Judge Dee rolled the scroll up again.
"Well", he said, "when your head is clear it may come to your mind. Now what have you brought there, Tao Gan? "
Tao Gan opened the package with great care. It contained a wooden board with a small square sheet of paper pasted on its surface.
He put it in front of the judge saying:
"Your Honour please be careful! The thin paper is still moist and will easily tear. Early this morning as I was peeling off the lining of the Governor's painting, I discovered this sheet pasted behind the lining of the brocade mounting. This is the testament of Governor Yoo!"
The judge bent forward over the small writing.
Then his face fell. He leaned back in his chair and angrily tugged at his whiskers.
Tao Gan shrugged his shoulders.
"Yes, Your Honour, appearances often prove deceptive. That Mrs. Yoo has been trying to fool us."
The judge pushed the board over to Tao Gan.
"Read it aloud!" he ordered curtly.
Tao Gan read:
"I, Yoo Shou-chien, feeling the end of my days draw near, hereunder state my last will and testament.
Since my second wife Mei has been guilty of adultery and the son she gave birth to is not my flesh and blood, all my possessions shall go to my eldest son Yoo Kee who shall continue the tradition of our ancient house."
Signed and sealed: Yoo Shou-chien
After a slight pause Tao Gan remarked:
"Of course I compared the seal impressed on this document with the Governor's seal on the painting itself. They are perfectly identical."
A deep silence reigned.
Then Judge Dee leaned forward and crashed his fist on the table.
"Everything is completely wrong!", he exclaimed.
Tao Gan gave Sergeant Hoong a doubtful look. The sergeant imperceptibly shook his head. Ma Joong goggled at the judge.
Judge Dee said with a sigh:
"I shall explain to you why I am certain that there is something fundamentally wrong here.
I depart from the premise that Yoo Shou-chien was a wise and farsighted man. He fully realized that his eldest son Yoo Kee had a wicked character and that he was violently jealous of his young half-brother; until Yoo Shan was born Yoo Kee had for years considered himself as the only heir. When the Governor's end drew near his last thoughts were how to protect his young widow and his infant son against the wiles of Yoo Kee.
The Governor knew that if he divided his property equally between his two sons, not to speak of disinheriting Yoo Kee, the latter would certainly harm his infant half-brother and perhaps even kill him to appropriate his part of the inheritance. Therefore the Governor made it appear as if he disinherited Yoo Shan."
Sergeant Hoong nodded and gave Tao Gan a significant look.
"At the same time", the judge went on, "he concealed in this picture the proof that half or the greater part of his property should go to Yoo Shan. This is evident from the curious formula which the old Governor employed when he expressed his last will. He said clearly that the scroll should go to Yoo Shan, and 'the rest' to Yoo Kee; he carefully refrained from defining this 'rest'.
The Governor's idea was through this hidden testament to protect his infant son until he would have grown into a young man and could take possession of his inheritance. He hoped that after ten years or so a wise magistrate would discover the hidden message of the scroll and restore to Yoo Shan his rightful inheritance. It is therefore that he instructed his widow to show the scroll to every new magistrate that would be appointed to this district."
"That instruction, Your Honour", Tao Gan interrupted, "may never have been given. We have only Mrs. Yoo's word for it. In my opinion this document proves clearly that Yoo Shan is an illegitimate child. The Governor was a kind and forbearing man, he wished to prevent Yoo Kee from avenging the wrong done to his father. At the same time he wished to make sure that in due time the truth could be established beyond doubt. This is why he concealed the document in this scroll. When a clever magistrate would have discovered it he would be able to dismiss any claim that Mrs. Yoo might try to file against Yoo Kee."
The judge had listened carefully to this argument. He asked:
"How then do you explain that Mrs. Yoo is so eager that the riddle of this scroll is solved?"
"Women", Tao Gan replied, "are liable to overrate the influence they have on the man who loves them. I am convinced that Mrs. Yoo hopes that the old Governor in his benevolence has concealed in the scroll some money draft or a direction how to find a hidden sum of money, to compensate her for losing part of the property."
The judge shook his head.
"What you say", he remarked, "is quite logical, but it does not accord with the old Governor's character. I am convinced that this document here is a forgery produced by Yoo Kee. It is my theory that the Governor hid some unimportant document in this scroll in order to lead Yoo Kee on to a false trail. As I said before, this is too crude a device for Governor Yoo to have used for concealing something of real importance. Next to this false clue, the picture must contain a real message concealed in a much more ingenious manner.
Since the Governor feared that Yoo Kee would suspect that this scroll contained something valuable and would have it destroyed, he inserted some document in the lining for Yoo Kee to find. Thus he made sure that Yoo Kee, having found that, would not search further for the real clue.
Mrs. Yoo told me that Yoo Kee kept the scroll for over a week. That would have given him sufficient time for discovering the document. Whatever it was, he replaced it by this spurious testament, so that he would be safe no matter what Mrs. Yoo would do with the scroll."
Tao Gan nodded. He said:
"I admit, Your Honour, that that is also a very attractive theory. But I still think that mine is the simpler one."
"It should not be too difficult", Sergeant Hoong remarked, "to find a specimen of Governor Yoo's handwriting. Unfortunately he used archaic script for his inscription on this landscape painting."
Judge Dee said pensively:
"I had planned to visit Yoo Kee in any case. I shall go there this afternoon and try to secure a good specimen of the Governor's regular handwriting and of his signature. You will go there now with my namecard, Sergeant, and announce my visit."
The sergeant and his colleagues rose and took their leave.
As they were crossing the courtyard the sergeant said:
"Ma Joong, what you need is a large pot of hot, bitter tea. Let us sit down in the guard house for a while. I would not like to leave the tribunal before we had cheered you up a bit!"
Ma Joong agreed.
In the guard house they found Headman Fang sitting at the square table talking earnestly with his son. The latter rose hastily when he saw the three men enter and offered them seats.
They all sat down and the sergeant ordered the constable on duty to bring a pot of bitter tea.
After some desultory talk Headman Fang said:
"When you people came in I was just discussing with my son where we should search for my eldest daughter."
Sergeant Hoong sipped his tea. Then he said slowly:
"I don't wish to mention a subject that must be painful to you, Headman. Yet I feel that we should not ignore the possibility that White Orchid had a secret lover and eloped with him."
Fang shook his head emphatically.
"That girl", he said, "is quite different from my youngest daughter. Dark Orchid is headstrong, she has a very independent character. She knew exactly what she wanted ever since she was but as high as my knee, and usually knew how to get it too. Dark Orchid should have been born a boy. My eldest, on the contrary, was always quiet and obedient. She has a soft, pliable character. I can assure you that she never even thought of having a lover, let alone eloping with one!"