Gulik - Murder in Ancient China: Two Judge Dee Mysteries

Murder in Ancient China: Two Judge Dee Mysteries

Robert van Gulik

Chicago Shorts

Murder in Ancient China: Two Judge Dee Mysteries comes from Judge Dee at Work by Robert van Gulik, 1967 by Robert van Gulik.

All rights reserved.

Chicago Shorts edition, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-226-14688-1

This case occurred in the year A.D. 667 in Han-yuan, an ancient little town built on the shore of a lake near the capital. There Judge Dee has to solve the murder of an elderly poet, who lived in retirement on his modest property behind the Willow Quarter, the abode of the courtesans and singing-girls. The poet was murdered while peacefully contemplating the moon in his garden pavilion, set in the centre of a lotus pond. There were no witnessesor so it seemed.

From the small pavilion in the centre of the lotus pond he could survey the entire garden, bathed in moonlight. He listened intently. Everything remained quiet. With a satisfied smile he looked down at the dead man in the bamboo chair, at the hilt of the knife sticking up from his breast. Only a few drops of blood trickled down the grey cloth of his robe. The man took up one of the two porcelain cups that stood by the pewter wine jar on the round table. He emptied it at one draught, then muttered to the corpse, Rest in peace! If you had been only a fool, I would probably have spared you. But since you were an interfering fool...

He shrugged his shoulders. All had gone well. It was past midnight; no one would come to this lonely country house on the outskirts of the city. And in the dark house at the other end of the garden nothing stirred. He examined his handsthere was no trace of blood. Then he stooped and scrutinized the floor of the pavilion, and the chair he had been sitting on opposite the dead man. No, he hadnt left any clue. He could leave now, all was safe.

Suddenly, he heard a plopping sound behind him. He swung round, startled. Then he sighed with relief; it was only a large, green frog. It had jumped up out of the pond on to the marble steps of the pavilion. Now it sat there looking up at him solemnly with its blinking, protruding eyes.

You cant talk, bastard! the man sneered. But Ill make double-sure! So speaking, he gave the frog a vicious kick that smashed it against the table leg. The animals long hindlegs twitched, then it lay still. The man picked up the second wine cup, the one his victim had been drinking from. He examined it, then he put it in his wide sleeve. Now he was ready. As he turned to go, his eye fell on the dead frog.

Join your comrades! he said with contempt and kicked it into the water. It fell with a splash among the lotus plants. At once the croaking of hundreds of frightened frogs tore the quiet night.

The man cursed violently. He quickly crossed the curved bridge that led over the pond to the garden gate. After he had slipped outside and pulled the gate shut, the frogs grew quiet again.

A few hours later three horsemen were riding along the lake road, back to the city. The red glow of dawn shone on their brown hunting-robes and black caps. A cool morning breeze rippled the surface of the lake, but soon it would grow hot, for it was midsummer.

The broad-shouldered, bearded man said with a smile to his thin, elderly companion, Our duck-hunt suggested a good method for catching wily criminals! You set up a decoy, then stay in hiding with your clap-net ready. When your bird shows up, you net him!

Four peasants walking in the opposite direction quickly set down the loads of vegetables they were carrying, and knelt down by the roadside. They had recognized the bearded man: it was Judge Dee, the magistrate of the lake-district of Han-yuan.

We did a powerful lot of clapping among the reeds, sir, the stalwart man who was riding behind them remarked wryly. But all we got was a few waterplants!

Anyway it was good exercise, Ma Joong! Judge Dee said over his shoulder to his lieutenant. Then he went on to the thin man riding by his side: If we did this every morning, Mr Yuan, wed never need your pills and powders!

The thin man smiled bleakly. His name was Yuan Kai, and he was the wealthy owner of the largest pharmacy in Judge Dees district. Duck-hunting was his favourite sport.

Judge Dee drove his horse on, and soon they entered the city of Han-yuan, built against the mountain slope. At the market place, in front of the Temple of Confucius, the three men dismounted; then they climbed the stone steps leading up to the street where the tribunal stood, overlooking the city and the lake.

Ma Joong pointed at the squat man standing in front of the monumental gate of the tribunal. Heavens! he growled, I have never seen our good headman up so early. I fear he must be gravely ill!

The headman of the constables came running towards them. He made a bow, then said excitedly to the judge, The poet Meng Lan has been murdered, Your Honour! Half an hour ago his servant came rushing here and reported that he had found his masters dead body in the garden pavilion.

Meng Lan? A poet? Judge Dee said with a frown. In the year I have been here in Han-yuan I have never even heard the name.

He lives in an old country house, near the marsh to the east of the city, sir, the pharmacist said. He is not very well known here; he rarely comes to the city. But I heard that in the capital his poetry is praised highly by connoisseurs.

Wed better go there at once, the judge said. Have Sergeant Hoong and my two other lieutenants come back yet, Headman?

No sir, they are still in the village near the west boundary of our district. Just after Your Honour left this morning, a man came with a note from Sergeant Hoong. It said that they hadnt yet found a single clue to the men who robbed the treasury messenger.

Judge Dee tugged at his long beard. That robbery is a vexing case! he said testily. The messenger was carrying a dozen gold bars. And now we have a murder on our hands too! Well, well manage, Ma Joong. Do you know the way to the dead poets country place?

I know a short-cut through the east quarter, sir, Yuan Kai said. If youll allow me...

By all means! You come along too, Headman. You sent a couple of constables back with Mengs servant to see that nothing is disturbed, I trust?

I certainly did, sir! the headman said importantly.

You are making progress, Judge Dee observed. Seeing the headmans smug smile, he added dryly, A pity that the progress is so slow. Get four horses from the stables!

The pharmacist rode ahead and led them along several narrow alleys, zigzagging down to the bank of the lake. Soon they were riding through a lane lined with willow trees. These had given their name to the Willow Quarter, the abode of the dancing-girls and courtesans that lay to the east of the city.

Tell me about Meng Lan, the judge said to the pharmacist.

I didnt know him too well, sir. I visited him only three or four times, but he seemed a nice, modest kind of person. He settled down here two years ago, in an old country house behind the Willow Quarter. It has only three rooms or so, but there is a beautiful large garden, with a lotus pond.

Has he got a large family?

No sir, he was a widower when he came here; his two grownup sons live in the capital. Last year he met a courtesan from the Willow Quarter. He bought her out, and married her. She didnt have much to commend herself besides her looksshe cant read or write, sing or dance. Meng Lan was able to buy her cheaply, therefore, but it took all his savings. He was living on a small annuity an admirer in the capital was sending him. I am told it was a happy marriage, although Meng was of course much older than she.

One would have thought, Judge Dee remarked, that a poet would choose an educated girl who could share his literary interests.

She is a quiet, soft-spoken woman, sir, the pharmacist said with a shrug. And she looked after him well.