The Red Pavilion

'Quite!' Judge Dee cut her short hastily. 'You are a good singer, I hear. According to my lieutenant you are studying under a certain Miss Ling, a former courtesan.'

'I didn't know that your man is so talkative!' the girl said, giving Ma Joong an annoyed look. ' If the other girls here get the wind of it, they'll engage Miss Ling too, and presently they'll all be singing the same songs as I!'

'We'll keep your secret!' the judge said with a smile. 'I want to have a talk with Miss Ling, you see, about the old days here. I don't want others to know about that interview, therefore I can't summon her officially. I leave it to you to arrange a suitable meeting place.'

'That would be difficult, sir,' she said with a frown. 'As a matter of fact, I went to see her just now. She wouldn't let me in, she said through the door that she was coughing badly again, and that she wouldn't be able to teach me for a week or so.'

'She can't be too ill to answer a few simple questions,' Judge Dee remarked testily. 'Go and warn her that in an hour or so you'll be coming back to her place, together with me.' He got up and added: ' I'll pass by here again later.'

Silver Fairy conducted them ceremoniously to the door. Outside the judge said to Ma Joong:

'I want Tao Pan-te to be present when I question Miss Ling, for he'll be able to make useful suggestions. Let's ask in that large wine shop over there where we can find him!'

They were in luck; the manager informed them that Tao Pan-te happened to be there. He was in the warehouse behind the shop, inspecting a newly arrived lot of winejars.

They found Tao bent over a large earthenware jar, sealed with clay. He apologized profusely for receiving them in a warehouse, and wanted to take them upstairs to sample the new wine. But Judge Dee said:

'I am in rather a hurry just now, Mr Tao. I only wanted to tell you that later in the afternoon I shall question an old woman who thirty years ago was a famous courtesan here. I thought you'd like to be present.'

'I certainly would!' Tao exclaimed. 'How did you find her, sir? I have been trying to locate such a person for years!'

'It seems that few people know about her existence. I am now going somewhere else, Mr Tao. On my way back I'll pick you up here.'

Tao Pan-te thanked the judge warmly.

When they were outside again Judge Dee remarked:

'It would seem that Mr Tao takes a much greater part in his business than he made me believe this morning!'

'Few people dislike a taste of a new brand!' Ma Joong said with a grin.

Wen Yuan's curio-shop was located on a busy corner. They found it crammed with larger and smaller tables loaded with vases, statues, lacquer boxes and other antiques of all kinds and sizes. When the shop assistant had gone upstairs with Judge Dee's large red visiting card, the judge whispered to Ma Joong:

'You'll go upstairs with me, I'll say you are a collector of porcelain.' He cut the tall fellow's protests short, saying: 'I want you to be there, as a witness.'

Wen Yuan came hurriedly down and welcomed the judge with a low bow. He started on the usual polite phrases but his thin lips were twitching, he could only bring out a confused stutter. Judge Dee said cordially:

'I had heard so much about your fine collection, Mr "Wen, that I couldn't resist the temptation to come here and have a look.'

Wen again made an elaborate obeisance. When he had righted himself it was clear that, having learned the innocent object of Judge Dee's visit, he had got over his fright. He said with a deprecating smile:

'What I have here downstairs is nothing, Your Honour! These things are meant only for ignorant tourists from up-country. Allow me to lead you upstairs!'

The hall on the second floor was tastefully furnished with good antique pieces, and on the shelves along the walls stood a choice collection of porcelain. The curio-dealer took Judge Dee and Ma Joong to a small study at the back, and bade the judge sit down at the tea table. Ma Joong stood himself behind Judge Dee's chair. The screened light of the paper windows fell on the scroll paintings that covered the walls, showing to advantage their delicate colouring, mellowed by age. It was agreeably cool there, but Wen insisted on presenting his guest with a beautiful silk fan. As the curio-dealer was filling Judge Dee's cup with fragrant jasmine tea, the judge said:

'I myself am interested in antique pictures and manuscripts. I brought my assistant along, because he is an expert on porcelain.'

'That's a lucky chance for me!' Wen said eagerly. He placed a square lacquer box on the table and took from its padded inside a slender white flower vase. He resumed: 'This morning a man brought this vase to me, but I have some doubts about it. Would the gentleman favour me with his opinion?'

The unhappy boxer stared at the vase with such a horrible scowl that Wen hastily put it back in the box, saying contritely:

'Yes, I too suspected it was a fake, but I hadn't thought it was as bad as all that. Well, the gentleman certainly knows porcelain!'

As Ma Joong resumed his position behind Judge Dee's chair with a suppressed sigh of relief, the judge addressed the curio-dealer affably:

'Sit down, Mr Wen! Let's have a leisurely talk.' As Wen took the seat opposite them the judge added casually: 'Not about antiques, but about the lies you told this morning in court.'

Wen's hollow face went sickly pale. He stammered:

'This person fails to see what Your Honour . . .'

'You stated,' Judge Dee interrupted coldly, 'that last night you came directly here from the Crane Bower. You thought that nobody had seen you cruelly maltreating a defenceless girl in the courtesans' training hall. But a maidservant watched you, and reported to me.'

Red blotches had appeared on "Wen's face. He moistened his thin lips, then said:

'I didn't think it necessary to mention that, Your Honour. Those wayward girls need some punishment from time to time and . . .'

'It's you who shall be punished! For contempt of court, which means fifty lashes with the heavy whip! Subtract ten lashes for your advanced age, the rest'll still suffice to cripple you for life!'

Wen jumped up and knelt before the judge. Touching his forehead to the floor he begged for mercy.

'Rise!' the judge ordered. 'You shan't be flogged, because your head will be chopped off on the execution ground. You are implicated in a murder!'

'A murder?' Wen screamed. 'Never, Your Honour! Impossible . . . What murder? '

'The murder of the Academician Lee Lien. Someone overheard your talk with him, ten days ago, on the morning he arrived here.'

Wen stared at the judge with wide eyes.

'Near the landing stage, under the trees, you bastard!' Ma Joong growled.

'But nobody was . . .' Wen began, then caught up with himself and continued: 'That is to say . . .' He broke off, making a desperate effort to collect himself.

'Speak up, tell the truth!' Judge Dee barked.

'But.. . but if our conversation was overheard,' Wen wailed, 'then you must know that I did what I could to make the Academician see reason! That I told him it was sheer madness to try to get hold of Feng's daughter, that Feng would take a terrible revenge and that he . . .'

'Tell the complete story!' the judge interrupted. 'How it led up to murder!'

'That crook Feng must have slandered me! I had nothing to do with the Academician's death! It must have been Feng, he himself!' He took a deep breath, then went on in a calmer voice: 'I'll tell you exactly what happened, sir! At dawn the Academician's servant came to my shop here, I had just risen. He said that Lee, whom I had been expecting the night before, had been held up by a collision with another boat, and now was waiting for me on the landing stage. I knew his father, Dr Lee the Censor, I expected to do good business with the son. I thought that perhaps he . . .'