The Emperor's Pearl: A Judge Dee Mystery (Judge Dee Mystery Series)

by Robert Van Gulik

  When they were seated at the rickety corner-table with a bowl of reeking liquor in front of them, Sergeant Hoong said affably:

  ‘I shan’t take much of your valuable time, Sheng Pa. I only wanted to ask you for some information. About two vagrant students, fellows called Tong Mai and Sia Kwang. Scarface Sia, the latter is often called.’

  Sheng Pa silently scratched his bare paunch. After a while he said ponderously:

  ‘Vagrant young men of letters, eh? No sir, I wouldn’t know nothing about those. Wouldn’t like to know, either. Unlettered crooks being bad enough, it follows that lettered ones, learning many more dirty tricks from the books, are even worse. Don’t wonder they get themselves into all sorts of trouble. I won’t have any truck with them. Never.’

  ‘One of them is dead. Had an accident, during the races.’

  ‘May his soul rest in peace!’ Sheng Pa said piously.

  ‘Did you go to the races?’

  ‘Me? No. I don’t go in for betting. Can’t afford it.’

  ‘Come now, those few coppers?’

  ‘Few coppers, you say? Let me tell you, Mister Sergeant, that lots of people lost a tidy bit on Number Nine! Including perhaps Pien the Leech, the owner. Very unfortunate for the doctor—if he lost, that is. My men told me that he has been a little short of cash, lately,’ He looked studiously at his wine-cup, then added darkly: ‘If there’s big money involved, accidents will happen.’

  ‘Who profited by the doctor’s boat losing? ’

  Sheng Pa looked up and replied slowly:

  ‘A tall question, Mister Sergeant, a very tall question! Those who corner bets are sly rascals, and no mistake! They work through dozens of touts and middlemen. Who knows where the money finally goes to? Not me, sir!’

  ‘Our judge would like to know, you see. It may be connected with a case he is investigating.’

  ‘Involving a young man of letters, maybe.’ The giant sadly shook his head, then repeated firmly: ‘Very sorry I can’t oblige.’

  ‘I wouldn’t be astonished,’ Sergeant Hoong continued unabashed, ‘if our judge handed out a good silver piece to the man who told him.’

  Sheng Pa rolled up his large eyes.

  ‘His Excellency the Judge!’ he exclaimed ecstatically. ‘Now, why didn’t you say at once that it’s him who wants to know! Have you ever known me to refuse co-operation with the high authorities? Pass by here tomorrow, Mister Sergeant, and maybe you’ll find I’ll be able to tell you a thing or two.’

  Sergeant Hoong nodded and wanted to get up. But his host laid his large hand on his arm and asked reproachfully:

  ‘What’s the hurry, Mister Sergeant?’ As Hoong reluctantly sat down again Sheng Pa went on earnestly: ‘I like you, Mister Sergeant! It is my considered opinion that you are an honest man. The people of this city, and I mean the people that matter, mind you, hold you in high esteem.’

  Hoong reflected sadly that this was a preliminary to a request for an advance on Judge Dee’s reward. Feeling in his sleeve for money, he mumbled some self-deprecatory remarks. Sheng Pa interrupted him quickly:

  ‘Don’t let modesty obscure truth, sir! You are a man of wide and varied experience, and your years have bestowed upon you mature wisdom. Therefore I wish to entrust you with a delicate mission.’ Seeing Hoong’s blank face he added: ‘No, you can’t refuse an inoffensive old man a small favour! A man who is, moreover, grievously ill.’

  ‘You don’t look ill!’ Hoong remarked. He had hardly recovered from his astonishment.

  ‘It doesn’t show, Mister Sergeant. It’s in here, right inside my stomach.’ There was a rumbling sound in his paunch, then he belched so loudly that the beggars stopped talking to give their boss an admiring look. ‘You see? In my stomach. The most vital spot!’

  ‘What’s wrong with you? ’

  Sheng Pa leaned over to him and whispered hoarsely:

  ‘It’s a woman!’

  The fat giant looked so unhappy that Sergeant Hoong held back the jocular remark that was on his lips. Instead he asked:

  ‘Who is the lucky lady? ’

  ‘Lady is right!’ Sheng Pa said with satisfaction. ‘She was attached to the Imperial Court at one time. In the capital. She’s a delicate creature. Sensitive. Therefore, she must be approached with the, ah…greatest circumspection.’

