The Emperor's Pearl

by Robert Van Gulik

  The judge took a fan of long crane-feathers from the wall and sat down behind his desk, fanning himself vigorously. Even the brief walk from the residence through the tribunal compound had made him perspire profusely again. He asked the sergeant briskly: ‘Well, what’s the news?’

  ‘I was lucky, sir, I met a talkative young maidservant of Kou’s household, in a vegetable-shop near by. It took me little trouble to find out from her that Mr Kou did indeed go out for a ride, very early this morning.’

  ‘Does he do that often?’ Judge Dee asked quickly.

  ‘Never, sir! The maid said the servants were agreed that Kou went out in order to take his mind off the Amber Lady’s death. She added that, despite the difference in age, Kou and Amber were very fond of each other, and that Amber always helped Kou to look after his First Lady. It was a very harmonious, happy household, she said.’

  Hoong waited for some comment, but Judge Dee remained silent. Suddenly the judge sat up and pointed at two small oblong pieces of bamboo that were lying among the papers on his desk. ‘When did those markers arrive?’ he asked.

  ‘They were brought a few moments ago by the corporal in charge of the South Gate, Your Honour.’

  The judge examined them eagerly. They were of about the same size, and each had the number 207 scrawled across its surface. But, whereas the figures of the one were put down laboriously in the clumsy manner of an uneducated man, those on the other betrayed the sure hand of an experienced writer; the latter also had a thin, nearly invisible groove across it, dividing the marker into two equal squares. The judge moistened his forefinger and rubbed the number off. Putting the piece in his sleeve, he said with a satisfied smile:

  ‘I’ll keep this marker. The other can be returned to the south gate. Well, let me tell you now about my visit to Sheng Pa’s girl-friend, Miss Violet Liang.’

  ‘What is she, sir?’ Hoong asked eagerly. ‘Is she really such a refined, delicate girl?’

  ‘Delicate isn’t the first word that comes to mind,’ Judge Dee replied wryly. ‘She is a woman wrestler from Mongolia, and quite a formidable one too!’ He told the sergeant the gist of their conversation, and wound up: ‘Thus we know now that a cruel maniac is on the loose in this city, and that he employed first Tong, then Sia to procure women for his base lusts. And of course it is the same fiend who is responsible for the three murders.’

  ‘That indicates that we can rule out your first suspect, sir; Mr Kou Yuan-liang, I mean. I could imagine that jealousy made him kill his adulterous secondary wife and her paramour. But Kou is certainly not the kind of man who indulges in maltreating women just for pleasure!’

  ‘I am not so sure about that, Hoong. To the outside world and even to his own servants Kou appears to be a cultured art-lover, and an affectionate husband, but it is quite possible that there’s a perverse side to him. Such people usually conceal their depraved proclivities very well. That’s why cases involving these perverts are always particularly difficult to solve. The only ones who would know his true character would be, of course, his two wives. Viewed from this new angle, the story about Mrs Kou going out to visit a friend and suddenly losing her memory does not sound very convincing. What if in reality she was fleeing from her husband, who was habitually maltreating her? And that it was despair over the cruel torments inflicted upon her that unhinged her mind? I remind you also of the scars found on the Amber Lady’s dead body, which could point into the same direction. I must say that in that case there were extenuating circumstances for her adultery and her planning to elope with Tong Mai.’

  The judge slowly fanned himself for a while, then resumed:

  ‘After my visit to Miss Violet Liang, I visited Yang in his curio-shop. Since Miss Liang had told me that the criminal was a collector of curios, I wanted to gather some information about Yang’s clients. He gave me an interesting character-sketch of Kou Yuan-liang.’ He told Sergeant Hoong about the incident with the Persian bowl, then continued: ‘Kou destroyed a valuable antique just because it proved to have a small flaw. It’s easy to imagine Kou’s reaction on discovering that another valuable possession of his, namely the Amber Lady, had the most serious flaw a wife can have: infidelity.’ He frowned and thought for a while. ‘Yet there’s a snag here! Assuming that Kou is a pervert of the type mentioned, would he then have had Amber killed by a hired underling such as Sia? Thus denying himself the pleasure of killing her with his own hands?’ He shook his head impatiently.

