"Jiaqing, you are a good child of the He Family. Though you made some mistakes before, the imperial court has already chosen not to pursue them out of consideration for us old brothers.
Sooner or later, the court will grant this territory to you. But before the court issues its formal document, you cannot seize it by force. At the very least, this rule cannot be broken.
Hand over the deed now. We old brothers will take it back and give it to Lord Qiao. We'll kneel, we'll bow, we'll cast aside these old faces of ours—we'll do whatever it takes to save your life.
But you cannot remain stubbornly obsessed! The He Family has been loyal and upright for generations. That reputation cannot be ruined in your hands!"
He Shengdong patiently tried to reason with He Jiaqing. He Jiaqing swept his gaze across the land reclaimers before him. He had truly never expected that all these people would have ties to the He Family.
During this period, He Jiaqing had been buried beneath debt. Wages had been delayed again and again, and no land reclaimers had been willing to work for him anymore. Yet these people had come knocking of their own accord.
He Jiaqing should have noticed something was wrong long ago. But he had been too desperate to reclaim land, and he had overlooked all these problems.
At He Shengdong's introduction, He Jiaqing came to know these senior figures anew. Quite a few bore the surname He. Some were his grand-uncles, some his great-grand-uncles, and one was even his great-grandfather's elder cousin. Others did not bear the He surname, but had been followers of the He Family back in the day.
Everyone spoke at once, urging He Jiaqing to hand over the deed.
He Jiaqing studied the