Mansur silently inclined his head. Yau got up and Chiao Tai followed his example. He wanted to say a few words of thanks too, but thought better of it when he saw the burning hatred in Mansur's eyes. Their host led them across the scented garden to the gate, and took leave of them with a few barely audible phrases.
Yau's palankeen bearers scrambled to their feet, but Chiao Tai shook his head at them.
'Let's walk a little,' he said to Yau. 'The air was very close in there and that foreign liquor has gone to my head.'
'I am a well-known man,' the fat merchant said doubtfully. 'I am not really supposed to move about on foot.'
'Neither is a colonel of the guard Chiao Tai said dryly. 'Since the streets are deserted, no one'll see us. Come along!'
They walked towards the corner, the palankeen bearers following at some distance.
'The food was good,' Chiao Tai muttered, 'but the fellow shouldn't have made that disgraceful scene.'
'What can you expect from barbarians?' Yau said with a shrug. 'It was a pity you stopped him, though. She's giving herself airs, nowadays, and a sore bottom would have done her good. She's not a pure Arab, you know. Her mother belonged to the Tanka, the waterfolk, and that makes her doubly savage. Anyway he wouldn't have dared to give her a real good whipping, one that draws blood and leaves scars.'
He wetted his lips with the tip of his tongue. Chiao Tai gave him a sour look. He revised his former favourable opinion. The fellow had a nasty streak in him. He said coldly:
'Mansur seemed fully intent on doing just that. And why shouldn't he dare to mark her?'
The question apparently embarrassed Yau. He hesitated for a while before he replied:
'Well, Mansur doesn't own her — as far as I know, that is. I assume that she has a powerful patron, somewhere. And although such fellows don't mind their women earning a little pin-money by dancing at parties, they don't like to get 'em back with a broken skin.'
'But Mansur said she was for sale!'
'Oh, that was only to humiliate her. Don't let that give you ideas, colonel! I wouldn't recommend those black women, anyway. They are rather crude in their ways, you know, like beasts of the field. Well, I'd like to take my palankeen now, if you don't mind. I have to keep an appointment in a er ... private establishment of mine.'
'Don't miss it!' Chiao Tai said gruffly. 'I'll manage.'
Yau looked at him askance; he seemed to have noticed the change in his companion's attitude. He laid his podgy hand on Chiao Tai's arm and said with an ingratiating grin:
'I'll take you there some other night, colonel! The lady I put in charge is very discreet, and the amenities are er ... exceptional. I go there regularly — for the sake of variety, you understand! It's not that I am not served well at home. Very well, I may say. Ought to be, seeing the amount of money I spend on my wives and concubines. That cosy little place of mine is conveniently located, not too far from my residence. On the corner of the second street south of the Kwang-siao Temple, as a matter of fact. I'd take you there right now, only the lady I am due to meet there is rather shy, you see…Not so easy to get! We have a hobby in common and that'll help, I trust, but if she saw me coming with a stranger, she might...'
'Quite,' Chiao Tai interrupted him. 'Don't keep her waiting, she might run away!' Walking on, he muttered to himself, 'Would be the wisest thing for her to do, too, I think!'
In the next street he hailed a litter and told the bearers to take him to the palace. As the men trotted off, he leaned back in the seat and tried to get a brief nap. But as soon as he had closed his eyes he saw the sinuous figure of the Arab dancer, and remembered again that heady smell.
VII
Judge Dee and Tao Gan had left the palace by a small side gate, and were strolling down the main thoroughfare. They now looked like two elderly gentlemen of letters. The judge had put on a dark-blue cotton robe with a black sash round his waist. On his head he had a skull-cap of black silk. Tao Gan wore a faded brown gown, and his inseparable old velvet cap.
After they had passed the buildings of the city administration, they entered the first restaurant they saw. Judge Dee chose a table in the rear, where he had a good view of the motley crowd of customers. 'You order!’ he told Tao Gan. 'You speak the language. Make it a large bowl of soup with dumplings. I am told that is particularly good here in this city. Add a crab omelette, another local speciality.'
'Let's also try a jug of the local wine,' Tao Gan proposed.
'You used to be rather abstemious,' the judge remarked with a smile. 'I fear that Chiao Tai has a bad influence on you!’
'Chiao Tai and I see much of each other,' Tao Gan said. 'Ever since his blood-brother Ma Joong became such a stay-at-home!’
'That's why I didn't take Ma Joong along on this trip. I am happy that he has settled down to family life at last. I wouldn't like to get him involved in all kinds of adventures that might tempt him to revert to his old ways! We'll find the Censor all right among the three of us!’
'Does he have any special marks or mannerisms, sir? Things we might mention while inquiring about him in the temple later?'
Judge Dee pensively stroked his sidewhiskers.
'Well, he is a handsome fellow, of course, and he has all the self-assured poise of a high official moving in court circles. Then his language might also provide a clue. He speaks as a typical courtier, with all their latest mannerisms. Ha, this soup smells very good indeed!’ Picking a dumpling from the bowl with his chopsticks, he added, 'Cheer up, Tao Gan, we have solved harder problems together!’
Tao Gan grinned and fell to with gusto. When they had finished the simple but substantial meal, they had a cup of strong Fukien tea, then paid and left.
There were less people about in the dark streets, for it was now time for the evening rice. When they were in the west quarter, however, they saw more people, and upon entering the street that led to the Temple of the Flowery Pagoda, they found themselves in the midst of a gay crowd, young and old dressed in their best clothes, and all moving in the same direction. Judge Dee counted on his fingers, and said:
'Today is the birthday of Kwan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy. The temple will be crowded with visitors.'
As soon as they had passed through the outer gate, they saw that the temple compound resembled indeed a night-fair. The stone-paved pathway leading to the high marble staircase of the monumental front hall was lined with temporary lamp posts, connected by gaily coloured garlands of lampions. On either side was a row of stalls offering a great variety of merchandise: holy books as well as children's toys, sweetmeats as well as rosaries. Hawkers of oil-cakes pushed their way through the throng, praising their wares in strident voices.
Judge Dee looked at the teeming crowd.
'Bad luck!’ he said peevishly to Tao Gan. 'How could one locate a man in this awful throng? And where is this famous pagoda?'
Tao Gan pointed at the sky. Beyond the main building rose the nine storeys of the Flowery Pagoda, nearly three hundred feet high. The golden globe crowning its spire shone in the moonlight. Judge Dee could hear faintly the tinkling of the small silver bells suspended all along the curved roofs of every storey.
'Beautiful construction!' the judge remarked with satisfaction. As he walked on, he cast a casual glance at the tea-pavilion on his right, under a cluster of tall bamboos. The pavilion was empty; people were so busy admiring the sights that they had no time for a leisurely cup of tea. In front of the gate stood two gaudily dressed women, under the watchful eye of an old hag who was leaning against the doorpost, picking her teeth. Judge Dee suddenly halted in his steps.