alarm bells rang, and she raised her hand to tap him on the forehead: "What are you thinking about? I'm warning you, if you write one less article and your eldest brother catches you, your mother and eldest sister might be able to shield you. Although you can't escape the nagging, they won't make you suffer any other consequences. If you dare to act like your fifth uncle, you'll get plenty of spankings!"

Yonghuang blinked: "What's 'stir-fried meat with bamboo sticks'? Is it tasty?"

Ruof: ...

She slapped Yonghuang on the bottom, then laughed in exasperation, "Eat, eat, eat! What else can your head hold besides food? Hurry up and go back! While your older brother is busy disciplining others and can't pay attention to you right now, hurry up and write that travelogue for me. Write down whatever you remember—horses, pastries, even if you only remember the day you fell down, it's still better than staring blankly at a blank page. If you dare to procrastinate any longer, next year when they go to the garden, I'll tell your older brother not to take you, and see if you dare to be lazy again!"

This threat was far more effective than any punishment like copying books or standing in the corner; Yonghuang's expression changed drastically: "No! I still want to go!"

Zhu Ying stood up and bowed to Ruo Fu: "Your Majesty, rest assured, I will take him back now. Even if I have to stay with him today, I will make sure he writes that article."

Yonghuang looked distressed.

-

Outside the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Li Yu lifted the curtain and came out, glancing left and right before asking in a low voice, "They're gone?"