The life swap begins with Consort Hua becoming Lady Qin.

On the day Grand Tutor Wang's coffin returned to his hometown, the streets of Bianjing were deserted as everyone flocked to see him.

Officials, gentry, scholars, and common people set up memorial services along the streets, displaying the utmost solemnity and honor.

Wang Ruofu and Qin Zhengyang, who was holding Hua Jie'er, were also among them. However, she did not approach Madam Wang. Instead, she knelt down and kowtowed from a distance, her clothes wet with tears. She then silently followed the procession and walked for more than five miles until the Wang family's carriages left the city and went far away. Only then was she helped back into the carriage by Qin Zhengyang and headed home.

Not long after the Wang family left, the Kang family also quietly set off to leave Beijing.

But compared to the grand and glorious farewell procession of the Wang family, it appeared particularly disheveled and flustered.

Before dawn, several dusty carriages arrived at the city gate and waited. As soon as the gate opened, they hurriedly left the city. If the city gate guards hadn't repeatedly checked the travel permits and household registrations, they would have been mistaken for bandits from somewhere.

In the second carriage, Wang Ruoyu's hands were bound, her mouth was stuffed with a soft cloth, and her eyes burned with resentful anger.

However, the concubines and maids traveling with her in the carriage all kept their eyes down and remained silent, treating her as if she were nothing.

There were a couple of bold people who looked at her as if she were a joke.

She originally planned to take advantage of the opportunity of sending her father's coffin to escape back to the Wang family and then send the divorce papers after the storm had passed. However, before she could take any action, she was reported by her own son, Jin Ge'er, and was tied up on the spot and imprisoned to this day.

Now that the Kang family has fallen into ruin, it is precisely the time when they need her, the daughter of the Grand Tutor who is worthy of being enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, to maintain their last bit of dignity. How can they allow her to get away?

Besides, the matriarch of the Kang family was no fool. From Wang Shiping's attitude that day, she could tell that the Wang family cared more about their reputation than they did. As long as the Kang family treated their eldest daughter-in-law well on the surface, the marriage relationship would still be valid.

As for what happens behind closed doors, the two families are now thousands of miles apart, and it's up to them to decide.

With the Wang family's affair concluded, barring any unforeseen circumstances, neither family will ever have the opportunity to travel to Beijing again.

After a period of grief, Wang Ruofu recovered and settled down to focus on her pregnancy, her complexion improving day by day.

As for Shilan, the ingenious idea of ​​launching fireworks from iron pipes quickly caused a stir within the British Duke's mansion.

That very night, Duke Zhang Qing of England rushed to the Ordnance Bureau to meet with the top artisans' association.

The master craftsmen were initially taken aback, but after careful consideration, they felt that it was worthwhile. To this end, they went to the Ministry of Works to borrow skilled craftsmen who were developing fireworks. In order to cover their tracks and to keep the benefits within the family, Zhang Qing even specifically asked for Qin Zhengyang.

Just as Zhang Yun, Qin Zhengyang, and the other craftsmen were engrossed in their research, Shilan unexpectedly gained a powerful ally.

On that day, upon learning the good news of her pregnancy, her close friend Chen Zhao made a special trip to congratulate her.

Shilan warmly received her, and during their casual conversation, the sisters inevitably talked about how they met their husbands.

Upon hearing this, Shilan was stunned.

Cui Jingming was actually just the son of a craftsman in the army, Chen Zhao's father.

She knew from the beginning that Chen Zhao was free-spirited and even rebellious, and that she had always abhorred the arranged marriages among nobles that were based on clear price tags and mutual benefit.

But such a resolute decision to marry a craftsman was the only bold and rebellious act Shilan had ever witnessed in her past and present lives.

But when he heard that Cui Jingming had already begun researching how to better utilize gunpowder in warfare to resist the Liao army in the northwest and the Xia Dynasty in the southwest, he couldn't help but admire Chen Zhao's unique vision.

She also learned that gunpowder arrows with gunpowder attached to the arrows already existed and were now standard military equipment. However, Cui Jingming felt that the destructive power of this thing should be more than that, and he had been studying it diligently for many years. Unfortunately, he was of low status and had very few opportunities and resources to conduct experiments, so he had not seen any significant results for many years.

Upon hearing this, Shilan no longer hesitated and recommended the person to Zhang Yun.

As expected, Cui Jingming's arrival at the Ordnance Bureau was like a dragon entering the sea, shining brightly.

After that, he and Zhang Yun were stationed at the Military Equipment Bureau in the suburbs. The sounds of hammering and smelting were constant day and night, and the research and development of firearms progressed rapidly.

There was another matter that also received a response.

Zhang Yun seized the opportunity to briefly mention to his father, as an anecdote, the palace intrigues that Shilan had mentioned that day.

