The Lacquer Screen

by Robert Van Gulik

  ‘Don’t get excited now, please! That’d ruin your health! Tell them to go away!’

  ‘Come back later! I can’t be disturbed now!’ the banker called out obediently.

  Judge Dee had been studying him, slowly caressing his sidewhiskers. Now he asked:

  ‘Since Ko didn’t know about your cheating him, why worry about his ghost?’

  The banker gave the judge a startled look.

  ‘What are you saying?’ he panted. ‘Tell me, was the envelope open or closed?’

  The judge had not the faintest idea what the agitated banker was talking about He had taken it more or less for granted that Kunshan had stolen the notebook when robbing Leng Chien’s house. But apparently it was much more complicated than that. He said pensively:

  ‘Let me see now, I did not particularly notice….’ He reflected that the notebook had evidently been placed in an envelope. It seemed probable that it had been sealed. He added: ‘Yes, I remember now! The envelope was dosed.’

  ‘Heaven be praised!’ Leng exclaimed.’ Then I didn’t send him to his death!’

  ‘Now you have said so much, you’d better tell the entire story!’ Judge Dee commented dryly. ‘I told you already that I am a reasonable man, I might be willing to talk over the deal.’

  Leng wiped the sweat from his forehead. Evidently it was a relief to be able to tell someone now about his secret worries. He said:

  ‘I made a stupid mistake. When Ko had invited me to dinner, he asked me to bring along for him a bundle of documents which he wanted to check. I placed them in an envelope, sealed it, and put it in my bosom. But when I arrived at Ko’s place, I forgot to give him that envelope. When we were half-way through die dinner, just before Ko became ill, he asked me about it I put my hand in my bosom and by mistake took out the sealed envelope containing my notebook, which I always carried about with me and which was the same size and weight as the one with the business papers. I handed that envelope to Ko, and realized my terrible mistake only after Ko had gone back to the house to take his medicine. When I saw him throw himself into the river, I assumed of course that he had opened the envelope in his bedroom, discovered that I, his best friend, had been deceiving him, and committed suicide in despair. That terrible thought has been obsessing me all through these last two days. I couldn’t sleep at night, I…’

  He shook his head disconsolately.

  ‘Well, you can’t complain that you aren’t getting your money’s worth from us!’ Judge Dee said. ‘I suppose you were planning to sneak out of the city one of these days?’

  ‘I was’ Leng Chien replied. ‘If Ko hadn’t died, I would have fled this week, leaving a letter for him in which I explained everything, and begged him to forgive me. I needed nine hundred gold pieces for paying my debts, and planned to use the rest for starting anew in a far-away place. After Ko died, I hoped to get the tribunal to register his demise quickly. Then I would have had access to his safe, where I know he keeps two hundred gold pieces. But now I’ll have to leave as soon as possible. My debtors will have to do without their money.’

  ‘I won’t keep you much longer,’ the judge said. ‘Our business is quite simple. Where did you deposit the gold?’

  ‘With the Heavenly Rain gold shop.’

  ‘Good!’ Judge Dee said. ‘Make out two drafts of three hundred and fifty gold pieces each and addressed to that shop. Sign and seal them, but leave the name of the pavee blank.’

  Leng took from a drawer in his desk two large sheets, covered with the seals of his silver shop. He groped for his writing-brush and filled them out. The judge took them and saw that they were in order. Putting the sheets in his sleeve, he said: ‘May I borrow that nice writing-brush for a moment, and a sheet of paper?’

  He turned his chair so that the banker could not see what he was writing. Chiao Tai remained standing behind Leng’s chair.

  Judge Dee spread the paper out on the tea-table and jotted down a brief message in his own, expressive handwriting: To Kan, the elder brother. I beg you to send your men to Leng Chien’s silver shop immediately and arrest the banker on the charge of fraud. This case is connected with Ko Chih-yuan’s demise. I shall explain later.

  The younger brother Dee Jen-djieh bows twice

  He put the sheet in an envelope of the shop, and sealed it with the small personal seal he always carried with him. He rose and spoke:

  ‘I’ll say goodbye now, Mr Leng! You’ll not leave this shop for one hour. My assistant here’ll watch from the other side of the street. It would be unhealthy for you to try to leave earlier. Perhaps we’ll meet again I’

  Chiao Tai unlocked the door, and the two men went downstairs.