  ‘There’s one point that would seem indeed to point to Kou, Your Honour. I mean that Kou employed both Sia and Tong for hunting out curios for him.’

  ‘I learned from Yang,’ Judge Dee said curtly, ‘that Dr Pien and Mr Kwang Min also collect curios.’

  The booming sound of the large bronze gong in the gatehouse reverberated through the tribunal. It was the sign that the noon session was about to begin.

  The judge rose from his chair with a suppressed sigh. Sergeant Hoong helped him to don his official robe of heavy green brocade, then handed his master the winged judge’s cap of black velvet. While he was adjusting the cap in front of the mirror Judge Dee said:

  ‘I’ll conclude the session as soon as possible, Sergeant! Thereafter I want you to go at once to Sheng Pa and see what he has found out about those racing bets. You can tell him, by the way, that I personally put in a good word for him with Miss Liang. Then you go to the Hostel of the Eight Immortals, and ask the owner about Mr Kwang. How often he stayed there, how long, and what visitors he received. Also, whether he had any relations with prostitutes or courtesans and, if so, whether any of those women ever had complaints about him. I want the fullest possible information on that bland businessman.’

  The sergeant looked astonished, but there was no time for questions. He pulled the door curtain aside and Judge Dee passed through and entered the court hall. As he ascended the dais and seated himself behind the high bench, the hum of voices in the packed hall died out. Sergeant Hoong, who had stood himself in his customary place on Judge Dee’s right hand, bent over to him and whispered:

  ‘The citizens of Poo-yang are eager to hear more details about the murders, sir!’

  Nodding Judge Dee surveyed the hall. The headman and six of his constables stood in their appointed place, below the dais and facing the bench. They carried whips, clubs, chains and the other awe-inspiring paraphernalia of their office. On either side of the bench stood a lower table, each with two scribes behind it. They were moistening their writing-brushes to make notes of the proceedings. In the front row of the spectators Judge Dee saw Mr Kou and Dr Pien, standing side by side. Mr Kwang Min and the curio-dealer Yang stood in the second row. He rapped his gavel and declared the session open.

  After he had called the roll, he delivered a statement on the discovery of the murder of the Amber Lady and of Sia Kwang, without going into detail. He said that, since the two crimes had occurred in one and the same place, the court was convinced that there was a connection, and that a thorough investigation was in progress.

  When the judge had finished, Kwang Min stepped forward. He made a bow and began:

  ‘This person-‘

  ‘Kneel down!’ the headman barked at him, raising his whip.

  Kwang gave him an indignant look, but he obediently knelt on the stone floor in front of the bench and resumed: ‘This person, the merchant Kwang Min, has the honour to report that he has decided to reside on his junk, temporarily moored at the landing-stage near the west city-gate.’

  ‘It shall be so recorded,’ Judge Dee said. After Kwang Min had risen he suddenly added: ‘You were not too communicative when I questioned you this morning, Mr Kwang.’

  Kwang looked steadily at the judge. He said soberly: ‘I was specifically ordered to be brief, Your Honour.’

  ‘One can be brief and still to the point, Mr Kwang. I know where to find you, you may go.’

  When Kwang had resumed his place among the spectators, Judge Dee announced a new regulation that had just come in from the c
apital, regarding the issuing of identity cards. While explaining the new rule he noticed the sultry heat. He was getting drenched with perspiration under his thick robe. As he was about to raise his gavel and close the session two neatly dressed men approached the bench and knelt down. They gave their names and stated that they were shopkeepers. They had become involved in a dispute over the ownership of a piece of land. A few spectators left the hall The judge saw Mr Yang among them.

  MR KWANG IS QUESTIONED IN THE TRIBUNAL

  He listened patiently to the lengthy explanations of both parties. Finally he dismissed them with the promise that he would have their claims checked in the land registry. Then an old pawnbroker came forward and lodged a complaint about two hooligans who had tried to intimidate him.