  The sergeant gave his host a sharp look. A woman who had worked in the palace? Suddenly he sat up straight.

  ‘Does the affair concern a pearl? ’ he asked eagerly.

  ‘Wonderful! You always seem to know at once the right word, Mister Sergeant! A pearl, that’s what she is! A pearl among women. Go to see her, sir, and put in a word for me. But with the greatest care, mind you! It wouldn’t do to offend her maidenly modesty!’

  Now the sergeant was completely at a loss. So it had nothing to do with the stolen pearl, after all. After some hesitation he asked:

  ‘Do you want me to go to her as matchmaker, and propose on behalf of you? ’

  ‘Ho ho, not so fast!’ Sheng Pa exclaimed aghast. ‘Listen now! You being also a municipal officer, you’ll understand that in my position I couldn’t afford a…er rebuttal, so to speak, isn’t it? I have to keep to my principles, you see.’

  ‘I don’t understand this at all!’ Hoong said crossly. ‘What do you want me to do, after all?’

  ‘I want you to go to her, and put in a word for me. That’s all I want, sir! Put in a word for me. Just that, mind you. No more, no less!’

  ‘I’ll do that with pleasure. Where do I find her? ’

  ‘Go to the Temple of the War God, sir, and ask for the establishment of Miss Liang. Miss Violet Liang. Anybody about there will tell you.’

  Sergeant Hoong rose.

  ‘I am rather busy just now, Sheng Pa, but I’ll go there as soon as I can find time. In a day or two, perhaps.’

  ‘You’d better find time tomorrow morning, Mister Sergeant!’ the giant said with a smug grin. ‘It just came to my mind that those two fellows, Tong and Sia you called them if I remember correctly, visit Miss Liang’s place. Rather often, I think. You ask Miss Violet Liang about them, Mister Sergeant! But gently, mind you. She is a delicate woman, she used to be attached to——’

  ‘I know, to the Imperial Court. All right, Sheng Pa, I’ll come here again some time tomorrow.’

  IX

  Early the next morning, just after breakfast, Sergeant Hoong found Judge Dee standing by the desk in his private office, feeding green leaves to the tortoise.

  ‘It’s remarkable how developed the senses of those animals are!’ the judge remarked. ‘To us these leaves have no smell at all, but look at this small fellow!’

  He put a few salad leaves on the chair. The tortoise that was crawling over a book on the desk soon raised its head and made for the chair. Judge Dee put the leaves in front of him. When the tortoise had gobbled them up, he opened the window and put the small animal back into the rock-garden. Then he seated himself behind his desk and asked briskly:

  ‘How did it fare last night, Hoong?’

  The sergeant gave a detailed account of his meeting with Sheng Pa. When he had finished he added: ‘Sheng Pa evidently had heard already that there was something wrong with Tong Mai’s so-called accident. And also rumours about the bets having been manipulated. He even suggested that, since Dr Pien is short of money, he might have cornered the bets and profited by his own boat losing the race.’

  The judge raised his eyebrows.

  ‘He did, did he?’ He tugged at his moustache. ‘That puts the doctor in a very curious light. I had the impression that he’s looked upon here as a well-to-do, worthy citizen, of unquestioned integrity. Looks quite a dignified fellow too, with that solemn, pale face and that jet-black moustache. I admit, however, that he was rather keen to have Tong’s death recorded as due to heart failure. Did you ever hear anything against him, Hoong? ’

  ‘No sir. He is generally considered one of the best physicians in this town. It’s a pity that Sheng Pa express
es himself so darkly. I wager that he knows more about Tong Mai and Sia Kwang than he wants to admit. But he’d rather die than make a straightforward statement!’

  Judge Dee nodded.

  ‘It’s clear,’ he said, ‘that he prefers us to hear the information about Tong and Sia directly from the woman he mentioned. We shall go and see her this morning. Hasn’t Sia come back yet to his lodging? I’d like to meet him first of all, then hear what Sheng Pa’s girl-friend has to say about him and Tong Mai.’

