At the opening of the winter market in Yanhui, Chi Yanzhou, deputy superintendent of the Weighing and Tax Office, tears up page thirty-seven, marked with the character “Ding,” from Shao Qingtang’s market registry in front of everyone. He declares that her mother, Shao Huaiyin, was struck off the rolls and expelled from the market for illegally trading military iron twenty years ago. Under market regulations, a person’s crime follows their registry. Hundreds of people below the platform say nothing. Shao Qingtang, however, bends down, picks up the two torn halves of the registry page from the muddy water, wipes them clean, and folds them neatly. Then she asks the clerks to give her the torn page as evidence, and demands that the Weighing and Tax Office make a copy and stamp it. Twenty years ago, when her mother was struck off the rolls, she never even got to keep that piece of paper. For twenty years, Shao Qingtang has had no way to investigate. Today, she asks for a stamped copy without hesitation. Chi Yanzhou watches her for a long time before saying, “Give it to her.” Shao Qingtang puts the paper away, neither arguing nor making a scene. She crouches down again to pick up the contract drafts, stacks them neatly, and puts them in her back basket. Her hands are so steady, you’d never guess she had just been struck off the rolls. Half the crowd has dispersed when someone calls out that Shao, the market scribe, will be writing contracts in the East Market tonight for two copper coins each. But she stares at the back of that page for a long time. The truth about her mother’s removal from the rolls still lies buried at the bottom of the old archives in the Market Alliance Hall. And the perfectly straight edge of the page Chi Yanzhou tore off looks as if it had been prepared in advance.
