Liu Gebin

The story chronicles four decades in the lives of a family deeply rooted in the soil of Northeast China. Through times of prosperity and hardship, they navigate cycles of love and hatred, fortune and misfortune. Though buffeted by the twists of fate, they never relinquish their steadfast guardianship of one another and the profound commitment to this ancestral land that sustains them.

In the late Qing Dynasty, in Yongchang Prefecture of Guandong, Prefect Jia Zhengdao—a jinshi degree holder who placed second in the imperial examinations—governs one prefecture and six counties with the help of his trusted aide Wu Shiye, fellow officials, and influential merchants and gentry. The arrival of a secret dispatch from the Grand Council throws the administration into chaos: the imperial court is covertly sending an “Eight-Prefecture Imperial Inspector” to investigate corruption. At the same time, an urgent order from the Ministry of Justice demands the capture of a fugitive fraud ring.