Terms Rewritten

By the time Liang Chen stepped into Jinhe Auction House’s satellite valuation room, the default notice from the previous day was already pinned to the wall like a dead fish. The restaurant’s frozen account sat open on the projector in stark red digits. The staff had done that on purpose. So had Xu Ren.

The room held two buyers, three valuation clerks, and Old Chef Wei’s silent testament in Liang’s hand: a torn ledger page tucked under his palm, its kitchen seal impression pressed faintly into the paper like a scar