Necklace and Calabash: A Chinese Detective Story (Judge Dee Mysteries)

by Robert Van Gulik

  ‘Four days ago, towards midnight, there was a disturbance in the palace grounds. I want a report on that, Kang.’

  The colonel pulled out a drawer of his plain wooden desk and placed a large ledger before the judge. Each page was neatly divided into small numbered squares, charting the duties of the guard. He leafed it through till he found the correct date, then studied the brief note written in the margin. Looking up, he said:

  ‘Half an hour before midnight the roof of a tea pavilion in the sixth courtyard, in the north-west corner of the grounds, suddenly caught fire. I was in another section of the palace at that time, but my second-in-command sent a platoon there at once and they put out the fire without difficulty. It seems, however, that the Chief Eunuch saw the smoke and sent word that he wanted the entire area cordoned off at once, to make sure that no flying sparks reached the apartments of Her Highness. My man gave the necessary orders to the guards on the west and north ramparts. They returned to their posts one hour after midnight.’

  ‘Can you prove that?’

  The colonel turned the page over. A red slip of paper was stuck to it, bearing the seal of the Chief Eunuch, with a few scrawled instructions.

  Judge Dee nodded.

  ‘Now we shall repair together to the Chief Eunuch's office, gentlemen.’

  The news of the arrival of the Imperial Inquisitor had spread already throughout the palace. The sentries at the Chief Eunuch's office opened the gate wide for the three visitors, and the obese eunuch came rushing out to meet them. He threw himself on the floor and touched the flagstones with his forehead.

  ‘You'll wait here in the corridor,’ the judge told his two companions. ‘I shall go inside to ask permission to cross the Golden Bridge.’

  He knocked at the gold-lacquered door. When there was no answer, he went inside, closing the door behind him.

  There was no one in the elegant library. A musty smell of old books mingled with the heavy fragrance of the orchids on the window-sill. Judge Dee looked outside. The old man was standing by a high rock down in the garden, clad in a plain, long-sleeved morning-robe, his head covered by a gauze house-cap. The judge went into the garden and followed the narrow paved path, zigzagging among miniature gold-fish ponds and flowering shrubs. Very small coloured birds were twittering among the green leaves, still glittering with dew.

  The Chief Eunuch turned round. Looking at the judge with his heavy-lidded eyes, he said:

  ‘A marvellous thing happened overnight, Dee! Look, this rare flower suddenly opened ! Observe the delicately shaped petals, the velvety colour! I had this plant brought here from the southern regions by a special courier. For three months I tended it personally. But I had never dared to hope to make it bloom!’

  Judge Dee bent over the orchid that was as large as a man's hand. It was rooted in the hollow of a palm tree, nestling against the rock. Its yellow petals, showing violet-black spots, gave the flower an almost feline grace. The orchid sent forth a faint but very distinct fragrance.

  ‘I must confess I never saw anything like it.’ he said as he righted himself.

  ‘And you'll never see the like again,’ the old man said quietly. He snapped the stem with his long fingernails, and raised the flower to his nose. Slowly moving it to and fro, he went on, ‘When you came here the day before yesterday, Dee, I knew at once that you couldn't be just a doctor. Seeing me with my pet executioner standing behind me, you should've been trembling with fear, grovelling even. Instead you calmly exchanged profound remarks with me, as if with your equal. Next time you put on a disguise, take care that you also disguise your personality, Dee!’

  ‘You made determined efforts to have me eliminated.’ the judge remarked. ‘But luck was on my side, and I shall presently return the pearl necklace to Her Imperial Highness. Therefore I ask your permission to cross the Golden Bridge.’

  The old man turned the flower round in his thin hand.

  ‘Don't misunderstand me, Dee. Yes, I did want power. The well-nigh unlimited power possessed by him who knows an Emperor's guilty secret. But I also had a quite different, much stronger motive. I wanted to have the Third Princess with me forever, Dee. Wanted to look after her tenderly, as tenderly as I looked after this rare flower. I wanted to go on seeing her every day, hearing her lovely voice, knowing everything she does… always. And now she will be ravished by a brutish soldier…’

  Suddenly he crushed the orchid in his claw-like hand and threw it onto the ground. ‘Let's go inside,’ he said harshly. ‘I am suffering from many chronic ailments, and it is time that I take my drops.’