  The pawnbroker was followed again by other persons. The citizens had evidently been saving up their problems for after the first five festive days of the month. Time dragged on. The greater part of the spectators were now leaving the court hall, including Dr Pien, Mr Kou and Mr Kwang Min. The hour for the noon rice was drawing near. Judge Dee turned round to Sergeant Hoong and said in a low voice:

  ‘Heaven knows when I’ll be through! You’d better go now and do the errands I told you about. I’ll see you later, in my private office.’

  When the judge was closing the last case, there was a sudden commotion at the entrance of the hall. Judge Dee looked up annoyed, then quickly straightened himself in his chair. He saw a strange procession coming towards the bench.

  In front walked three strongly-built fellows. Their clothes were torn, evidently they had been badly knocked about. One held his hands to the sides of his head, his shoulders were covered with blood. Another held his right hand up with his left, his pale face distorted with pain. The third stumbled rather than walked, and kept his hands pressed to his stomach. He seemed on the verge of collapsing, but was kept moving on by vicious stabs in his back from a folded parasol, wielded by Miss Violet Liang. Neatly dressed in her

  brown jacket and trousers, she strode along, her broad, copper-coloured face expressionless. Behind her came a plump young girl, gaudily dressed in a blue robe with large red roses. The left side of her face was bruised, the eye closed.

  Arrived in front of the bench, Miss Liang barked an order at the three men, who sank down on their knees. The headman uttered a curse and stepped up to her, but she pushed him back unceremoniously, snapping: ‘I know all about the correct court procedure. You keep out of this!’ And, to the girl: ‘Kneel down, dearie, it’s the rule. You don’t belong to the Palace personnel, like me.’ Then she looked up at the judge and began in an even voice:

  ‘This person respectfully reports her original name as Altan Tsetseg Khatun. By Imperial Decree the Chinese surname Liang was bestowed upon her, and the personal name Violet. A wrestler by profession. These three men are deserters from a military Canal junk, at present exercising the profession of footpad. Their names are, from left to right Feng, Wang and Liau. The woman kneeling on my left bears the surname Lee, called Peony, a licensed whore -by Your Honour’s leave.’ Turning to the senior scribe, she asked: ‘Have you got all that down?’ As the old man nodded in speechless astonishment, she again addressed the judge: ‘This person begs Your Honour to be allowed to file an accusation against the men, Feng, Wang and Liau aforesaid.’

  Judge Dee stared silently at the imperturbable woman. Then he said curtly:

  ‘The request is granted.’

  ‘When this person had sat down to her noon rice in the back-yard of her dwelling, attended upon by her maid Rose, she heard a woman cry for help in the alley running behind the said back-yard. She vaulted over the wall, and saw these three men in the act of dragging along forcibly the woman here on my left. When the woman again shouted for help the man Feng gave her a fistblow in her face that closed her left eye and thereupon drew a knife. I saw that the onlookers disappeared round the corner, and therefore stepped up to the men and politely inquired what it was all about. At first they refused to answer, but when I insisted they informed me that the day before yesterday Sia Kwang, a vagrant student, had given them a silver piece and told them to abduct the woman Lee from the establishment she belongs to, and to convey her to the third house in the second street behind the old Taoist temple, owned by a woman called Meng. The men had chosen noon as a convenient time for executing this commission, since at that hour there are few people about. As a further precaution they had wrapped a piece of cloth round the woman’s head, but while passing behind my house she had just succeeded in pulling down the said cloth. Since the three men confessed to the crime of abducting a woman by force, and since it had come to my knowledge that this court is interested in the activities of the said Sia Kwang, this person repaired to this tribunal at once, inviting the three criminals to accompany me, and bringing also the woman Lee, as a material witness. I beg Your Honour’s favourable consideration.’

  She made a bow, then remained standing there, her feet spread and leaning on her parasol. As soon as she had mentioned the address the woman was to have been taken to, Judge Dee had motioned the headman to come up to the bench. He had told him in an undertone to go there immediately with six armed guards, arrest the inmates of the house, and put them in jail. Now he said to Miss Liang:

  ‘This court commends you for your prompt action, Miss Liang. Conscious of your duties as a law-abiding citizen, you took immediate and effective measures. You will now make a fuller statement as to what happened, in order to complete the record.’

