Murder in Canton

Suddenly, Tao Gan tugged at Judge Dee's sleeve. He took him apart and whispered excitedly:

'I saw the blind girl! In the second room we passed. She's reading a book!’

'Go and get her!’ the judge said tersely. As Tao Gan rushed back the way they had come, Judge Dee said to Mr Liang, 'My assistant reminded me that I had forgotten my fan. Let's wait here a while. What a beautiful rockery that is over there!'

An angry woman's voice resounded behind them.

'What's that?' Liang exclaimed. He hurried back, followed by Judge Dee and the Prefect.

Tao Gan stood gripping the balustrade in front of the second room. He was looking up in speechless astonishment at the beautiful young woman standing inside the small, elegantly furnished room. A screen decorated with a landscape was visible at the back. The woman angrily addressed Liang:

'Who is this impudent man? I had just slid the window open to get better light, when he suddenly appeared and began to shout that I had fooled him!’

'It was a mistake!’ Tao Gan quickly told the judge, then added in an undertone, 'She resembles her, but it isn't she.'

'Who is this lady, Mr Liang?' the judge asked.

'My sister, Excellency. Our Prefect's wife.'

'When she heard that I was going to accompany Your Excellency here,' the Prefect explained, 'my wife decided to come too, and have a look at her old room here.'

'I see,' Judge Dee said. And to Mrs Pao, 'My apologies, Madam! My assistant mistook you for someone else.' Casting a cursory glance at the book lying open on the table, he added, 'I see that you are reading poetry. Excellent pastime. It improves the style.'

'Poetry?' Pao asked, giving his wife a curious look. She quickly closed the book and said curtly:

'Just a volume I picked up at random.'

The judge noticed that she was really very beautiful. She had an attractive, sensitive face, with the same long curved eyebrows that gave her brother a slightly feminine air. With a shy look she resumed:

'It's a great honour indeed to meet Your Excellency, I...'

'Your husband said that you know a girl who sells crickets,' Judge Dee interrupted. 'I would like to meet her.'

'I'll tell her so when I see her again, sir.' Then, with an annoyed glance at the Prefect, 'My husband scolded me just now for not having asked her address. But she told me she's about in the market practically every day, so...'

'Thank you, Madam! Good-bye.'

Walking on, Judge Dee asked Mr Liang:

'Have you other brothers and sisters, Mr Liang?'

TAO GAN DISTURBS A READING LADY

'No, Excellency, I am the only son. There were two daughters, but the elder one died a few years ago.'

'The accident happened shortly after our marriage,' Prefect Pao remarked in his dry, precise voice. 'It was a great shock for my young wife. And also for me, of course.'

'What kind of accident?' Judge Dee asked.

'When she was asleep,' Liang replied, 'the wind blew her curtain against an oil lamp and set the room afire. She must have become unconscious from the fumes. We only found the charred remains.'

The judge expressed his sympathy. Liang opened a heavy door and led them into a high-ceilinged, cool room. On a sign from Liang the steward shuffled to the windows and rolled up the bamboo sunshades. Judge Dee looked round with an appraising eye. The walls were covered with shelves loaded with books and rolls of papers. An enormous desk in the centre of a blue carpet was bare except for two silver candelabras and a set of writing implements. Mr Liang led them to the tea-table in the corner. He made Judge Dee sit down in the large armchair behind it, and offered the Prefect and Tao Gan the straight-backed chairs in front. He himself took a lower chair somewhat apart and ordered the steward to prepare the tea.

Stroking his long beard, the judge said with satisfaction:

'I perceive an atmosphere of subdued elegance — as one might expect in the studio of a man who excelled in the arts of both war and peace.'

Sipping tea, they spoke for some time about the naval campaigns of the Subduer of the South Seas, and Liang showed them some valuable old city maps from the admiral's collection. Examining one of the maps, the judge suddenly pointed with his forefinger and exclaimed:

'Here we have the temple of the Flowery Pagoda! I had occasion to visit it last night.'

'It's one of our historic sights, sir,' Liang said. 'I go there at least once a week, to have a game of chess with the abbot. He's a strong player! And a great scholar, too. He is now working on a new book, a historical account of the transmission of the scriptures.'

'Since he is of a studious disposition,' the judge observed, 'he leaves the administration of the temple to the prior, I suppose?'

'Oh no, sir! The abbot is most diligent about all his duties. Has to be, for such a large temple, open to the public, needs strict supervision. All kinds of shady characters go in there, wanting to fleece unwary visitors. I mean pickpockets, confidence tricksters, and so on.'

'You should have added murderers,' Judge Dee said dryly. 'I discovered the dead body of a government agent there yesterday.'

'So that's what those monks were talking about!' Liang exclaimed. 'The abbot was suddenly called away from our chess game. When he didn't come back, I asked the monks, who said something about a murder. Who did it, sir?'

The judge shrugged his shoulders.

'Hooligans,' he replied.

Liang shook his head. He took a sip of his tea, then remarked with a sigh:

'That's the other side of our prosperous city, Excellency. Where there is great wealth, there's bound to be dire poverty too. The casual observer sees only the glittering surface of city life. He doesn't know that underneath it there thrives a pitiless underworld where foreign criminals rub shoulders with Chinese hoodlums.'

'All kept under strict control,' Prefect Pao said coldly. 'Moreover, I wish to stress that their criminal activities remain confined to their own milieu, that of the scum one finds in every larger city.'

'I don't doubt it,' Judge Dee said. He emptied his teacup, then turned to Liang. 'You mentioned foreign criminals just now. I heard unfavourable rumours about Mansur. Would he employ Arab hooligans for some criminal purpose?'

Liang sat up straight. Pulling at his wispy goatee, he thought for a long while before he replied:

'I don't know Mansur personally, sir, but I have heard much about him, of course, mainly from my friend and colleague Mr Yau. On the one hand, Mansur is an experienced sea captain, resourceful and courageous, and also a shrewd trader. On the other, he is an ambitious Arab, with a fanatic devotion to his people and his religion. In his own country he is quite a prominent person, a distant nephew of the Khalif, under whom he fought many battles against other barbarians from the west. He ought to have been appointed military governor of one of the conquered regions, but he once offended the Khalif by some inadvertent remark, and was banished from court. So he embarked upon the adventurous career of sea captain. But he has never given up hope of regaining the Khalif's favour, and he'll shrink from nothing to attain that.'

Liang paused, considered for a while, and went on, choosing his words carefully:

'Thus far I have related facts which I have thoroughly checked. What I am going to say now is based on mere hearsay. Some people whisper that Mansur thinks if he could create a serious disturbance here in Canton, pillage the city and then sail home with rich booty, the Khalif would consider such a spectacular feat an addition to Arab prestige, and as a reward re-install Mansur in his former position at court. I repeat, however, that this is mere rumour. I may well be doing Mansur a grave injustice.'