Although the Duke of England was a military general, he was meticulous and knew that his son would not speak without reason, so he handed the vague clues to a trustworthy person.

An investigation revealed that several concubines who had been pregnant and then miscarried, or whose children were weak, sickly, or died young, did indeed have improper daily diets and supplements.

They weren't highly poisonous; on the contrary, they were all mild tonics. However, incense was prevalent in the palace, and different spices were burned in each room according to the owner's preferences. Some of these medicinal scents could actually counteract what they ingested, thus creating a potential hazard.

Zhang Qing did not delay any longer and immediately reported it.

Upon hearing the report, the emperor was both shocked and furious, and even more so, filled with lingering fear.

Just then, Consort Miao was diagnosed with pregnancy after Consort Zhang. The Emperor immediately ordered the two to move to a separate palace in the suburbs of the capital for quiet recuperation. Their daily lives were to be conducted in accordance with the safe and secure practices of ordinary people, with a ban on complicated incense, simple and refined food, and dedicated confidants to serve them until childbirth.

With the turmoil in the imperial harem temporarily subsided, Zhang Yun's wedding leave was also coming to an end.

On a day in late summer or early autumn, Shilan escorted him to the Second Gate.

The two looked into each other's eyes, both seeing a deep reluctance to part.

"Take good care of yourself and wait for me to come back," he said with difficulty.

Shilan responded softly, holding back the tears welling up in her eyes.

The pain of separation was unbearable. After Zhang Yun left, Shilan was inevitably depressed for a few days, but the increasingly frequent fetal movements eased her sorrow.

Shilan was greatly relieved; no matter what, the child in her womb was the most important thing.

Because this is the child she has longed for in two lifetimes.

Shilan focused on her pregnancy and gave up everything, including polo, outings, lavish banquets, and even men.

She was content to guard that small corner of the backyard, hoping only for the safe arrival of her child.

Shilan even learned needlework, something she had never learned in her two lifetimes, thinking about what she could make for her unborn child. The baby clothes were a bit difficult; the embroidery pattern for the bib was too intricate, and the loose threads of the bib couldn't be hidden, which worried her about chafing the child's delicate skin.

I simply made two pairs of small socks.

Time slips away quietly amidst anticipation.

They got married in March and she was diagnosed with pregnancy in May, which means the pregnancy was in the first month of the lunar calendar.

Good news kept coming in the first month of that year.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, after a difficult night, Wang Ruofu, the sister-in-law, gave birth to a son, named Qin Chengbo.

Just as they had prepared the gifts to celebrate the baby's full moon, on the night of the 29th of the first lunar month, Shilan also started her own pregnancy.

My water broke at midnight.

Her frantic cries startled Baozhi, who was on night watch, and in a moment, everyone in the backyard of the Duke of England's mansion was alerted and the lights were on.

The initial contractions were bearable, but as dawn broke, the waves of excruciating pain truly began to hit.

She bit down on the cork, her clothes soaked with sweat, her fingertips gripping the sheets so tightly that her knuckles turned white from the force.

The midwife's encouraging voices seemed to come from near and far, while the pain gnawed at every bone and muscle, as if there was no end in sight.

She had no idea that such cruel torture existed in the world.

one day one Night.

She was soaking wet as if she had been pulled out of the water, with her disheveled hair sticking to her cheeks and neck.

Exhausted and with unfocused eyes, just as he thought he was about to return to the mysterious space, a loud and clear cry suddenly rang out.

Like a ray of light, it pulled her back to the human world.

"It's born! It's a boy! And he's very healthy!" The midwife trembled with joy.

Shilan collapsed, her vision blurring.

She stubbornly refused to fall asleep, her voice barely a whisper but persistent: "Child, let me see you."

She washed and wrapped the baby and placed him in her arms.

A heavy, warm mass.

She looked down at his rosy, wrinkled little face. He was crying loudly, his little mouth agape, as if trying to pierce her eardrums.

It's really ugly.

This was Shilan's first thought.

But it's so good, it's alive, and it can even cry.

It was completely different from the bluish-purple, lifeless mass of flesh and blood that I carried out last time.

Hot tears streamed down my face without warning.

At that very moment, a strange yet intense tremor crashed into the depths of her soul.

"My child, my child."

came back.

All the pain, the embarrassment, the intense anticipation, and the disappointment after each shattering—at this moment, all become insignificant.

She trembled all over, and with her last bit of strength pressed her face against the child's pink forehead, listening to his lively cries and feeling the joy of having him back.

came back.

She murmured to herself over and over again, sobbing uncontrollably.

she knows.

This is him.

The child she lost in her past life was killed by a bowl of safflower, the child she lost through the schemes of her former husband.

Having traversed such a vast distance of time and space, he finally returned to her arms completely intact.