Rainy foreign-concession street outside Three-Stamp Atelier at night, then Wen Jia working alone inside under a hard oil-lamp light.

Wen Jia finishes an ordinary authentication job, establishing her method and her damaged hand.

The ordinary pressures behind Wen Jia's work: tuition, rent, and the need to keep accepting dangerous work.

A Lotus Pier runner arrives in the rain just as Wen Jia prepares to close.

Lin Qiao delivers Bai Lou's sealed commission and names the matter: Bai Yan's last letter.

The commission terms are revealed: inheritance court by morning, generous payment, silent pressure.

Wen Jia sets professional conditions while Lin Qiao implies refusal would be dangerous without saying it outright.

Wen Jia accepts the commission because the alternative is worse.

Alone again, Wen Jia opens the evidence packet and begins the authentication.

Wen Jia notes the paper's smell, ink, and smoke marks.

The comparison packet shows Bai Yan's known hand, allowing Wen Jia to begin matching strokes.

Wen Jia confirms several genuine features in the handwriting.

Wen Jia reconstructs the writer's movement and sees deliberate imitation of panic.

A small personal abbreviation confirms closeness to Bai Yan's real hand while making the letter feel staged.

The evidence leaves Wen Jia trapped between genuine handwriting and false circumstances.

A new visitor knocks, changing the examination from private work into immediate danger.

The veiled visitor asks for a copy of the final letter, claiming private mourning.

Wen Jia refuses by professional rule; the visitor tries to bargain without revealing too much.

Wen Jia asks simple factual questions and notices the visitor's answers are too carefully placed.

Wen Jia recognizes the same pressure rhythm in the visitor's hand and the letter's downstrokes.

The visitor senses Wen Jia has noticed something; Wen Jia protects the realization behind professional language.

The chapter closes with Wen Jia silently understanding the dead heiress is alive in front of her.