"I approached my master that same evening, but he flew into a rage and called me an ungrateful rascal. I wrote a secret note to Lien-fang, urging her to do her best with her father. Evidently Mr. Liao also refused. The poor girl must have become desperate, and killed herself by jumping into a well. And I, miserable wretch, am responsible for her death!"
He burst out in tears. After a while he said in a broken voice:
"My secret has been oppressing me all these days; every hour I expected to hear that her body had been found. And then that horrible man Yeh Tai came and said that he knew about my meeting Lien-fang in my room. I gave him money, but he wanted more every time! Today he came again and . . ."
"How," Judge Dee interrupted him, "did Yeh Tai come to know your secret?"
"Apparently," Yu Kang answered, "an old maidservant called Liu had spied on us. She had formerly served in the Yeh family as Yeh Tai's nurse, and she told him about it when they stood gossiping together in the corridor outside Chu's library. Yeh Tai was waiting there to see him on some business transaction. Yeh Tai assured me that the old woman had promised him to tell no one else about it."
"The old woman herself did not bother you?" the judge asked.
"No, Your Honor," Yu Kang replied, "but I myself tried to talk to her to make sure that she would keep her promise. Until today, however, I did not succeed in getting hold of her." Seeing Judge Dee's astonished look, Yu Kang quickly explained: "My master has divided the mansion into eight separate households, each with its own kitchen and its own servants. The main part of the compound is occupied by Mr. Chu himself, his First Lady, and his office, also including my quarters. Then there are separate quarters for each of my master's seven other wives. Since there are scores of servants, and since all have strict orders to keep to their own part of the compound, it is not easy for me to seek out one for a private talk.
"This morning, however, I happened to see the old woman Liu when I came out of my master's office, having talked over the accounts of the tenant farmers with him. I quickly asked her what she had told Yeh Tai about Lien-fang and me, but she pretended not to know what I was talking about. Apparently she is still completely loyal to Yeh Tai." Then he added miserably: "In any case it doesn't matter now any more whether she keeps the secret or not!"
"It does matter, Yu Kang," the judge said quickly. "I have proof that Lien-fang did not kill herself, but that she was abducted."
"Who did it?" Yu Kang cried out. "Where is she?"
Judge Dee raised his hand.
"The investigation is still in progress," he said calmly. "You shall keep your secret, so as not to give warning to Lien-fang's kidnaper. When Yeh Tai comes again to ask for money, you shall tell him only to come back in a day or two. I trust that in the meantime I shall have located your fiancee, and apprehended the criminal who abducted her by a mean ruse.
"You have behaved in a most reprehensible manner, Yu Kang. Instead of guiding that young girl, you took advantage of her affection and gratified a desire you had not yet the right to gratify. Betrothal and marriage are not a private affair. It is a solemn pact involving all the members of the two families concerned, whether alive or dead. You offended the ancestors to whom the betrothal was announced before the family altar, and you also debased your future bride. At the same time you provided a criminal with the means for getting her in his clutches, for he lured her away by falsely saying that you were waiting for her. You also wantonly prolonged the misery she must be living in now by not reporting to me the truth as soon as you learned about her disappearance. You have much to make good to her, Yu Kang! Now you can go, I shall summon you again when I have located her."
The young man wanted to speak but he couldn't manage to bring out a word. He turned around and staggered to the door.
Judge Dee's assistants broke out in excited speech. But the judge raised his hand. He said:
"This information solves the case of Miss Liao. It must be that scoundrel Yeh Tai who organized the abduction, for next to the old maid he was the only one who knew their secret. And the description the dumb boy gave of the hooded man fits him exactly. The woman he used for delivering the faked message must have been the proprietress of the house of assignation. But she didn't take her there, she must have brought her to some other secret haunt where Yeh Tai keeps Miss Liao now confined—whether for his own lust or for selling her to others we have yet to find out. He knows he is quite safe, for the unfortunate girl will now of course never dare to approach her fiancee or her parents. Heaven knows how she is being maltreated! And as if that were not enough, the brazen rascal dares to blackmail Yu Kang!"
"Shall I go now and get that sunny character, Your Honor?" Ma Joong asked hopefully.
"By all means!" Judge Dee said. "Go together with Chiao Tai to Yeh's house; the brothers will probably be eating their evening rice now. Just watch the house. When Yeh Tai goes out, you follow him, he'll take you to his secret haunt. When he is inside you arrest him and everybody else there who seems involved. You needn't be too careful while handling Yeh Tai, only don't damage him so much that I can't question him any more! Good luck."
Ninth Chapter
Ma Joong and Chiao Tai rushed out, and soon Sergeant Hoong and Tao Gan left also to take their evening rice. Judge Dee started to work on a pile of official papers that had come in from the prefecture.
There was a soft knock on the door. "Come in!" he called out, pushing the papers aside. He thought it was the clerk bringing the tray with his evening meal. But when he looked up he saw the slender figure of Mrs. Kuo.
She wore a long hooded robe of gray fur that suited her very well. While she made her bow before the desk the judge noticed a waft of that same agreeable smell of sweet herbs that pervaded the Cinnamon Grove.
"Sit down, Mrs. Kuo!" he said, "you are not in the court hall." As she sat down on the edge of a stool, Mrs. Kuo said: "I made bold to come here, Your Honor, to report on the two women who were arrested this afternoon."
"Proceed," the judge said, settling back in his armchair. He took up his teacup, but seeing that it was empty put it down again. Mrs. Kuo rose quickly, and filled it from the large teapot on the corner of the desk. Then she began:
"Both women are farmers' daughters from the south. Their parents sold them to a procurer last autumn when the crops came out so badly. He took them here to Pei-chow, and sold them to one of the brothels in the market. The owner placed them in that private house, and had them practice a few times the blackmail trick they tried yesterday.
"I don't think they are bad girls. They hate the life they are leading but there is nothing they can do about it, for the sale was in order, the brothel-owner has the receipt signed and sealed by their parents."
Judge Dee heaved a sigh.
"The old story," he said. "However, since their owner used a house without a license, we can do something. How did those scoundrels treat the women?"
"Also that is the old story," Mrs. Kuo replied with a faint smile. "They were often beaten and they had to work hard cleaning the house and preparing the food."
She adjusted her hood with a deft movement of her slender hand. The judge could not help thinking that she was indeed a remarkably attractive woman.
"The regular punishment for operating a house without a license," he remarked, "is a heavy fine. But that won't do, the owner will pay up and take it out on the girls. Since we have the charge of blackmail against him also, we'll declare the bill of sale null and void. And since you say that they are fundamentally decent girls, I'll have them returned to their parents."