The life swap begins with Consort Hua becoming Lady Qin.

Half a month later.

In the back courtyard of the Kang family, the crisp sound of porcelain shattering echoed one after another.

"What do you mean you can't find them?! Where could those peasants have gone?"

Wang Ruoyu's face was ashen, her chest heaving violently, and she pointed at the head maid kneeling before her, her voice trembling.

"Please calm down, madam..." The old woman knelt on the ground: "This old servant took people there three times, but the Zhou family's gate was always locked. We asked the neighbors, and they all said they didn't know where they were."

"Useless! A bunch of useless trash!"

Wang Ruo grabbed the teacup beside her and slammed it to the ground.

For the past two weeks, she has been waiting every day for that wretched woman Xiu Niang's parents and brothers to drag their seriously injured bodies to Shuntian Prefecture to beat the grievance drum and accuse the Dongchang Marquis's Mansion of forcing good people into lowly status and allowing their servants to commit murder!

Therefore, she specially sought out the servant of the Cao family who had sold Xiu Niang to Yangzhou, bought Xiu Niang's indenture from him for a large sum of money, and gave it to the Zhou family.

They were just waiting for the Shuntian Prefecture to arrest the Qin family so they could present it as irrefutable evidence.

But after waiting and waiting, all that came was that the family of five had vanished without a trace, and even the villagers didn't know where they had gone!

How is that possible?

"Go find them again!" Wang Ruoyu said with a ferocious expression. "The peasants in our village can't possibly not know where they went. Take more people and ask them. Whoever is willing to tell us, we'll give them ten taels of silver!"

After this half-month delay, Princess Fu Ning was getting impatient. If she knew that her nearly month-long plan had resulted in nothing...

Let alone Kang Haifeng's official position, she herself probably won't have a good ending either.

"Yes, yes... This old servant will immediately send more men..." The old woman withdrew.

Just then, a series of hurried and chaotic footsteps came from outside the courtyard. Her second-class maid rushed in, her face pale, forgetting all manners, and cried out in a shrill voice, "Madam! Something terrible has happened! People from the Shuntian Prefecture have come! They say someone has filed a complaint accusing you of forcing...forcing a woman into a lowly position..."

"Accusing me of forcing a good woman into a lowly position?" Wang Ruoyu was taken aback at first, then a surge of anger rushed to her head: "My people haven't even arrived in Shuntian Prefecture yet, and they still dare to make false accusations? Do they really think they are—" Her words were cut short.

The Zhou family has disappeared.

The petition was submitted, however.

It's still her who gets sued!

A chill crept up her spine.

"Madam, the officers have arrived at the front yard, and the manager is trying to mediate. You must make a decision soon!"

Wang Ruo forced herself to calm down and think of a solution.

However, her hard-won composure was shattered once again the next moment when her husband Kang Haifeng's attendant tumbled and crawled into the courtyard.

"Madam! Master has been captured by the Shuntian Prefecture officials and taken directly to prison!"

"What?!" Wang Ruoyu's vision went black, and she almost fell over, but was hurriedly supported by a maid.

The servant's face turned deathly pale: "Someone has accused you of causing this disaster last year when you were overseeing the distribution of relief grain in Huainan West Circuit. The reason why the 10,000 shi of relief grain you were guarding was burned to ashes... is because... because you were having a secret rendezvous with a dancer at the government office that night, indulging in sensual pleasures, and in your drunken state, you knocked over the candles, which led to this calamity!"

Wang Ruoyu was struck dumb, frozen in place.

After a long pause, he asked incredulously, "Secretly meeting with dancers and indulging in sensual pleasures?"

Her voice suddenly rose: "Didn't he swear to heaven that he was deliberately harassed by his superiors, working day and night until he was dizzy and exhausted, and that he accidentally dropped a spark at night, causing the granary to catch fire?"

He even lost his job and ruined his future because of this, so much so that he spent his days sighing and lamenting.

Although she found him useless, she believed his words, thinking that the officialdom was dangerous and full of villains.

Let's hear the truth now.

He secretly met with dancers, indulged in sensual pleasures, and got drunk, which led to his downfall!

Not to mention that 10,000 shi of grain, which was disaster relief grain!

Wang Ruoyu swayed violently and fell straight into the wooden chair behind her.

The servant boy, trembling, added, "There are witnesses and physical evidence... The guards, dancers, and even the granary officials from that night all came forward to testify."

Wang Ruoyu's vision went black, and before she lost consciousness, she seemed to hear the panicked cries of her maids and servants.

It’s over.

The Kang family is finished.

She's finished too!

-

Almost overnight, news of Kang Haifeng's secret rendezvous with a dancer and the burning of disaster relief grain spread like wildfire throughout the streets and alleys of Bianjing.

