Chapter Three: The Zero Auction

Zhou Lin did not bet. Both options came from the dealer, and his mother had warned him against the dealer's choices. The ledger was already under Jiming's control. More importantly, “reveal or destroy” assumed the page was present. “Show us the prize,” Zhou Lin said. Secretary Liang held a yellowed page behind glass. Su Wanqing's handwriting read: Protocol Zero, forty-seven joint principals… A hand covered the bottom half. Zhou Lin laughed. “What?” Jiming asked. “It's false. My mother wrote seven without a crossbar. Your forty-seven has one.” Liang instinctively turned the page over. That reaction was the proof. A person holding genuine evidence would challenge the analysis. A performer merely hid the prop.