The capital courtroom after noon recess. Heat shimmers under vermilion beams, the bronze Truth Lantern hangs above the marriage altar, and the public gallery whispers as the afternoon session begins.

Mei rises to recall Old Hu, choosing an aggressive procedural route while the courtroom listens for scandal.

Old Hu is brought back from the witness corridor and placed under renewed attention.

Mei establishes the broker oath for the court and for the reader, turning procedure into a trap.

Mei begins connecting the oath to the dangerous debt and salt-license clauses.

Mei forces Old Hu to admit the clause was material, making the next question dangerous.

Mei asks whether her father understood the consummation clause and its consequence.

Magistrate Lu strips away Old Hu's evasion and orders a direct answer.

The Lantern reacts to Old Hu's answer.

The clerk records the flare, and Magistrate Lu explains that Old Hu's lie now endangers Mei's petition.

The court states the danger in plain terms: one more qualifying mark can make the petition fail automatically.

Old Hu produces a truthful answer that weakens Mei's case: Bai's instruction required recitation of all clauses.

Mei presses the gap between recitation and understanding, but Old Hu turns it into uncertainty instead of proof.

The gallery twists the testimony into gossip, and Mei's case looks publicly ruined.

Mei looks at the unusable witness paths: Old Hu, Master Wen's empty place, and the damaged report from noon.

Mei requests to testify herself despite the obvious danger.

Magistrate Lu makes the rules of self-testimony explicit before allowing Mei under the Lantern.

Mei physically enters the witness position beneath the marriage Lantern.

Magistrate Lu asks preliminary questions to confirm Mei understands the danger; the Lantern remains gold.

Mei remembers the noon admission: Bai bought witnesses, but his truthful explanation stopped her from relying on forged evidence.

The courtroom waits as Mei tries to answer the sincerity question under the Lantern's cold-gold light.