  When they were in the street Judge Dee handed Chiao Tai his note to Magistrate Teng. Adding one of’ Mr Shen’s’ visiting-cards, he said:

  ‘Run as fast as you can to the tribunal, and see that the magistrate gets this letter immediately! I am going back to the Phoenix Inn.’

  Chapter 10

  When the judge entered the taproom he found the Corporal standing at the counter, talking to an old man clad in a tattered robe. The waiter was pouring out a cup of wine for them. Carnation sat cross-legged on a stool near by, paring her toenails.

  ‘Come here, brother!’ the Corporal shouted. ‘I have good news for you. Hear what this fellow has to say!’

  The old man gave the judge a baleful look from watering, red eyes. He had a thin, weather-beaten face, as wrinkled as the skin of a crab-apple. Pulling at his ragged, greasy beard, he began in a whining voice:

  ‘My regular stand is on the corner of the second street on the left side of the west gate. The fourth building there is a closed bawdy house, but of class, you see. I have a good, steady income there.’

  ‘It’s a nice place’ Carnation remarked, ‘I’ve been taken there once or twice, when my luck was in.’

  The beggar turned round to her and gave her a bleary look.

  ‘I saw you!’ he said sourly. ‘Next time you’d better tell your customer to give me more than two coppers! Tell him I expect at least four. Sometimes I even get more, if the gentleman comes out with a pleased mug!’

  ‘Come to the point!’ the Corporal snapped.

  ‘Well, the jade wearing the earrings you showed me went there two times. I couldn’t see her face because she wore a veil, but I did see those earrings peeping out from under. When she comes out with the young fellow, she looks at me and says to him, “Give the poor man ten coppers” Which he did.’

  ‘You needn’t look so astonished,’ the Corporal said to Judge Dee. ‘Those beggars make good money, you know I You should try it yourself, some day!’

  The judge managed to mutter something. This was a totally unexpected development. Barring the most unlikely eventuality—that there existed a second pair of those earrings in “Wei-ping—Mrs Teng must have had a secret lover, which was not only unlikely, but wholly unthinkable! He asked the beggar sharply: ‘Are you quite sure she was actually wearing those same earrings?’

  ‘Look here, you!’ the old man said indignantly. ‘My eyes may run a little bit now and then, and then only on really windy days, but I’ll wager they’re better than yours, see!’

  ‘Drip-eye knows his job,’ the Corporal said impatiently. ‘Now you go to work on that young man, brother. That’s your murderer! What did he look like, Drip-eye?’

  ‘Oh, just a well-dressed youngster. Bit of a tippler, I’d say, for he had red patches on his cheeks. Never seen him anywhere else.’

  Judge Dee slowly stroked his beard. He said to the Corporal:

  ‘I’d better be off and question the people in that house.’

  The Corporal guffawed. He poked the judge in the ribs and said:

  ‘You think you’re still a headman, eh? Arrest the people, put them on the rack, and they’ll tell you everything! What do you think the madame would do when you went there asking questions? Offer you a turn, on the house?’

  The judge bit his lip. Things were moving too f
ast, he was making bad mistakes. The Corporal went on seriously:

  ‘The only way to learn something there is to go with Carnation and rent a room, businesslike! Those people know her, so nobody’ll get suspicious. If you can’t trace your murderer, then you’ll at least learn something from the wench. She knows her job, eh, Carnation? And gratis too!’

  ‘You’ll have to invest a few strings of coppers,’ the girl said listlessly. ‘It’s not a cheap place. And, as for me being gratis, we’ll have to see about that. Here at home I go with the room, but outside work is different.’

  ‘Don’t worry about that,’ the judge said. ‘When can we go there?’

  ‘After the noon meal,’ she replied. ‘Those places don’t open earlier than that.’

  Judge Dee offered a cup of wine to the Corporal and the beggar. The latter set out on a long tale about some of the queer things he had seen in his career. Presently Chiao Tai came back and joined them. They had a few rounds together, then Carnation went to the kitchen to prepare the noon rice. The judge said to Chiao Tai:

  ‘This afternoon I am taking her to a nice house near the west gate.’

  ‘I thought you had better things to do than to go whoring!’ an unpleasant voice spoke up behind them. Kunshan had come in noiselessly on his felt shoes.

  ‘I settled the affair we talked about,’ Judge Dee told him. ‘Come on, we’ll take you to a restaurant. We feel we owe you a meal!’

  Kunshan nodded and the three men left the inn together.

  In the next street they found a small eating-house. Judge Dee took a table somewhat apart from the others and ordered a large platter of fried rice and pork, salted vegetables and three jars of wine. As soon as the waiter had left, Kunshan asked eagerly:

  ‘Did Leng Chien pay up? We’ll have to hurry, for they have just arrested him, I hear.’

  Silently Judge Dee took the two drafts from his sleeve and displayed them. Kunshan put out his hand with a suppressed cry of delight. But the judge quickly put the papers back in his sleeve. He said coldly:

  ‘Not so fast, my friend!’

  ‘Are you going back on our bargain?’ Kunshan asked threateningly.

  ‘You cheated us, Kunshan!’ Judge Dee snapped. ‘You made it seem that it was just a matter of milking a crooked financier. You forgot to tell us that there is a murder linked up with this affair!’

  ‘Nonsense!’ Kunshan hissed. ‘What murder?’

  ‘The so-called suicide of Mr Ko Chih-yuan!’

  ‘I know nothing about that!’ Kunshan said angrily.

  ‘You’d better tell the truth, bastard!’ Chiao Tai barked. ‘We don’t like to be made scapegoats!’

  Kunshan opened his mouth, but checked himself when he saw the waiter approaching with the food and wine. When he had gone, Kunshan snarled:

  ‘It’s nothing but a dirty trick! Give me that draft, I tell you!’

  Judge Dee had taken up his chopsticks. He filled his bowl, took a few mouthfuls, then said calmly:

  ‘You give me that notebook, and you tell me exactly how and where you got it. Then you’ll get your draft, not before.’

  Kunshan jumped up, overturning his chair. Livid with rage, he shouted:

  ‘You’ll hear from me, you dirty crook!’

  Chiao Tai grabbed his arm and pulled him back. ‘Let’s take him to the inn,’ he said to the judge,’ and have a quiet talk with him, upstairs!’

  Kunshan wrenched himself loose, cursing obscenely. Bending over to the judge, he hissed: ‘You’ll regret this!’

  Chiao Tai wanted to rise, but Judge Dee said quickly:

  ‘Let him go! We can’t have a brawl here!’ And, to Kunshan:‘You know where to find us, and how to get your money!’

  ‘I certainly do!’ Kunshan snapped. He turned round and left.

  ‘Is it wise to let that scoundrel go?’ Chiao Tai asked dubiously.

  ‘When he has calmed down,’ the judge said, ‘he’ll remember his money and turn up again.’ Looking at the heaped-up platter of rice and the three wine-jars on their table, he added: ‘But what shall we do with all that?’

  ‘That’s the least of your worries, magistrate!’ Chiao Tai said with a grin. He took up his chopsticks and fell to with gusto. The fried rice diminished with amazing speed.

  Judge Dee did not feel hungry. Absent-mindedly turning his wine-cup round in his hand, he reflected that the news about Mrs Teng’s secret meetings had taken him so completely by surprise that he would have to be careful not to let himself be rushed into hurried action. He had made a bad blunder at the inn, and now he also began to doubt whether he had dealt with Kunshan in the right manner. The man was dangerous, and he knew very little about him, not even where his regular hide-out was. He began to wonder uneasily whether he had taken on too much.

  Judge Dee had drunk only one cup of wine, but Chiao Tai took care of the rest. Smacking his lips, he said:

  ‘Superior quality! Now, what work is there for me this afternoon?’

  Wiping off his beard and moustache with the hot towel, the judge said:

  ‘Go to the Garrison Headquarters and try to get that information on the Corporal. I don’t think he is involved in any of our problems, but I have learned one can apparently take nothing for granted here! Then you might pay a visit to the soothsayer Pien Hoong, the man who warned Ko Chili-yuan that on the fifteenth his life would be in danger. Find out whether he is a genuine soothsayer or a charlatan, and also whether he knows Kunshan. At the same time you might make him gossip a bit about Ko. That merchant’s death is a mystery that greatly intrigues me.’

  He paid the bill, and they strolled back to the Phoenix Inn.

  Chapter 11

  Carnation was waiting for the judge. She had changed into a dark-blue robe and a black silk jacket. With her hair done up in a simple chignon she did not look unattractive, despite her vulgar make-up.

  There was no one else in the taproom. She said that the others had gone upstairs for their afternoon nap.

  ‘I’ll follow their example, for a while,’ Chiao Tai said. ‘That wine was rather heady! But I prefer to take my siesta down here.’

  He let himself down heavily into the old rattan armchair. Judge Dee and Carnation went out into the hot street.

  The girl walked a few paces ahead of the judge, as was customary for a prostitute taking a client with her. If a man went out with his wife she would, on the contrary, walk a few paces behind him.

  Carnation knew many short-cuts. Soon they entered a quiet street lined with prosperous-looking, middle-class houses. It seemed a quarter of retired shopkeepers. She halted before a high door, neatly lacquered black. Nothing indicated that it was a house of assignation.

  Judge Dee knocked, but when a portly lady dressed in black damask opened, it was Carnation who spoke first and asked for a room. This indicated that it had been she who suggested the address to the customer, and thus was entitled to a commission.

  Smiling, the madame let them into a small sitting-room. She said they could have the best room for the afternoon, on payment of three strings of coppers. The judge protested and, after long haggling, they agreed on two strings. The judge paid and she took them upstairs to a large and richly furnished bedroom. After she had left, Carnation said:

  ‘This really is the best room in the house. You can be sure that the lady used this one for meeting her lover.’

  ‘We shall search it!’ Judge Dee said.

  ‘You’ll have to wait a bit. Soon the woman’ll be coming back with the tea. Don’t forget to give her a small tip then, it’s the custom.’ Seeing that Judge Dee was going to sit down at the tea-table, she said casually: ‘I don’t know what you have in mind, but anyway we’d better change into bed-robes. The people here have sharp eyes. They’ll get suspicious if we don’t act like other guests.’

  She went to the dressing-table, took off her jacket and her robe and stepped out of her wide trousers. Judge Dee disrobed also, and put on the clean bed-robe of white gauze that was hangi
ng ready on the lacquered clothes-rack next to the bedstead. Carnation was standing naked in front of the dressing-table, washing herself with the unconcern of members of her trade. It struck the judge that she had a shapely body. When she bent over, his eye fell on the thin white scars that ran criss-cross over her back and hips.

  ‘Who has been maltreating you? ‘he asked angrily. ‘The Corporal?’

  ‘Oh no,’ she said indifferently. ‘It’s already more than a year ago. I wasn’t sold to the brothel as a child, you know. I was sixteen already, and I didn’t like the work, so I got a whipping now and then. But I was lucky. One day the Corporal came along and took a fancy to me. He told my owner that he wanted to buy me out. The man showed him the receipt for forty silver pieces that my father had signed when he sold me.’ She turned round and put on the bed-robe. Fastening the silk sash, she continued with a smile: ‘My owner was just starting to count up the other expenses that would have to be refunded, when the Corporal grabbed the paper from him and said: “All right, the deal is closed!” When my owner asked about the money, the Corporal just glared at him and said: “I just paid you, didn’t I? Or would you call me a liar? “You should have seen the fellow’s sour face! But he produced a smile and stammered, “Yes, sir, thank you, sir!” and the Corporal took me along. My owner knew that, if he complained to his guild or to the tribunal, the Corporal would come with his men and smash all his furniture. I certainly was lucky. The Corporal may be a bit short-tempered, but he’s a good fellow at heart. And I don’t mind those scars, they are my badge of trade, so to speak!’

  While listening to her the judge had been pulling out the drawers of the dressing-table. ‘There’s nothing here,’ he said, ‘absolutely nothing.’

  ‘What did you expect?’ the girl asked, sitting down on the edge of the bedstead. ‘Everybody who comes here takes good care to leave nothing that might show their identity. They know that these houses are not averse to a bit of blackmail, at times. Your best chance is the inscriptions and pictures put up inside the bedstead here. They are signed only with pen-names, I’ve always heard, but, since you can read, you might find something there.’