A woman is punished for contempt of court
After the first few lashes Mrs. Loo screamed:
"The dog official! Thus he vents his anger on a decent woman who scorned him! He . . ."
Her voice changed into wild screams as the whip cut into her bare back. But when the headman stopped to mark with a tally that ten strokes had been given, she called out:
"Our Master Lan is murdered, but that dog official thinks only of seducing a woman. He ..."
The whip came down again, and she could only scream. When the headman paused for marking the twentieth stroke, she tried to speak but could not. After five more strokes she sank forward with her face on the floor.
At a sign from the judge the headman lifted her head and burned pungent incense under her nose till she regained consciousness. When at last she opened her eyes, she was too weak to sit up. The headman had to support her by the shoulders, while a constable held her head up by the hair.
Judge Dee said coldly:
"Mrs. Loo, you have offended this court and received half of the prescribed punishment. Tomorrow you shall be heard again. It shall depend on your own behavior whether the other half will be inflicted on you or not."
Mrs. Kuo appeared, and together with three constables they carried Mrs. Loo back to the jail.
Just when Judge Dee was about to raise his gavel for closing the session, an old peasant came forward. He started upon a long story about his having accidentally bumped into a cake vendor carrying a tray with brittle cakes, on the corner of the street outside. The peasant spoke in the local dialect, and the judge had the greatest difficulty in following what he said. At last he understood what it was all about. The peasant was perfectly willing to compensate for the loss of fifty cakes, for that had been approximately the number that had been on the tray. But the vendor insisted that there had been a hundred, and wanted payment for that amount.
Then the vendor kneeled in front of the bench. His language was even harder to understand. He swore that there had been at least a hundred cakes, and accused the old peasant of being a crook and a liar.
The judge felt tired and nervous. With an effort he concentrated his mind on this quarrel. He told a constable to run outside and scoop up the broken cakes, and bring them to the tribunal together with one new cake from the street stall. He told the scribe to bring a pair of scales.
While they were gone Judge Dee leaned back in his chair, thinking again about the incredible insolence of Mrs. Loo. The only explanation was, of course, that there had been really something very wrong with her husband's death.
When the constable came back with the broken cakes, packed in a piece of oil paper, Judge Dee put the package on the scales. It weighed about 1,200 grams. Then he weighed the one new cake, and found it weighed about 20 grams.
"Give that lying vendor twenty strokes with the bamboo!" the judge said disgustedly to the headman.
Now there were some acclamations from the audience, they liked this quick and just decision.
When the vendor had received his punishment, Judge Dee closed the session.
In his private office the judge wiped the perspiration from his forehead. Pacing the floor he burst out:
"In my twelve years as a magistrate I have dealt with some nasty women, but never one like this! That foul insinuation about my visit!"
"Why didn't Your Honor immediately deny the charges of that evil woman?" Ma Joong asked indignantly.
"That would only have made it seem worse," Judge Dee said in a tired voice. "After all, I did go there at night, and in disguise. She is very clever, and she knows exactly how to get the sympathy of the crowd."
He angrily pulled his beard.
"In my opinion," Tao Gan observed, "she is not so clever. Her best policy would have been to answer quietly all questions, and refer to Dr. Kwang's certificate. She ought to have known that making all this trouble serves only to make us think that she really murdered her husband."
"She doesn't care a tinker's curse what we think!" Judge Dee said bitterly. "She is only out to prevent a second investigation of Loo Ming's death, because that will prove her guilt. And today she went a long way in reaching that object."
"We shall have to handle this affair with the greatest care," Chiao Tai remarked.
"We certainly shall!" Judge Dee said.
Suddenly the headman came rushing into the office.
"Your Honor," he said excitedly, "just now a shoemaker came to the tribunal with an urgent message from Sergeant Hoong!"
Fifteenth Chapter
Strolling aimlessly from one street stall to another, Sergeant Hoong noticed that dusk was falling. He thought he had better go back to the tribunal.
His patient questioning of the two young men who had entered the bathhouse with the Tartar youth had produced very little result. They had not been able to add anything to the information given by their friend who had been interrogated by Judge Dee. The two had said that the Tartar had seemed to them just another young fellow; the only thing that had struck them had been the pallor of his face. They had not noticed the lock of hair and the Sergeant reflected that the first youngster might well have mistaken a slip of the scarf for it.
He stood looking for a moment at the shop of a pharmacist, and tried to identify the queerly shaped roots and dried small animals that lay in trays in front of the counter.
A large man brushed past him. The Sergeant turned around and saw a broad back, and a pointed black hood.
He quickly elbowed his way through a group of loiterers and was just in time to see the man disappear around the next corner.
He hurried after him, and saw him again, standing in front of a jeweler's counter. The hooded man asked something, and the jeweler took out a tray with glittering objects, which the man started to examine.
The Sergeant came as near as he dared, eager to catch a glimpse of the man's face. But the side of the hood prevented that. Hoong walked up to the noodle stall next to the jeweler's, and ordered a bowl. While the vendor was ladling out the noodles, the Sergeant kept his eyes on the hooded man. But now two other prospective buyers were talking to the jeweler, and obstructed the Sergeant's view. He saw only the gloved hands of the hooded man, who was examining a glass bowl filled with red stones. He pulled off one glove and picked up a ruby which he put in the palm of his right hand. He rubbed the stone with his forefinger. The two other buyers walked on, and now the Sergeant had a full view of the man. But he was standing with his head bent, and Sergeant Hoong still could not see his face.
The Sergeant was so excited that he could hardly swallow his noodles. He saw the jeweler raise his hands to heaven and start to talk volubly. Evidently he was discussing the price with the hooded man. But although the Sergeant strained his ears, he could not hear what was being said because of the confused talk of the noodle-eaters standing by his side.
He quickly took a mouthful. When he looked again the jeweler was shrugging his shoulders. He wrapped up something small in a piece of paper and handed it to the hooded man, who turned around quickly and disappeared in the crowd.
Sergeant Hoong put his bowl, still half-full with noodles, down on the counter and went after him.
"Hey, grandpa, don't you like my noodles?" the vendor shouted indignantly. But the Sergeant did not hear him. He had spotted the hooded man just as he had entered a wine house.