The Red Pavilion

by Robert Van Gulik

  He woke up when the bleak light of dawn was filling the room. A waiter was hovering about near the table, preparing hot tea. Judge Dee told him to serve his morning rice out on the veranda. The coolness of the night still lingered on, but as the sun gained strength it would soon become hot again.

  The judge selected a clean under-robe, then went to the hostel’s bathroom. At this early hour he had the sunken pool all to himself, and he let himself soak there for a long time. When he came back in the Red Pavilion he found a bowl of rice and a platter of salted vegetables standing ready on the small table on the veranda. He was just taking up his chopsticks when the wistaria clusters at the veranda’s right end were swept aside. Ma Joong appeared and wished the judge a good morning.

  ‘Where did you come from?’ Judge Dee asked, astonished.

  ‘Last night I had a quick look around, sir. I found that there’s a sidepath of the main park road that leads to this veranda. From the left end another path goes straight to the Queen Flower’s pavilion. So she spoke the truth, for once, when last night she said that this veranda here affords a short-cut to her place. It also explains how she could come here and to the Red Room without the people of the hostel knowing about it. Did Your Honour sleep well?’

  Munching a piece of salted cabbage, the judge decided that he’d better not tell Ma Joong his doubts about what he had seen and heard during the night. He knew that ghostly phenomena were the only thing his stalwart lieutenant was really afraid of. So he answered:

  ‘Fairly well, thank you. Did you have any luck on the landing stage?’

  ‘I did and I didn’t! I arrived there at dawn; the fishermen were getting ready to set out. Feng’s junk was standing on shore, the boatmen were starting to paint her repaired hulk. The captain is a cheerful soul, he showed me over the ship. She carries plenty of sail, and the cabins in the stern are as comfortable as those in a hostel; they have a broad balcony too. When I asked about the collision, the captain grew red in his face and used some pretty strong language. They were rammed by the other boat towards midnight, it was entirely the fault of the Academician’s boatmen, their skipper was drunk as a lord. But the Academician himself was fairly sober. Miss Feng had rushed out on the balcony in her nightrobe, thinking that her boat was foundering. The Academician went up to her and personally apologized, the captain saw them standing together in front of her cabin.

  ‘Well, the boatmen were busy all night, getting the two ships clear. It was only towards daybreak that they got things in such a shape that the Academician’s junk could tow the other ship to the landing stage. There was only one sedan chair there, and Miss Feng and her maid rented that one. It took some time till palankeens arrived to bring Lee and his boon companions to this hostel. While waiting for them the five gentlemen sat in the main cabin, nursing their hangovers. But the Academician was fairly chipper, he walked about on the landing stage. Nobody saw the curio-dealer, though.’

  ‘Probably your friends the Crab and the Shrimp just made up that story, to say something nasty about Wen,’ Judge Dee said indifferently.

  ‘Maybe. But they didn’t lie about their pumpkin patch. There was a bit of mist over the river, but I could see the Crab and the Shrimp pottering about there. Don’t know what the Shrimp was at, the small fellow was hopping around like mad. By the way, I also saw that leper, sir. He was standing there, shouting at a boatman because he refused to take him up river. Must say the poor beggar cursed like a real gentleman, it was a treat to listen to him! Finally he showed the boatman a silver piece, but the man said he preferred to remain poor but healthy. The leper went off in a huff.’

  ‘At least the unfortunate wretch isn’t pressed for money,’ the judge remarked. ‘Last night he didn’t take the coppers I offered him.’

  Ma Joong rubbed his heavy chin, then resumed:

  ‘Coming back to last night, Your Honour, I happened to run into a courtesan called Silver Fairy, she said she had met you in the Crane Bower.’ As Judge Dee nodded, Ma Joong told him about his discovering her in the training hall, and how first Autumn Moon and then Wen Yuan had maltreated her.

  ‘Autumn Moon warned that foul curio-dealer that the girl was at his mercy!’ Judge Dee said angrily. ‘I saw her whisper to him when she came back to the dinner party. The woman had a nasty cruel streak in her.’ He tugged at his moustache, then added: ‘Anyway, the problem of those scratches on the Queen Flower’s arms has now been solved. Did you see to it that the girl was put up for the night in a safe place?’

  ‘Oh yes, sir. I took her to a widow, an old friend of hers.’ Fearing that the judge would inquire where he had passed the night himself, he went on quickly: ‘Silver Fairy takes singing lessons from a Miss Ling, a former courtesan to whom the Crab introduced her. Miss Ling is now an old and sick woman, but thirty years ago she was a famous beauty here. If Your Honour should want to look further into the suicide of Tao Pan-te’s father, Miss Ling might be able to supply more details.’

  ‘You did very well, Ma Joong. As regards that old suicide, it happened a long time ago, but right here in this Red Pavilion. Every bit of information on this queer place is welcome. Do you know where to find Miss Ling?’

  ‘She lives somewhere near the Crab’s place, I could ask him.’ Judge Dee nodded. He told Ma Joong to lay out his green ceremonial robe, and order the manager to have a rented palankeen standing ready to take them to Feng’s mansion.