  ‘I obey Your Honour’s command. When this person as previously stated asked these three men what it was all about, the second in the row, called Wang, aimed a fistblow at my head. I caught his arm and dislocated his shoulder while flooring him with a hip-throw. I took care, however, that the crash should only stun him and not break his back, so as not to prevent him from delivering testimony later if so required. The man Feng then trying to knife me, I took the knife from him and used the same for pinning his left ear to the nearest doorpost. He wouldn’t keep still and his ear tore, so I was obliged to pin his other ear to the doorpost. As he then employed obscene language and wouldn’t give satisfactory answers to my questions, I had to prod him a bit here and there but I desisted directly after he had agreed to deliver a complete confession. That’s all.’

  Judge Dee half rose from his chair and looked over the bench at the three groaning men on the floor. The one on the right lifted his head and tried to speak. But he could bring out only a croaking sound.

  ‘What happened to this third person?’ he asked.

  ‘Him? I was standing on him while questioning Feng. For when I was attending to Feng this third man called Liau tried to place a foul kick in my belly. Bah, these people are rank amateurs! I stepped aside, made a feint, and when he lifted his head I crushed his throat with a backhanded blow of the side of my hand. Since he then wanted to run away, I laid him on his back on the ground by the side of Wang and stood myself on top of him with one foot in his groin and the other on his head. I carefully refrained from stamping my feet, however, so as not to cause fatal injuries.’

  ‘I see,’ Judge Dee said. He caressed his side-whiskers for a while, then leaned forward and told Feng:

  ‘Speak up, when and where did you meet Sia Kwang?’

  The man let go of his lacerated ears. The blood began to ooze down again. ‘Met him in the wine-house in the market!’ he wailed. ‘Day before yesterday it was. Never saw the bastard before. He gives us a silver piece, says there’s more to come, after the job. We––’

  ‘Did Sia say who was his boss?’ the judge interrupted.

  The man gave him a bewildered look.

  ‘Boss? He hadn’t got no boss. It was Sia who paid us, wasn’t it? We wanted to get the wench that night, but her place is full of customers and she is working, so we can’t make it. Last night same story. This morning we go to the wine-house to ask Sia for more money, because it’s such a hard job. But Sia isn’t there. So we say we’ll have anot
her try at the woman at noon. We got her all right, but in the street we run into this … this …’

  ‘Lady!’ hissed Miss Liang, bending over close to the man’s head.

  ‘Keep that monster away from me!’ Feng shrieked in a panic. ‘Know what she did to me, after she had stuck the knife through my ear? She … she …’ He broke down completely and burst out in sobs.

  Judge Dee rapped his gavel hard on the bench.

  ‘Answer my questions!’ he ordered. ‘Do you confess to the crime you stand accused of?’

  Holding his bleeding ears the man gasped:

  ‘I confess!’

  His neighbour Wang pleaded guilty in a trembling voice. The third could only nod once, then he pitched forward on his face. Judge Dee said to the senior constable who had taken the place of the headman:

  ‘Convey these three criminals to jail and have the coroner attend to their injuries. They shall be heard again after they have sufficiently recovered.’ While the constables were dragging the three men off, the judge addressed the girl: ‘I shall now hear your statement, Miss Lee.’

  The plump girl wiped her bruised face with her sleeve. She replied in a soft voice:

  ‘We were just sitting down to our noon rice, me and the three other girls belonging to the house. Then those three men come inside and knock our doorman down. Our owner asks what they want. One man hits him with his fist in his face. He says they want to borrow me for the day, they’ll bring me back later tonight. They grab me, wind a piece of cloth round my head and face and drag me outside, kicking me all the time. In the street I go along quietly with them for a while, then I get one of my hands free. I pull the cloth down and shout for help. Then Miss Liang comes––’

  ‘Had there been previous attempts at abducting you?’

  ‘Never, sir.’

  ‘Who of your customers could have a hand in this affair?’