He Yan accuses the maid Ding Mao of stealing a gold hairpin. At the court hearing, both the stolen item and the culprit are found. Registrar Shen Yan rules that, as an unregistered bondservant, Ding Mao may not defend herself and must answer only with the truth. He Yan presents the forfeiture receipt from Huangji Pawnshop, claiming that on the ninth day of the fourth month of Yongtai Year 31, the He residence pawned the hairpin for five hundred wen, so Ding Mao could not possibly have had it. But Ding Mao takes a redemption contract from her robe: on the second day of the third month of Yongtai Year 32, the Ding residence paid twelve hundred wen to redeem the hairpin. She points out that the two dates are a year apart. The hairpin was redeemed before the forfeiture period ended, and the He family merely still has a receipt that was never canceled. She explains that Huangji's pawn tickets come in duplicate. When an item is redeemed, the ticket must be retrieved and canceled. The He residence failed to return its copy, so the shop kept the receipt on file. She then asks Shen Yan to turn it over and points out the words "pending cancellation" and Huangji's private seal on the back. Silence falls outside the courtroom. He Yan taps his fan against his hand. But why didn't the He family cancel that receipt at the time?