  Ma Joong went to the hall, humming a tune. Silver Fairy had not yet woken up when he left, but even in her sleep she had looked remarkably attractive, he thought. He hoped to see her again at noon. ‘Funny I got so fond of that wench,’ he muttered. ‘Only thing I did with her is talking! Must be because she’s from my native village!’

  Chapter 8

  JUDGE DEE and Ma Joong stepped down from the palankeen in front of the magnificent temple on the north side of the main street. The judge had already noticed the high red pillars in front of the sumptuous marble portal when he passed by there the day before, on his arrival at Paradise Island.

  ‘What deity is this temple dedicated to?’ he asked the chief bearer.

  ‘To the God of Wealth, Excellency! Every visitor to the island prays and burns incense there before he goes to try his luck at the gaming tables.’

  Feng Dai’s residence was directly opposite. It was an extensive compound, surrounded by a high wall, newly plastered. Feng came to meet the judge in the front courtyard, paved with slabs of white marble. Across it stood a large two-storied building, with a monumental gatehouse of carved wood and roofs decked with copper tiles that glistened in the morning sun.

  While Feng conducted the judge to his library to refresh himself, his house steward took Ma Joong to the warden’s office in the east wing, so that he could verify that everything was in readiness for the court session there.

  Feng ushered Judge Dee into a large, richly furnished room, and bade him sit down at the antique tea table of carved black-wood. While sipping the fragrant tea the judge looked with interest at the bookshelves that took up the wall opposite him. They were loaded with books, some of them bristling with paper markers. Feng, who had followed his glance, said with a deprecating smile:

  ‘I myself can’t say that I am much of a scholar, Your Honour! I bought those books in the old days, chiefly because I thought that a library ought to have books in it! I use this as a reception room, really. But my friend Tao Pan-te often comes to consult the books, he is interested in history and philosophy. And my daughter Jade Ring uses them too. She has acquired some skill in composing poetry, and she is very fond of reading.’

  “Then her marrying the poet Kia Yu-po will truly be “a literary union predestined by Heaven”, as they say,’ Judge Dee remarked with a smile. ‘I hear that the youngster was rather unlucky at the tables, but he comes from a rich family, I suppose.’

  ‘No, he doesn’t. He lost practically everything he had, as a matter of fact. In this particular case, however, fortune resulted from misfortune! When Kia
paid me a visit to negotiate a loan that would enable him to continue his journey to the capital, my daughter happened to see him and then and there fell in love with him. That pleased me, for she’ll soon be nineteen, and till now she has always refused the candidates proposed to her. I invited Kia a few times here to my house, and contrived that he also saw my daughter. Then Tao Pan-te told me that Kia had seemed much impressed by Jade Ring, and Tao acted as middleman for arranging their betrothal. As to the financial aspects, I am considered a wealthy man, sir, and the happiness of my only daughter is all I care for. As my son-in-law, Kia’ll have plenty and to spare!’ He paused. He cleared his throat and asked, after some hesitation: ‘Did Your Honour already form an opinion on the shocking death of the Queen Flower?’

  ‘I never try to form an opinion before I know all the facts,’ the judge replied curtly. ‘Presently we shall hear the result of the autopsy. I also want to know more about the man who killed himself because of her, the Academician Lee Lien. Tell me what kind of man he was!’

  Feng tugged pensively at his long sidewhiskers.

  ‘I met him only once,’ he replied slowly, ‘that was on the 19th, when he came to see me about settling the damage caused by a collision on the river, involving my boat and his. He was a handsome but haughty man, very conscious of his own importance, I thought. I let him off lightly, for I used to know his father, Dr Lee Wei-djing. That was a fine, upstanding man in his younger years! Good-looking, strong as an ox, witty in his conversation, and a polished man of the world. In the olden days, when he stayed here on the island on his way to and from the capital, all the courtesans ran after him. But he knew better! Being a candidate for a Censorship, he realized that his morals must be irreproachable. Left quite a few broken hearts here, I dare say! “Well, as Your Honour probably knows, twenty-five years ago he married the daughter of a high official, and was appointed Imperial Censor. Six years ago he retired, and settled down on the family estate, in the mountainous region up north here. Unfortunately the family suffered some financial reverses, on account of bad harvests and unlucky investments, I heard. But their landed property still provides an ample income, I suppose.’

  ‘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 …’

  Judge Dee nodded. ‘Proceed!’ he ordered the coroner.

  ‘Apart from the blue spots on her throat, and a few scratches on her arms, the body of the deceased showed no signs of violence. Since this person was informed that last night she drank excessively, he arrived at the conclusion that, after she had laid herself down to sleep, she suddenly got short of breath. She jumped down from the bedstead and, in a frantic attempt to get air, caught with both hands at her own throat. Then she collapsed on the floor, in her last agony clawing at the carpet, as proved by the bits of red fluff I found under her fingernails. On the basis of these facts, Your Honour, I arrived at the conclusion that death was caused by a sudden heart attack.’