  ‘Unfortunately Sia hasn’t come back to his lodging, sir. The headman told me that just now one of the constables who was watching Sia’s place came back and reported that Sia hasn’t turned up.’ Hoong paused. After a while he resumed, rather diffidently: ‘Speaking about Sheng Pa’s girlfriend, Your Honour, it might be possible that the old scoundrel somehow or other has got the wind of the sale of the pearl, and wanted to give me to understand that the woman knows something about that affair. What else could he have meant by stressing so much that she had been attached to the Imperial Palace—which is of course the purest nonsense!’

  The judge shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘Remember that there are thousands of women employed in the palace, Hoong. Including charwomen and scullery maids. As to the Emperor’s pearl, you can get that fabulous treasure out of your head! For I have come to the conclusion that the whole story is a hoax, Hoong! A fairy-tale, from beginning to end!’

  The astonished sergeant opened his mouth to say something, but the judge went on quickly:

  ‘It was a hoax, Hoong. And, what is more, I am convinced that Kou knew it! I didn’t sleep too well, I couldn’t get that tale about the pearl out of my head. I went over again and again the story of how it disappeared, and how Tong Mai got hold of it. And came to the conclusion that the pearl doesn’t exist. Listen, carefully! As I explained to you last night, it is more than probable that Tong Mai and Amber had a liaison. A couple of months ago Amber informs her lover that she is pregnant, and that he is the father. They realize that they can’t keep the affair secret any longer, and they decide to flee together. But how to get the money? Then the two of them concoct the story of the Emperor’s pearl. Amber informs her husband that Tong has hidden the pearl in a safe place, and she offers to go there and conclude the transaction. The lovers will meet in the pavilion, and elope together, with the ten gold bars. A clever plan! However, they did not know that Kou had found out their secret relations already, and was only waiting for a chance to take his revenge. Kou would have been a fool if he hadn’t figured out that the safe place known to both Tong and Amber referred to the deserted villa. Kou feigns to believe Amber’s story. He poisons Tong, and hires a ruffian to kill Amber in the pavilion and bring the gold back to him. What do you think about that, Hoong? ’

  The sergeant looked doubtful. He replied slowly:

  ‘Last night I refrained from further comment on Your Honour’s theory about Mr Kou’s guilt, because we were then just surveying various possibilities. But now that a definite case against Kou is being formulated, sir, I must confess that I can’t see a quiet gentleman of refined taste like Mr Kou perpetrating such a foul crime. And there are so many other possibilities to be considered. Just now we discussed Dr Pien and his——’

  ‘Jealousy can make even a quiet man commit violent deeds!’ Judge Dee interrupted. ‘Be that as it may, we’ll go to the deserted villa and have a second look at the pavilion. I am convinced that the pearl is non-existent, but I’d like to see the scene of the murder in broad daylight. And an early-morning ride will do us good! If, upon returning to the city, we find that Sia Kwang hasn’t shown up yet, we’ll go straight to Sheng Pa’s girl-friend, and see whether she can direct us to that elusive fellow. I must absolutely have a talk with him before I open the morning session of the tribunal.’

  As Judge Dee rose, his eye fell on the book the tortoise had been crawling on.

  ‘Oh yes,’ he resumed, ‘I forget to tell you! I slept badly as I told you, and I woke up an hour or so before daybreak. I did a bit of reading in an interesting book I borrowed a few days ago from the chancery library.’

  He took the volume, opened it on the place indicated by a book-marker, and went on:

  ‘This is a collection of notes on this district, privately published about fifty years ago by a former magistrate here who took a great interest in the past history of the region. One day he made a trip to the ruined temple of the River Goddess in the Mandrake Grove. In his time there still was a passable road leading up to it. This is what he says:

  “The outer wall and the gatehouse have been damaged considerably by the earthquake, but the main hall and the famous statue of the goddess still stand. The statue represents a woman, more than ten feet high, standing erect on a pedestal, all carved out of one block of marble. The square altar in front of the statue has been cut from one and the same block. A remarkable work of art indeed! ”’

  Judge Dee brought the book closer to his eyes and said:

  ‘Here a former reader wrote a note in the margin, in red ink. It says:

  “My esteemed colleague is wrong. I visited the temple ten years later, and found that the altar is in fact made of a separate block of marble. I had the cement in between pedestal and altar removed, because I had heard that formerly the priests had made a cache in the altar, for storing the golden ritual vessels; I thought that those valuable objects ought to be removed to a safe place, for instance to the treasury of the Ministry of Rites. But I failed to discover any sign of the altar being hollow. Twan, Magistrate of Poo-yang.”

  ‘Twan was a conscientious official,’ Judge Dee remarked. ‘I now go on with the printed text:

  “ There is a golden ring with a magnificent large ruby on the forefinger of the statue’s left hand. The village headman told me that this ruby is supposed to be the Evil Eye, and that hence no one would ever dare to steal it. The square altar has a hole in each upper corner, used for fastening the ropes of the young men who were sacrificed there yearly on the fifth of the fifth month, having been chosen by drawing lots. The high priest cut the victim’s veins with a jade knife, then sprinkled his blood all over the statue. Thereafter the body was carried in a festive procession to the river-bank and solemnly committed to the waves. A truly barbarous custom, fortunately discontinued some years ago on the orders of our wise Government. The statue is reputedly always wet, and I found its smooth surface indeed covered with moisture, but whether this phenomenon is to be ascribed to dew or to some supernatural cause, I leave to the learned reader to decide. I was greatly struck by the uncanny atmosphere of that strange place, and left sooner than I had intended, taking one of the dated bricks of the crumbling wall with me, for my reference.”

  ‘That is all. Curious affair!’ Judge Dee put the book on the desk and motioned Sergeant Hoong to follow him outside. In the courtyard he ordered the headman to bring two horses from the stables.

  They left the city by the south gate. A cool morning mist was hanging over the Canal, so that they had a pleasant ride to Marble Bridge.

  There they first went to see the village headman. He told the judge that the militia had come back towards daybreak, after a rather uncomfortable night. One fellow maintained he had heard ghostly voices whisper in the Mandrake Grove, another that he had seen a white shape flutter about among the trees. The men had sat up the entire night, huddled together in the walled-in garden in front of the pavilion. The headman added that he had sealed the door of the pavilion after he had removed the dead body of the Amber Lady.

  Judge Dee nodded his approval, and they rode on. Having passed the market, where the vendors were busy putting up their stalls, they took the road to the forest. Arrived at the old pine-tree that marked the entrance to the Tong property, Judge Dee dismounted and fastened the reins to its gnarled trunk. The sergeant followed his example. They went on ahead on foot.

  The judge found that in broad daylight the walk to the deserted villa did not take very long. Soon they saw the wea
ther-beaten gatehouse and the ivy-overgrown walls.

  When Judge Dee was passing underneath the arched door-way leading to the walled-in garden, he suddenly halted and laid his hand on Hoong’s arm. A tall, broad-shouldered man clad in a long black robe and wearing a black gauze cap was standing in front of the pavilion, with his back towards them. The door of the pavilion stood ajar, the torn strip of paper with which it had been sealed fluttered in the morning breeze.

  ‘Hey there!’ judge Dee called out. ‘Who are you and what are you doing here? ’

  The man in black turned round and silently looked the newcomers up and down with his lidded eyes. He had a placid, round face with a short moustache and a carefully trimmed ringbeard. When he had completed his leisurely scrutiny he spoke in a cultured voice:

  ‘That abrupt address would ordinarily provoke an equally abrupt retort. Since, however, your carriage and manner suggest authority, I shall limit myself to the observation that it is I who should ask the same questions. For you are trespassing on my property.’

  The judge did not waste words. He said sharply:

  ‘I am the magistrate of this district, conducting an official investigation. Answer my questions!’

  The other made a low bow, then replied courteously:

  ‘I have the honour to report that my name is Kwang Min. I am a retail drug merchant, from the capital. I purchased this property four years ago, from the former owner, Mr Tong I-kwan.’

  ‘Strange things have happened here. I want proof of your identity.’

  The man in black made another low bow, then took from his sleeve two papers, which he presented to the judge. The first was an identity document issued by the metropolitan governor, the second a detailed map of the entire Tong property, issued four years previously by the tribunal of Poo-yang, to Mr Kwang Min, the new owner. Giving the papers back, Judge Dee said: