The Celebrated Cases Of Judge Dee

by Robert Van Gulik

  Judge Dee asked quickly:

  “Do you know where this man Shao went, after he had given you the cart and the silk?”

  “He did not tell me”, answered Djao, “but I can make a good guess. I knew the teacher of this fellow Shao many years ago. He thought that young Shao was a promising fellow and gave him his daughter in marriage. But this Shao, instead of showing his gratitude for this mark of his teacher’s affection, maltreated his wife. She died of a broken heart. Thereafter I heard that he had started an affair with an abandoned woman, who lived in a place in this province called Turn-up Pass or something like that. I think it is most probable that Shao went there, to spend the money he robbed from Liu with his paramour.

  I am perfectly prepared to go to Turn-up Pass myself and get that fellow for you, just to get even with him”.

  By now Judge Dee was fully convinced that Djao was speaking the truth. He marveled again at the accuracy of his dream in the temple; the verse had suggested that the criminal’s name was Shao; only the reference to Szuchuan Province remained unexplained. He could not remember having ever heard of a place called Turn-up Pass and asked Manager Loo. The manager, who by now had gradually understood what was going on, started on a long apology to the judge, saying that he had not known that such a famous and high official had honoured him with a visit and so on. But Judge Dee cut him short, remarking that he had come in the role of a merchant and that Manager Loo had treated him with all the courtesy he was entitled to. Manager Loo then started to think hard about a Turn-up Pass, but he could not remember ever having heard of such a locality.

  In the meantime the paper lanterns were being lighted. Judge Dee decided to go back to the hostel. He rose from his chair and said a few appropriate words to Manager Loo about having caused him all this trouble. Then he invited Warden Djiang and Djao Wan-chuan to go back with them for the evening meal. They gladly accepted and the four of them strolled back to the hostel.

  Chiao Tai had become worried over their long absence and was most eager to hear the news. Ma Joong introduced Warden Djiang and Djao Wan-chuan and told him the new developments, while Judge Dee retired for a rest. After a while Manager Djang came in. Ma Joong told him briefly who Judge Dee was and the real purpose of their visit to Divine Village. Manager Djang was overjoyed to have such a distinguished guest and went immediately to the kitchen to order a magnificent repast.

  .When the steaming dishes and a jar of wine were being brought in Judge Dee invited all present to sit down and have an informal meal and a frank discussion without regard for rank or age.

  Djao Wan-chuan proved to be an engaging fellow who could tell many a story about his adventures on the road. Warden Djiang went into some detail about his exploits together with Ma Joong when both of them were still “brothers of the green woods”. Then Djao Wan-chuan said to Judge Dee:

  “In our guild of travelling silk merchants, news travels fast. I fear that if we don’t make haste to apprehend that fellow Shao in Turn-up Pass he may hear about his having been traced there and escape to some of the outlying provinces”. Ma Joong thought that this was excellent advice, adding: “Your Honour, in Chang-ping the case of Bee Hsun still awaits its solution. I propose that you leave the arresting of Shao Lee-huai entirely to Djao Wan-chuan and myself, and that we return tomorrow to Chang-ping. For although we have good reason to think that Shao Lee-huai is hiding in Turn-up Pass, we have yet to locate that place. In Chang-ping in order to obtain this information we can have the records of the tribunal searched and ask some of the old inhabitants”.

  Judge Dee agreed, and after a few more rounds of wine, Warden Djiang and Djao Wan-chuan took their leave and all went to rest.

  The next morning Judge Dee ordered light horse carts in order to reach Chang-ping as quickly as possible.

  Ma Joong paid Manager Djang their bill. The grooms shouted, whips crackled, and Judge Dee left the hostel, his party augmented by Djao Wan-chuan. Warden Djiang and Manager Djang bowed their farewell in front of the gate.

  They reached Chang-ping before noon. Judge Dee first went to the tribunal where he had the seals of office returned to him. Then he called in the head of the archives and told him to search through the records for a locality called Turn-up Pass. Thereafter he had the official correspondence brought in, disposing of the most urgent despatches.

  Only after he had dealt with these matters did he go to his living quarters and there had a bath, and late luncheon. Returned to his private office, he asked the clerk whether there had been any news from Sergeant Hoong and Tao Gan. The clerk reported that they had been back twice during the judge’s absence. The first time Sergeant Hoong had said that Warden Ho Kai went about his business with commendable zeal, but that the men called Hsu investigated thus far proved to be law-abiding citizens, who moreover had hardly known Bee Hsun. The second time Tao Gan had come alone and left a message requesting that Mrs. Djou be released from prison as soon as possible. He and the sergeant kept Mrs. Bee’s house under constant observation, but nothing had happened beyond Mrs. Bee coming out and telling the neighbours every day several times how badly Judge Dee treated them. He saw no hope for anything developing there unless Mrs. Djou be released to act as a decoy.

  Judge Dee nodded, and gave orders to have the court hall arranged for the opening of the session.

  When it was reported to him that the scribes and the constables had assembled in the hall, Judge Dee donned his official robe and cap and left his private office. The curtains over the dais were drawn. Judge Dee appeared, seated behind the bench.

  First he had a few documents relating to official routine brought in. Having unrolled the first one, he took in its contents with one glance and issued the necessary orders to the scribes while he was already unrolling the second one. Thus in half an hour all the routine business that had accumulated during his absence was speedily and accurately dealt with.

  Then he filled out a slip for the warden of the jail and handed it to a constable with the instruction to bring Mrs. Djou in.

  As soon as the constables had made her kneel before the bench, she began reviling Judge Dee. But he cut her short peremptorily, and said:

  “Hold your insolent tongue. In due time the criminal shall be revealed. Meanwhile, I think it is not right that your old mother suffers for you, and has to run her house all alone. I therefore shall now release you on bail, so that you can serve your mother, as is proper”. Mrs. Djou, however, cried:

  “You dog official, first you drag me here and torture me, an innocent woman, and then you talk about my poor mother alone at home! It is you who caused all her grief, by cruelly throwing her daughter in jail, and then maltreating her poor son’s corpse! Do you expect me to go home now quietly, so that you can hush up this outrageous affair? I tell you for all to hear, that I stand by my word. I am not going to leave this tribunal until the high authorities have punished you, and have removed your judge’s cap. Then, my wrong avenged, I shall leave this place, and not one day earlier”.

  At this moment Ma Joong interrupted her, and said: “Woman, come to your senses! It is a special favour that we allow you to do your duty towards your mother-in-law. But if you refuse, well, everybody will know what to think”.

  Mrs. Djou in her heart was very keen to go home but she did not dare to say so right away for fear that thus she would excite further suspicions. Ma Joong’s words gave here a welcome cue, and she said:

  “I gladly sacrifice my personal grievance to the duties of filial piety. I shall go now, and as regards bond, you can send one of your men with me. He can have my mother sign a guarantee that I shall not try to escape”.

  Judge Dee ordered the constables to take the chains off and told Ma Joong to bring her back to Huang-hua Village in a small sedan chair.

  INTERLUDE

  Three actors enter. The stage is supposed to represent a scene on a river bank. It is late in the season, but the prune trees are still in bloom.

  The first actor plays the role of the “
young maiden,” the second plays the role of the “young lover,” and the third the role of the “elderly man.”

  MAIDEN, speaks:

  “I have come here many times, but never, it seems to me, were the blossoms as beautiful as to-day.”

  sings

  “Only sing of beauty, only sing of love,

  Never think of duty, when you think of love!”

  MAN, speaks:

  “How is it an attractive young maiden like you has come out here all alone? At home there must be someone who loves you dearly?”

  MAIDEN, acts coy, speaks:

  “That may be so. But on a day like this who thinks of the people at home?”

  YOUNG MAN, speaks:

  “The other day passing along here, I admired this same view.”

  MAIDEN, acts eager, speaks:

  “Did you walk along the bank and see the green willow trees?”

  YOUNG MAN, acts happy, sings:

  “Wherever I went were flowers, were flowers all the way,

  “I took from fragrant bowers, of blossoms a tender spray”

  speaks: “It is late in the afternoon, I shall have to leave now.

  MAIDEN, speaks:

  “I don’t want to go home. At home there is a cruel, cruel man, who asks, always asks me questions. He presses me so I sometimes want to drown myself in a well!”

  MAN, speaks:

  “Let you and I go together and look at the blossoming trees. I would like to help you.”

  MAIDEN, acts laughing, sings:

  “Last year, last month, yesterday,

  I knew no love, and I knew no pain;

  This year, this month, and to-day,

  I have both love and I have pain”

  MAN, speaks:

  “Let us go there then all three together. It would be sad if we were to forego this feast.”

  YOUNG MAN, speaks:

  “The season is already nearly over; who thinks this year of last year’s bloom?”

  MAN, acts sad, speaks:

  “A flowering sprig, well tended, will last long.”

  MAIDEN, sings:

  “I dream of the candles, the candles red and bright,

  “Who thinks of tomorrow, on her wedding night?”

  YOUNG MAN, speaks:

  “It is said that on the festival of the flowers there shall be no difference of rank or position. Let the three of us go together, without inquiring name or surname. For after to-day we shall never meet again.”

  MAIDEN, speaks:

  “Yes, how sad it is that nothing is so brief as a day-dream late in spring!”

  YOUNG MAN, acts happy, sings:

  “When you seek for beauty, when you seek for love,

  “Never think of duty, only think of love!”

  Exeunt

  Chapter 16

  A DEAF CONSTABLE REVEALS THE KEY TO THE PROBLEM; JUDGE DEE SENDS OUT HIS MEN FOR APPREHENDING SHAO

  JUDGE DEE LEFT the court hall and, having seated himself in his private office, had the head of the archives brought in.

  He reported that a search in the old records of the district administration had failed to produce any results; there was no mention of a place called Turn-up Pass in the Province of Shantung. He respectfully suggested that Judge Dee circulate his colleagues in the other districts, asking whether they could perhaps supply the required information.