Memorials from the Censorate flew into the palace like snowflakes.

People spit and cursed him in the streets and alleys.

In comparison, Wang Ruo's case against the one that forced good people into lowly status, although mentioned, was relegated to the sidelines.

The Kang family became utterly reviled and hated by everyone in Bianjing.

Wang Ruo was summoned by the Shuntian Prefecture twice. The first time, she refused to confess and even tried to pin all the blame on Wang Ruofu.

But the second time, when faced with Zhou Xiuniang who also appeared in court, Wang Ruoyu was speechless.

Kang Haifeng is now imprisoned and is said to have fallen seriously ill in prison.

Madam Wang fainted once on the day she learned the news.

After waking up, she forced herself to go to the Dongchang Marquis's residence, hoping to find Wang Ruofu to ask her what was going on, or perhaps to persuade her to be forgiving, since they were sisters after all, why did things have to come to this?

But they came up empty-handed.

Long before the Zhou family filed a complaint with the Shuntian Prefecture, she had taken her daughter and husband and fled to a manor in the suburbs of Beijing.

Madam Wang was trembling with anger, but there was nothing she could do.

Unfortunately, man proposes, God disposes; Wang Ruofu's plan to find peace and quiet ultimately did not last.

The change came unexpectedly.

On the seventh day after the incident of patronizing prostitutes and burning grain, the old steward of the Wang family rode a fast horse to the estate, dressed in white mourning clothes, his face full of grief:

"Third Miss, Master... he's passed away!"

Grand Tutor Wang was ordered to inspect the Yellow River works and provide disaster relief to the victims. He fell ill from overwork and died suddenly at his desk in office.

It is said that when the servant found it, there was an unsealed official document in his hand, which listed in detail the number of households, population, grain reserves, and urgently needed supplies in dozens of the most severely affected villages, and even detailed how to settle the widows, widowers, and orphans in a certain village.

When the news reached Bianjing, it caused a stir in the court and among the people.

The emperor burst into tears, lamenting in court, "Minister Wang is a pillar of the nation!"

He was swiftly granted posthumous honors, posthumously awarded the title of Grand Tutor, and allowed to be enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

In an instant, everyone's eyes turned to this old Grand Tutor who had sacrificed his life for his country and was known for his integrity and uprightness.

Scholars spontaneously held a memorial service, and the common people wept upon hearing it.

Amidst this overwhelming sense of tragedy and reverence, who would still have the nerve to keep gossiping about the sordid affairs of Grand Tutor Wang's good-for-nothing eldest daughter and son-in-law?

Soon after, the verdicts for the two men were handed down: Kang Haifeng was stripped of his Jinshi degree, never to be employed again, and half of his family property was confiscated to fund the national economy.

As for Wang Ruoyu, he was only fined two hundred taels of silver to compensate the Zhou family, and no other punishment was mentioned.

Raise it high, then put it down gently.

This can be considered as preserving the last bit of honor for Grand Tutor Wang after his death.

On the way back to Beijing, Wang Ruofu cried the whole way.

When they arrived at the Wang family's house and saw the white mourning hall, they burst into tears.

"So you finally decided to come back?"

A cold voice came from behind.

Wang Ruofu turned around and saw her mother, Madam Wang, dressed in mourning clothes, looking gaunt and with sunken eyes, but her gaze was devoid of warmth.

"Mother……"

"Don't call me Mother!" Madam Wang's voice was shrill. "When have you ever truly cared about this family? Your father? Me? When your eldest sister suffered, you hid far away! Now that your father is gone, you come back to claim the title of a filial daughter?!"

"No, Mother, I..."

"Get out!" Madam Wang pointed at the entrance to the mourning hall, her finger trembling. "You're not a daughter of the Wang family! You want to send your father off? Fine, but only when you bring your elder sister back safe and sound will you step into the Wang family again!"

Each word was like a knife, cutting into Wang Ruofu's heart.

Looking at her mother's face contorted with anger, and at her father's solemn memorial tablet in the mourning hall, she felt a sudden dizziness and a dull ache in her lower abdomen.

"No!"

Qin Zhengyang scooped up his unconscious wife and strode toward the door.

As he passed Madam Wang, he stopped, turned his head, and his gaze was as cold as ice.

"Disharmony among children is often caused by the parents' lack of virtue, their bias and unfairness, which leads to unrest in the family." He glanced at the memorial tablet, his tone even colder: "My father-in-law was a well-known loyal and virtuous man, whose character was impeccable."

He turned his gaze back to Madam Wang's pale, stiff face, and asked, word by word:

"Then may I ask, Mother-in-law, who is the source of this trouble?"