On the third day of the third month, in Willow Lane, Pingjiang Prefecture, over a hundred people waited in the rain to watch Shen Yanqiu get cut down by Chen Jiu. A broken sword was stuck in the threshold, and Chen Jiu's six armed retainers stood nearby. The blade was already pressed against Shen Yanqiu's throat when he merely pulled out a courier contract folded into thirds and read aloud the terms Chen Jiu had personally signed: three taels of silver as a deposit, with ten times that amount due for breach of contract. But Chen Jiu not only kicked the contract aside, he also owed the tofu shop three qian of silver, unpaid for five months. With interest, it came to four qian and five wen. Shen Yanqiu crouched down, worked his abacus, and announced thirty taels, four qian, and five wen right there in the street, demanding to know when Chen Jiu would pay. Jiang Wugui came out of the crowd and said that he had entrusted Shen Yanqiu with the case, while Shen's father had guaranteed his life. Lu Tieshan said that nine out of ten people on the street were betting Shen Yanqiu wouldn't last an incense stick's time. Shen Yanqiu instead told Old Zhang to stake his thirty-seven wen on him winning. At noon, Chen Jiu set out a writing desk and told him to write those ten words himself, so he could cut him down fair and square. Shen Yanqiu dipped his brush in ink and read the rules one by one. By the fifth rule, which added three percent interest for every day of late payment, Chen Jiu's hand was already on his sword hilt. Would Shen Yanqiu manage to write all ten words? And who would claim the broken sword today?
