The Lacquer Screen

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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! 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 fast, 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. Kun-shan 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!'

Kun-shan 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, Kun-shan 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. Kun-shan 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!'

KUN-SHAN ANGRILY LEAVES THE RESTAURANT

'Are you going back on our bargain?' Kun-shan asked threateningly.

'You cheated us, Kun-shan!' 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!' Kun-shan hissed. 'What murder?'

'The so-called suicide of Mr Ko Chih-yuan!'

'I know nothing about that!' Kun-shan said angrily.

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

Kun-shan opened his mouth, but checked himself when he saw the waiter approaching with the food and wine. When he had gone, Kun-shan 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.'

Kun-shan 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!'

Kun-shan 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 Kun-shan: 'You know where to find us, and how to get your money!'

'I certainly do!' Kun-shan 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 Kun-shan 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 Chih-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 Kun-shan. 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.