  Judge Dee followed him inside the library.

  The old man sat down in the enormous, carved armchair, and unlocked a drawer. He took from it a miniature calabash of rock crystal, its stopper secured by a red silk ribbon. When he was about to uncork it, the judge stepped forward and locked the frail wrist in his large hand. He said curtly:

  ‘The evil scheme must be destroyed root and branch.’

  The Chief Eunuch let go of the crystal vial. He pressed a bud in the elaborate flower motif carved in the rim of the desk. From the shallow drawer that appeared he took a sealed envelope. He handed it to the judge, a contemptuous sneer twisting his thin blue lips:

  ‘Have them tortured to death, every single one of them! Their miserable souls shall serve me as my slaves, in the Hereafter!’

  The judge broke the seal and glanced at the slips of thin paper. Each was marked with a name and rank; then there were notes of dates and sums of money, all written in the same, spidery hand. He nodded and put the envelope into his sleeve.

  The old man took the stopper out of the small crystal calabash and poured its colourless content in a teacup. Having emptied the cup at one draught, he leaned back into the armchair, his thickly veined hands grasping the armrests. His hooded eyes closed, his breath came in gasps. Then he let go of the armrests and clutched at his breast. A violent shiver shook his frail body. Suddenly the blue lips moved.

  ‘You have my permission to cross the Golden Bridge.’

  His head sunk to his breast; his hands fell limply into his lap.

  XXI

  The Superintendent and Colonel Kang stood waiting in the corridor, in an uneasy silence. The obese eunuch was still on his knees. Judge Dee closed the gold-lacquered door. Handing the envelope to the Superintendent, he said :

  ‘In here you'll find full particulars about everyone who took part in the foul scheme. You shall go back to your office and have the main criminals arrested at once. Thereafter you shall institute a most exhaustive inquiry. You may follow me, Colonel. I have the Chief Eunuch's permission to pass the bridge.’ And to the eunuch: ‘Lead the way!’

  When the three men had arrived at the foot of the bridge, the fat eunuch beat the small golden gong suspended on a marble pillar. After a while four court ladies came out of the building on the other side, and the judge and Colonel Kang went across. Judge Dee told the ladies that the Inquisitor requested the honour of an audience. They were led into a side-room where they waited for a long time. Apparently the Princess was still at her toilet.

  At last two court ladies came and conducted the judge and Colonel Kang along an outside corridor to a covered balcony, lined by heavy, red-lacquered pillars, on the east side of the palace. From there one had a fine view over the woodland that led up to the mountains. The Third Princess was standing by the farthest pillar, a round fan in her hand. Behind her stood a frail, elderly lady, her grey hair combed back straight from her high forehead. The judge and the colonel knelt.

  ‘Rise and report, Dee!’ the Princess ordered in her clear voice.

  Judge Dee came to his feet, lifting the yellow roll in both hands. The colonel remained on his knees.

  ‘Your humble servant has the honour to return to Your Highness the August Words.’

  The Princess gestured with her fan. The elderly lady came forward. When she took the yellow roll over from the judge, he noticed the white jade bracelet on her wrist, carved
into the shape of a curving dragon.

  ‘Your humble servant has also the honour to return to Your Highness the pearl necklace. The thief proved to be a person from outside the palace, exactly as Your Highness deigned to intimate when your servant was granted his first audience.’

  The Princess held out her hand, and the judge gave her the necklace with a low bow. Letting it glide through her fingers, she told him, her eyes on Colonel Kang:

  ‘You shall repeat, Dee, the last words I said to you.’

  ‘Your Highness deigned to say that in charging me to recover the necklace, she placed her happiness into my hands.’ Judge Dee spoke automatically, for now that he was seeing her face clearly in broad daylight, something had struck him in the line of her cheekbones and the shape of the determined chin.

  ‘Now you know, Colonel. Soon we shall meet again, the red candles burning high.’

  Colonel Kang rose and stepped up to her, his shining eyes locked with hers. The elderly lady looked at the tall, handsome pair, a soft smile on her pale, tired face. Judge Dee quickly went to the door.

  The two court ladies conducted him back to the Golden Bridge. The obese eunuch stood waiting at the other side. When he had respectfully led Judge Dee to the entrance, the judge told him:

  ‘Go and see your master. I fear he is ill.’ Then he got into the brocade palankeen and told the honour guard to take him to the Superintendent's office.

  The corridor was crowded with guardsmen and sturdy fellows both in black and grey livery, but all wearing red armlets with the word ‘special’ written on them, and all armed to the teeth. They bowed low when they saw the judge. He found the Superintendent standing bent over his desk, which was strewn with thin slips of paper. The Superintendent looked up.

  ‘The main scoundrels have been arrested already, Excellency! I regret to report that the rot had spread even among my own men. What must we do about the Chief Eunuch, Excellency? He can't be arrested without…’

  ‘The Chief Eunuch died from a heart-attack,’ the judge interrupted. ‘While conducting your investigation you shall pay particular attention to a person who calls himself Mr Hao, and to close associates of his who last night murdered Mr Lang Liu, in the Kingfisher inn. You shall see to it that they are punished with the utmost severity.’

  The Superintendent made a bow. Pointing at his own chair, he said, ‘Your Excellency please be seated, so that I can explain how…’

  Judge Dee shook his head. He took off the winged cap, placed it carefully on the desk, and put his small skull-cap on his head. Then he divested himself of the yellow stole, and placed it beside the cap.

  ‘I have returned the August Words to Her Highness. From now on I am just the magistrate of Poo-yang. I leave everything in your capable hands, sir.’

  The Superintendent fixed the judge with his piercing eyes.

  ‘Do you mean to say that you won't avail yourself of this opportunity to… Don't you realize that you have a high position in the capital for the asking? I shall be glad to propose that you…’

  ‘I am eager to return to my post, sir.’

  The other gave him a long look. Then, shaking his head, he went to the side-table. He took the sword lying there and handed it to Judge Dee. It was his cherished Rain Dragon. As the judge hung it on his back, the Superintendent said gravely:

  ‘Your drastic action in Poo-yang against the monks of the Temple of Boundless Mercy made the Buddhist clique at court your enemy. And now you have seriously antagonized the powerful party of the eunuchs. I want you to realize, Dee, that you have embittered enemies at the Imperial Court. But also staunch friends. Including me.’

  His thin lips curved. It was the first time Judge Dee had seen the Superintendent smile. He bowed and went out. The lieutenant at the gate asked him whether he wanted a palankeen, but the judge said he preferred a horse. The gates were thrown open and he rode across the marble bridge.

  XXII

  Entering the pine forest, Judge Dee felt the warm rays of the sun on his back. He realized it was getting on for noon. Deeply inhaling the bracing air, he reflected that this was a nice change after the hectic, hothouse atmosphere of the Water Palace. Squaring his shoulders, he thought proudly of the Dragon Throne, unsullied by infamous insinuations. There would always be all kinds of intrigues in the palace—it was an unavoidably weak point in the administration of this great country. But as long as the top remained sound, all was well under Heaven. He rode along, the hoofs of his horse treading noiselessly on the thick layer of pine-needles covering the road.

  Suddenly he reined in his horse. Master Gourd came riding round the bend, hunched up on his donkey, his crutches across its rump. The calabash was hanging from his belt by a red-tasselled cord. Halting his mount, the old man surveyed the judge from under his tufted eyebrows.

  ‘Glad to see you wearing that skull-cap, magistrate. I knew that a scrap of yellow paper with a blob of red ink on it couldn't change your nature. Where's your calabash?’

  ‘I left it at the Kingfisher. I am very glad to meet you once more before leaving Rivertown, Master Gourd.’

  ‘This is the third time and the last, magistrate. Just like nature, man's life revolves in cycles. For one brief moment yours and mine touched. What's the news from the palace?’

  ‘I returned your daughter's necklace. I expect her betrothal to Colonel Kang will be announced in the near future. Who are you, Master Gourd?’

