The Red Pavilion

'I have never met Dr Lee,' the judge said, 'but I know that he was a capable official. It's a pity that bad health forced him to retire. What ailment is he suffering from?'

'That I don't know, sir. It must be serious, though, for I heard that he has been confined to his house for nearly a year already. That's why, as I told Your Honour last night, it was an uncle who came here to fetch the Academician's dead body.'

'Some people say,' Judge Dee resumed, 'that the Academician was not the type of man to commit suicide because of a woman.'

'Not because of a woman,' Feng said with a sly smile, 'but because of himself! As I told Your Honour, he was an extremely conceited person. The Queen Flower's refusing him would be talked about all over the province, therefore it was wounded pride that made him kill himself, I think.'

'You may be right there,' the judge agreed. 'By the way, did the uncle take away with him all the Academician's papers? '

Feng clapped his hand to his forehead.

'That reminds me!' he exclaimed. 'I forgot to give him the documents found on the deceased's table.' He rose and took from the drawer in his desk a package wrapped up in brown paper. Judge Dee opened it and glanced through the contents. After a while he looked up and remarked:

'The Academician was a methodical man. He carefully recorded all expenses incurred during his stay here, including even the fees of the women he slept with. I see here the names of Jade Flower, Carnation and Peony.'

'All courtesans of the second rank,' Feng explained.

'He settled his bill with those three women on the 25th, I see. But there's no record here of any payment made to Autumn Moon.'

'She attended most of the Academician's parties,' Feng said, 'but the fees for that are always included in the bill of the restaurant. As to their ah . . . more intimate relations, in the case of a courtesan of the first rank, as Autumn Moon was, the customer gives her a present, at parting. It glosses over the um . . . ah . . . commercial aspects of the attachment.' Feng looked pained, he evidently thought it beneath his dignity to discuss the cruder aspects of his business. He quickly selected one sheet from those in front of the judge, and went on: 'These are the Academician's scribblings, proving that his last thoughts were devoted to our Queen Flower. It was for that reason that I summoned her, whereupon she revealed that he had offered to redeem her, and that she had refused.'

Judge Dee studied the sheet. Apparently the Academician had first tried to draw a complete circle in one brush stroke. He had repeated the effort, then written underneath three times the two words ' Autumn Moon'. Putting the paper in his sleeve, he got up, and said:

'We shall now proceed to the court room.'

The warden's offices took up the entire east wing of the compound. Feng led the judge through the chancery, where four clerks were busily wielding their writing brushes, to a large, high-ceilinged hall. The open front, lined with red-lacquered pillars, faced a well-tended flower garden. Half a dozen men stood waiting there. The judge recognized Tao Pan-te, the curio-dealer Wen Yuan, and the poet Kia Yu-po. The other three he didn't know.

When he had answered their bows, Judge Dee sat down in the high armchair behind the bench. With a sour look he took in the luxurious appointments of this court hall. The bench was covered with costly red brocade, embroidered in gold, and the writing implements lying ready on it were all valuable antiques. The beautifully carved stone inkslab, the paper weight of green jade, the sandalwood seal box, and the writing brushes with the ivory shafts belonged to a collector's studio rather than to a tribunal. The floor consisted of coloured tiles, and the back wall was hidden by a magnificent high folding screen, painted in gold and blue with a design of waves and clouds. Judge Dee held the view that public offices ought to be as simple as possible, in order to show the people that the government doesn't waste its tax-money on unnecessary luxury. But on Paradise Island evidently even government offices had to show off the place's enormous wealth.

Feng Dai and Ma Joong remained standing, each at one end of the bench. The recording clerk had sat down at a lower table against the side wall, and two of the men unknown to the judge now took up their positions on the right and left before the bench. The long bamboo staffs they carried proclaimed them to be two of the warden's special constables.

The judge looked through the papers that had been put ready for him, then rapped the gavel and spoke:

'I, Assessor of the tribunal of Chin-hwa, declare the session open. I shall begin with the case of the Academician Lee Lien. I have here before me the draft of a death certificate drawn up by His Excellency Magistrate Lo, stating that the said Academician killed himself on the 25th, having become despondent over his unrequited love for the courtesan Autumn Moon, this year's Queen Flower of Paradise Island. I see from the autopsy report appended thereto that the Academician killed himself by cutting his right jugular vein with his own dagger. On the face and forearms of the deceased were found thin scratches. The deceased had no bodily defects, but two swollen places were discovered on either side of his neck, of undetermined origin.' The judge looked up and said: ' Let the coroner come forward. I want a detailed report on those swellings.'

An elderly man with a pointed beard came to the bench. He knelt down and began:

'This person respectfully reports that he is the owner of the pharmacy of this island, and concurrently coroner of this court. As regards the swollen places found on the Academician's body, I beg to state that they were located on either side of the neck, under the ears. They had the size of a large marble. The skin was not discoloured, and since there were no holes or punctures, the swelling must be ascribed to some internal cause.'

'I see,' Judge Dee said. 'After I have verified a few details, I shall have this suicide duly registered.' He rapped his gavel. 'Second, this court has to consider the demise of the courtesan Autumn Moon, which occurred last night in the Red Pavilion. I shall now hear the report on the autopsy.'

'This person,' the coroner spoke up again, ' examined at midnight the dead body of Miss Yuan Feng, called Autumn Moon. He found that death was due to heart failure, presumably caused by over-indulgence in alcohol.'

The judge raised his eyebrows. He said curtly:

'I want further comment on that statement.'

'During the last two months, Your Honour, the deceased consulted me twice regarding dizziness and palpitations of the heart. I found that she was in a run-down condition, prescribed a soothing medicine, and advised her to take a rest and abstain from intoxicants. I reported this also to the office of the brothel guild. I am informed, however, that the deceased confined herself to taking my medicine, and did not change her mode of living.'

'I urged her to obey the doctor's orders to the letter, Your Honour,' Feng remarked hurriedly. 'We always insist that the professional women here follow medical advice, both in their own interest and ours. But she wouldn't listen, and, since she is the Queen Flower . . .'