'This letter we brought here on the orders of the Grand Council, in a special mounted convoy.'
Judge Dee signed and sealed the receipt, thanked the captains and ordered the majordomo to see to it that all the members of the convoy got food and suitable lodgings.
He slit the envelope open, and slowly read the long letter. His two assistants anxiously watched his worried face. At last he looked up and said slowly:
'Bad news. Very bad. His Majesty's illness has taken a turn for the worse. The physicians in attendance fear that the Great Demise is imminent. The Empress is forming a powerful political alliance that will advocate a Regency, with all executive power vested in her as Empress-Dowager. The Council insists that the Censor's disappearance must now be officially announced, and someone appointed to replace him at once, else the loyal group will have no one to rally to. Since any further delay would have disastrous consequences, the Council orders me to abandon my search for the missing Censor, and return to the capital at my earliest convenience.'
The judge threw the letter on the desk, sprang up and began to pace the floor, angrily shaking his long sleeves.
Chiao Tai and Tao Gan exchanged an unhappy look. They did not know what to say.
Suddenly Judge Dee halted in front of them.
'There's only one thing we can do,' he said firmly. 'A desperate measure, but justified by our woeful lack of time.' He resumed his seat. Leaning forward on his elbows, he went on, 'Go to the atelier of a Buddhist sculptor, Tao Gan, and buy a wooden model of a man's severed head. It must be nailed tonight to the gate of the tribunal, up high, so that from below you can't see it is a fake. Underneath it, on a placard, will be posted an official announcement, which I shall draw up now.'
Ignoring the astonished questions of his two lieutenants, he moistened his writing-brush and quickly jotted down a brief text. Then he sat back in his chair and read it aloud:
President Dee of the Metropolitan Court, now on a tour of inspection in Canton, has discovered here the corpse of a prominent official who, guilty of high treason, had fled from the capital with a price on his head. After the autopsy proved that the said criminal had been poisoned, the corpse was posthumously quartered, and the head is now displayed for three days in succession, as prescribed by the law. Whosoever brought about the death of this despicable traitor is ordered to present himself before the aforesaid President, so that he may receive a reward of five hundred gold pieces. All crimes or offences he may have committed previously, with the exception of capital crimes, shall be pardoned.
As he threw the paper on the desk, Judge Dee resumed:
'The main criminal won't be taken in by this ruse, of course. I am counting on his Chinese henchmen; for instance, the two men disguised as constables who brought the Censor's dead body to the Temple of the Flowery Pagoda. If the head is displayed and the same notice put up all over the city this very night, there's a good chance that someone seeing them early tomorrow morning will come rushing here before his principal has had time to warn him that it is nothing but a hoax.'
Chiao Tai looked dubious, but Tao Gan nodded eagerly and said:
'It's the only way to get quick results! The main criminal must have at least a dozen or so accomplices, and five hundred gold pieces they wouldn't get in five hundred years! They'll come rushing here, trying to beat each other to the reward!'
'Let's hope so,' Judge Dee said wearily. 'It's the best I can think of, anyway. Set to work!'
XX
Chiao Tai was awakened at dawn by the booming voice of the Moslem priest. From the top of the minaret he was calling upon the faithful for the morning prayer. Chiao Tai rubbed his eyes. He had slept badly, and his back was aching. Passing his finger carefully along his swollen throat, he muttered to himself, 'One late night and a scuffle shouldn't count for a hefty fellow of forty-five, brother!’ He got up naked as he was and threw the shutters open.
He took a long draught from the spout of the teapot in the padded basket, gargled and spat lukewarm tea into the porcelain spittoon. With a grunt he lay down on the plank bed again. He thought he would grant himself a little nap before getting up and preparing himself for going to the palace.
Just as he was dozing off, he was roused by a knock on the door.
'Go away!’ he shouted, annoyed.
'It is I! Open up, quick!’
Chiao Tai recognized Zumurrud's voice. With a delighted grin he sprang up and stepped into his trousers. He pulled the bolt back.
She hastily came inside and bolted the door behind her. She was all wrapped up in a long, hooded cloak of blue cotton. Her eyes were shining; he thought she was looking even more beautiful than before. He pushed the only chair towards her and sat down on the edge of the bed.
'Want a cup of tea?' he asked awkwardly.
She shook her head, kicked the chair away and said impatiently:
'Listen, all my troubles are over! You needn't take me to the capital any more. Only take me to your boss. Now!’
To my boss? Why?'
Tour boss promised a reward, big money, that's why! I heard the fishermen shouting the news to the people of my boat. They had seen the placard put up on the gate of the custom-house. I didn't know that the Censor had been mixed up in political trouble, thought he had come to Canton only for me. But that doesn't matter any more. What matters is that I can claim the reward. For I am the one who poisoned him.'
'You?' Chiao Tai exclaimed, aghast. 'How could you...'
'I'll explain!’ she interrupted him curtly. 'Just to show you why you must take me to your boss at once. And put in a good word for me, too.' She took off the blue cloak, and carelessly threw it on the floor. Underneath she wore only a single robe of transparent silk that showed every detail of her perfect body. 'About six weeks ago,' she resumed, 'I passed the night with my patron in the house near the temple. When I was leaving in the morning, he said that there was a festival in the Flowery Pagoda, and that I'd better call there on my way to the quay to pray for him — the bastard! Well, I went anyway and burned incense before the large statue of Our Lady of Mercy there. Suddenly I noticed that a man standing close by was eyeing me. He was tall and handsome, and although he was plainly dressed, he had a marked air of authority. He asked me why I, an Arab, prayed to a Chinese goddess. I said a girl can't have too many goddesses looking after her. He laughed, and thus began a long conversation. I knew at once that this was the man I had been hoping to meet all my life. Treated me like I was a real lady, too! I fell in love with him, at first sight, like a snotty chit of sixteen! Since I felt that he liked me, too, I asked him to have a cup of tea with me in the house. It's quite near the back entrance of the temple, you see, and I knew that my patron had left. You can imagine for yourself what followed. Afterwards he told me he wasn't married and that he had never slept with a woman before. That didn't matter, he said, because now he had met me. He said many other such nice things, then added that he was an Imperial Censor! When I had explained my troubles to him, he promised he would get me Chinese citizenship, and pay my patron all my expenses. He would have to leave Canton in a few days, but he would come back to fetch me and take me to the capital with him.' Patting her hair, she continued with a reminiscent smile: The days and nights we passed together were the happiest in my life, I tell you! Imagine me, who has slept with heaven knows how many hundreds of men, feeling like a young girl in the throes of her first love! I was so silly about him that I got into a bad fit of jealousy when he was about to return to the capital. And then I acted like a blooming fool, messed up everything with my own hands!’ She paused and wiped her perspiring brow with the tip of her sleeve. Grabbing the teapot, she drank from the spout, then resumed listlessly, 'You must know that we waterfolk prepare all kinds of weird drugs, love philtres, some good medicines, but also some poisons. The recipes have been handed down among us Tanka women for generations. We have one particular poison which our women give to their lovers when they suspect they intend to leave them for good, under the pretext of going on a journey. If the chap returns, they give him an antidote, and he never knows what has been done to him. I asked the Censor when he would come back to Canton to fetch me, and he said in two weeks, without fail. At our last meeting I put the poison in his tea, a dose that would be harmless if he took the antidote in three weeks' time. But if he deceived me and never came back, I wanted him to pay for it with his life.