  Judge Dee gave a noncommittal answer and sent him away. He knew that there was no time to write a circular to the other district magistrates; by the time their answers came in, Shao Lee-huai would have received news about what was afoot and he would never be arrested. After some thought, Judge Dee ordered the clerk to select the oldest men among the constables, and bring them in.

  When three greybeards had come in and respectfully greeted the judge, he asked them whether in their long careers they had ever been in a locality called Turn-up Pass. Two of them said immediately that they had never in their lifetime even heard about a place of that name.

  Now the third was an old man of about seventy, who was half deaf. He had heard only vaguely what Judge Dee asked, and had stood there mumbling by himself, pulling at his beard. When the two others had answered the judge, he cackled:

  “Turnips! Now, there Your Honour is saying something! The right season has not yet arrived, but if Your Honour wants some, I have in my garden quite a few, imported from another locality. They ripen earlier, and they are real juicy turnips. If Your Honour wants some, I shall be glad to oblige”

  The other constables, fearing that Judge Dee would be angry, hastened to say that the old man was deaf, but that he knew all the tricks of the trade and often gave excellent advice; moreover, he still was quite useful for light guard duty. Judge Dee, however, smiled a little and told the old man that for the moment he did not require the turnips, but that he would like to try them some other day.

  The old constable, thinking that Judge Dee had misgivings about taking these special turnips from him, insisted:

  “Please, Your Honour, allow me to go home and get some nice ones for you. I have more than enough of them, and moreover having come all the way from Szuchuan Pass, they are a rare treat”.

  The mention of the name “Szuchuan Pass” startled Judge Dee to no small degree. He remembered how accurately the first part of the verse that he had seen in his dream tallied with the name Shao, and with Divine Village; could it be that the reference to Szuchuan in the second part did not refer to that distant province at all, but to a place that happened to bear that name, right here in the province of Shantung? Would this greybeard have the key to the final solution of the double murder of Six Mile Village?

  Thereupon he turned to the other constables and the clerks, and said:

  “I have to ask this man a few questions in private. Your presence is no longer required”.

  The others thought for themselves that this was going to be a queer conversation, with one of the parties half deaf; but they hastened to obey the judge.

  When they were alone, the judge first asked the old constable some routine questions, such as his name and surname, where he came from and how long he had been serving in the tribunal. When he noticed that the greybeard was completely at ease and had become accustomed to his voice, Judge Dee said:

  “Now these turnips from Szuchuan Pass, that is a subject I would like to know more about, because I am very fond of eating turnips. Where is that place where they grow, and how far is it from here?”

  “None of those young whippersnappers over here”, the old constable said, “know about that place. Yes, I may be old and deaf, but I still know a thing or two that those young constables have never even heard of. Now I don’t say that they don’t treat me as they should a man of my age, and fortunately Your Honour is such a kind master, that—”

  “I was asking you”, Judge Dee hastily interrupted before the old man could stray from his subject again, “how many miles that place where the turnips grow is from here”.

  “Yes, yes”, the old man said, “I was just coming to that. This Szuchuan Pass is a village in the mountains near the city of Lai-chow, in this same province. During the former dynasty, a native of Szuchuan Province used to come there regularly to sell his goods, and made a good profit. Therefore finally he settled down there permanently, opened a shop, and in course of time became a very wealthy man. After he died, his sons and grandsons continued this business, and theirs became the leading family in the district. Thus people called that locality Szuchuan Pass, because the leading family came from that province. Thereafter, however, the family fortune declined, their wealth was gradually scattered, and finally they left there. Then people forgot all about them, and called the place Turnip Pass, because the turnips there are large and juicy. Now some years ago, one of Your Honour’s predecessors sent me out there on a case and, talking with the old people there, I heard this story about the Szuchuan family. When I returned home, I took a basket of turnips with me and planted them in my garden. They did very
well, and I dare say there are none better in this whole district. Now if Your Honour allows me to go home and fetch a few—”

  But Judge Dee had not heard his last words. Overjoyed he reflected that Djao Wan-chuan had mistaken Turnip Pass for Turn-up Pass when he heard about Shao Lee-huai’s love nest, and that this mistake had been corrected through the bad hearing of the old constable. And he marveled at the subtle way in which the verse in his dream had conveyed the information that the criminal was to be found there.

  “You say that you were once in that neighbourhood”, Judge Dee said to the old constable, “Now that is excellent, for I must send some men there on a case. I wish you could go with them, to show them the way. Can you make such a long journey?”

  “Your Honour”, the old constable said, “I may be old and deaf, but I am still capable of executing your orders. Moreover the place is not too far, we should be able to make it in nine or ten days. Your Honour just tell me when I should go”.

  Judge Dee dismissed him with a few kind words, and enjoined him not to tell others about their conversation.

  The next day, after the morning session, Judge Dee called Djao Wan-chuan, and told him the good news that Turnip Pass had been located. Djao was amazed, and said: