The Lacquer Screen

'Plainly put,' Chiao Tai interrupted. 'We'll have to do the dangerous work and you'll walk off with the prize. Modest share, you say? It'll cost you plenty, you dirty coward!'

At the last word Kun-shan's face grew pale, it had evidently touched a raw spot. He said venomously:

'It's easy to play the hero when you are strong! And you think you are quite a man with the ladies too, don't you? Tonight I thought that solid couch would collapse under your capers! As the poet says: " The torrential rain crushes the autumn rose".'

Chiao Tai jumped up, gripped Kun-shan by his neck and threw him on the floor. Placing his knee on his breast and encircling his throat with his large hands, he growled:

'You dirty swine, you spied on me! I'll break your neck for that!'

Judge Dee quickly leaned over and grabbed Chiao Tai's shoulder. 'Let him go!' he said sharply. 'I want to hear his proposal!'

Chiao Tai rose and let Kun-shan's head fall on the floor with a dull thud. He lay still, his breath rattling in his bruised throat.

Chiao Tai's face was livid with rage. He sat down heavily and said curtly:

'Tonight I was with a courtesan. This rat spied on us.'

'Well,' Judge Dee said coldly, 'I would have thought that you'd manage your amorous affairs more discreetly. Anyway, I won't have them interfere with my investigation. Douse the rascal's head!'

Chiao Tai went over to the counter. He took the large basin of washing-up water, and threw it over Kun-shan's head. 'It'll take some time before the son of a dog wakes up,' he muttered.

'Sit down! I'll tell you the rest about Teng,' the judge said impatiently.

By the time Judge Dee had finished his account of the lacquer screen, Chiao Tai's anger had passed. He said eagerly:

'What an astounding story, Magistrate!'

Judge Dee nodded.

'I didn't feel like telling my colleague my strongest reason for suspecting that an outsider had killed his wife. And that is that I found she had been raped. I didn't wish to distress the poor fellow further.'

'But didn't you say that her face looked peaceful?' Chiao Tai asked. 'I can't say I have any experience in raping a sleeping woman, but I suppose she'd wake up and make it known that she was annoyed, wouldn't she?'

'That is only one of the many puzzling aspects of this strange case,' Judge Dee said. 'Be careful! I think Kun-shan is coming to!'

Chiao Tai dragged the ugly man up and made him sit down in the rattan chair. Kun-shan swallowed with diffi­culty. He groped for the teacup and drank slowly. Then he croaked at Chiao Tai: 'I'll make you pay for that, bastard!'

'Present the bill any time you like!' Chiao Tai said.

Kun-shan fixed him with a malicious glare from his one eye. He sneered:

'You don't even know the merry widow pulled your leg, you fool!'

'Widow?' Chiao Tai shouted.

'Certainly a widow, and a brand-new one too! You came to the side door of the residence of the late Ko Chih-yuan, you blockhead, the silk merchant who killed himself only yesterday! His widow had moved from the common bed­room to her small boudoir in the left wing, in order to nurse her grief in solitude. But you, experienced ladies' man, stupidly mistook her for a courtesan!'

Chiao Tai's face went scarlet with shame and mortification. He wanted to speak, but managed only some unintelligible sounds. Judge Dee took pity on him and said quickly:

'Well, perhaps his wife's morals had something to do with Ko's suicide.'

Kun-shan tenderly felt his throat. He gulped down a cup of tea, then said nastily:

'Women have no morals, and Mrs Ko is no exception. However, my business with you concerns the merchant Ko too, strangely enough. Listen to me carefully, I'll be brief. There came into my hands a notebook belonging to Leng Chien, a well-known banker of this city who was Ko Chih-yuan's associate and financial adviser. I am versed in financial matters, and I soon saw that the notebook contained Leng Chien's secret records of how he has been swindling old Ko during the past two years by faking accounts. He made a considerable amount of money that way, about one thousand gold, I would say.'

'How did you get that notebook?' Judge Dee asked. 'It isn't the kind of record a banker would leave lying about!'

'None of your business!' Kun-shan snapped. 'Now look here, I . . .'

'Wait a moment!' the judge interrupted him. 'I too happen to be interested in financial matters — that's why I had to leave my post as headman in a bit of a hurry. You must be a real wizard to be able to derive all that information from annotations on complicated financial transactions, and secret too ! You had better think up a more probable story, my friend!'

Kun-shan gave the judge a suspicious look.

'You are a cunning scoundrel, aren't you? Well, since you insist on knowing the ins and outs, let me tell you that I have visited Ko's residence a few times — without him know­ing it, of course. I have examined the contents of his safe and found there an emergency fund of two hundred gold pieces — which is now my emergency fund — and also his papers, which I studied with considerable interest. Those papers gave me the background for Leng Chien's notebook, so to speak.'