Bai met Luan at the market stall shortly after the morning trade began. Luan’s ledger stayed wrapped in oiled cloth beneath the counter. When Bai asked to see the page recording Eda’s bitterleaf, the merchant looked toward the street before answering.
“I’ll bring the book to the council only if a market clerk witnesses the exchange,” Luan said. “If the guild hears I handed over its accounts, they’ll say I concealed a sale.”
“It’s your ledger,” Bai said. “You choose what to show and what to copy.”
Luan rubbed the cloth’s edge. “And if they accuse me of changing the page? The guild buys half my winter roots. I can lose more than a ledger.”
Bai did not wave that away. “Then choose whether showing this page is worth that risk. We can bring the copied contract to the hearing without your book, but it will leave the count uncertain.”
Luan looked toward Eda. “I’ll show the entry. I won’t hand over the book.”
“Then we make a witnessed copy, and you keep the original.”
Bai called over the market clerk, who was already tallying fees at the next stall. He paid for the clerk’s time from the trade account and wrote down the amount. Luan read the entry and nodded. He wanted no unpaid favor to become another point of dispute.