  ‘Were, rather,’ the old man said gruffly. ‘Since you know so much, you may as well know this too. Many years ago I was a general. When I went north for the Tartar war, I left my secret sweetheart behind, carrying my child under her heart. I was severely wounded in our last battle: my horse was killed under me, crushing my legs. I became a prisoner of the Tartar barbarians; for fifteen long years I was their meanest slave. That made me realize the emptiness of worldly power. I would have killed myself, but thinking of her made me cling to life, miserable as it was. When I succeeded in escaping and returned to China, my sweetheart was dead. She had been elected Imperial Consort just after I had left, and in due time had borne a daughter. My daughter, as you correctly surmised. She was recorded as the Emperor's own child, because the eunuchs feared to be punished for not having ascertained she was a virgin upon entering the harem. That, magistrate, showed me the emptiness of worldly love. Thus I became a vagrant monk, with only one link left with this world, namely my concern for my daughter's happiness.’ He paused, then added, reluctantly, ‘My name was Ou-yang Pei-han.’

  Judge Dee nodded slowly. He had heard of the famous, dashing general. His death in battle had been mourned by the entire nation. Twenty-five years ago.

  The old man resumed:

  ‘A gourd becomes useful only after it has been emptied. For then its dry rind may serve as a container. The same goes for us, magistrate. It's only after we have been emptied of all our vain hopes, all our petty desires and cherished illusions, that we can be useful to others. Perhaps you'll realize this later, magistrate, when you are older. Well, when I met you in the forest, I recognized you, for I had heard it said that we resemble each other, and I sensed the force of your personality. It so happened that the gourds we were carrying formed the first link between us, establishing our relationship of travelling-doctor and vagrant monk in a spontaneous, quite natural manner. And so, although I firmly believe in non-action, I thought that in this case I might as well forge the second link of a chain of cause and effect, and I advised my daughter to summon you. Then I just let events take their course. And now you had better forget me, magistrate. Until you remember me, sometime. For although to the unknowing I am but a bronze mirror against which they dash their heads, to the wise I am a door through which they may pass in or out.’ He clicked his tongue, and the donkey ambled on.

  The judge looked after the departing figure till it had disappeared among the trees. Then he rode back to Rivertown.

  He found the hall of the Kingfisher deserted. Hearing voices from behind the lattice screen
, he walked round it and saw Captain Siew sitting at the innkeeper's desk, writing busily and at the same time talking to Fern who stood by his chair. Siew quickly came to his feet.

  ‘Helping Miss Fern a bit with all the paper-work, sir,’ he said, a little self-consciously. ‘Lots of forms to be filled out, you know, and I thought…

  ‘Excellent idea. I want to thank you for your trust, and your loyal help, Siew. Sorry I didn't get round to drafting for you a control-system for unwanted visitors.’

  The captain looked embarrassed.

  ‘Of course, sir. I mean, I shouldn't have…’ He floundered, then went on quickly, ‘Your two lieutenants have arrived, sir! When they came to register, I told them to go to the Nine Clouds. I'll just make sure!’ He rushed to the hall.

  Fern gave the judge a cold look.

  ‘You and your three wives ! For heaven's sake ! As an Imperial envoy, you must have a whole harem, chock-full of women!’

  ‘I am not an envoy but a simple district magistrate, and I have indeed three wives,’ the judge said quietly. ‘Sorry that I couldn't reveal to you earlier that I was obliged to act a doctor's part.’

  She was smiling again.

  ‘We had two nice trips on the river, anyway!’ she said. Captain Siew came back.

  ‘Saw them standing in the hall of the Nine Clouds, sir!’

  ‘Good. I'll take my noon rice there with them, then travel on. I wish you much happiness. Both of you.’

  He quickly went out into the street again.

  In the front hall of the Nine Clouds, the portly host was leaning against the counter, his face green, his pudgy hands clutching his paunch. He gave the judge a reproachful look. Judge Dee took a brush from the holder on the counter, and jotted down a recipe. Pushing it over to the fat man, he said:

  ‘This is gratis. Take this medicine after each meal, eat often but only a little at a time. Avoid wine, and fat and peppery dishes. And abstain from sweets!’