Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 39, No. 6, June, 1994
- Автор: Bashover Albert, Crawford Dan
- Год: 1994
- Язык: английский
- Год: Dell Magazines
- ISBN: ISSN: 0002-5224
- Жанр: Другие детективы
Электронная книга - «Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 39, No. 6, June, 1994». Краткое содержание книги:
“You flatter me too much. When I studied near the Dragon Throne, I came to understand only how ignorant I really am.”
“You’ve been to China?”
“I was fortunate enough to be selected to go in preparation for my current occupation.”
“Certainly you will be coming to our wineshop tonight, young master. We will be very honored.”
“If my studies permit, I will be honored to attend.”
With that the ladies left, in a flurry of jiggling flesh and gently spraying water. After I returned to my room I changed into the only tunic and pair of trousers I had that were still clean. How could I not go to the Wineshop of the Diving Crane after such a lovely invitation? Of course I would have gone anyway, with or without an invitation.
As I left the boy snored loudly. My master’s oil lamp sputtered steadily in his room.
Downing thirty cups while a comely young maid plucks on her stringed kayagum and sings songs of lost love that will never be regained is a tradition that goes back to the earliest recorded histories of the Duke of Chou. The great Chinese poet Li Po composed his best verse under such conditions. I must say that inspiration seemed to swarm around me that night, and Inspiration’s name was Yun-hi. She had a face like one of the heavenly consorts who escorted the Gautama Buddha to paradise. Her voice and laughter were like the calls of geese as they fade off into the golden southern skies. She sat so close to me that I could touch her embroidered silk robes, and I was more intoxicated by her presence than by the thirty cups of crystal pure rice wine.
“Your mission must be very important, young master, for an important man like yourself to travel all the way to the humble city of Mokpo.”
“Oh, it is very important. Very important indeed.”
She laid her soft fingers on my arm. “You will be careful, won’t you?”
“Of course. It is nothing after all. Just to stop a few Japanese pirates from raiding coastal villages.”
“I know you can handle it.” She reached out with my chopsticks, plucked another portion of squid tentacle out of the hot red sauce, and popped it into my mouth. “You must be very hungry after so much traveling.”
“You satisfy all my hunger, Yun-hi.”
She pouted. “But my sisters and I, we are all famished. After spending so much time with you in the bathhouse we didn’t have time to eat.”
“Then order fruit and crabmeat for yourself and all your sisters. Nothing is too good for Yun-hi and the ladies of the Wineshop of the Diving Crane.”
She bowed her forehead almost to the floor, and I admired her jet black hair knotted tightly into a jade hairpiece.
Sometime later in the night the travel and the exertion and the rich food must have gotten to me. I felt queasy. As I rose to leave, Yun-hi stayed close to me and at the door presented me with the bill. My mouth fell open.
“This is more expensive than the wineshops of the District of Brightness in Seoul!”
“What do you think we are?” Yun-hi said. “Illiterate barbarians down here? Of course the food and the wine and the company of cultured ladies does not come cheaply.”
“But five hundred won for the food alone?”
“Oh, how you complain! And you, a cultured gentleman from Seoul. Just last week the Prince of Poets, Young Pak, was in here with his entourage. They spent ten times this much and didn’t complain about the price as you do. And they are Cholla men!”
“This Young Pak, is he the son of the governor, the one who has organized a literary society?”
“Yes. That’s the one.”
“Then poetry must be rather profitable.”
“Oh, he has plenty. His father is the governor, after all.”
I paid the bill, leaving me only a few won for the entire trip back to Seoul. While Yun-hi scurried off to fetch my change, I had trouble standing and held onto the wooden entranceway. Something kept telling me there was information here that I needed to sort out. Something that would help my master. I struggled to unfog my brain. Still, I couldn’t figure out what it was, but I resolved to gather as much information as I could; tomorrow I could let my master sort it all out. Yun-hi returned and plopped the few copper coins into my palm.
“This Young Pak, his father said that he had gone off to some sort of retreat.”
“Oh, yes. He’s gone off with his entourage to live at his father’s fine summer home.”
“Where is it?”
“On the Island of the White Crane.”
“Is it far?”
“Oh no. We have thousands of islands just off the coast. I’ve never been there and I’m not sure which one it is, but it’s out there somewhere.” She waved her arm towards the sea.
“Why did these poets, from a retreat, come into Mokpo?”
She giggled. “They are very lively young men, and very bold. They were celebrating something, they said. Some sort of triumph of art over reality.”
“What did they mean by that?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea. But they were very generous.”
I thanked Yun-hi, and she escorted me out the door, smiling and bowing all the way. For these prices she could afford a dazzling display of gratitude upon my leavetaking.
I stumbled into the Inn of the Diving Crane and climbed the stairs to my room. The boy was still snoring but turned over restlessly when I entered. As I undressed and rolled out my sleeping mat, I wondered what would make a group of poets so free with their money, and I wondered why they didn’t do their celebrating in the governor’s mansion.
Certainly the food and the wine were better there. And free. And the ladies were even more cultured than Yun-hi. If not more beautiful.
Something shook me. A blinding glare entered my eyes, and the inside of my skull lit up with fire.
“Arise, young scribe. We have work to do.”
I sat up, rubbing my eyes. My master Inspector Kang and the boy Yong-sok were staring at me.
“Drunk again, eh?”
“Not drunk, master. Just mingling with the natives, gathering information, as per your instructions.”
“And I suppose you found much that will be useful to us.”
I rose slowly from the sleeping mat, feeling little bursts and pops along my rib cage and my stomach.
“Yes. I found out about a poet’s conquest over mundane reality.”
My master burst out laughing. “Well, the sun is up now, good scribe, and we have much work to do and no time for such foolishness.”
“But, sir...”
“I went over the charts again carefully last night, comparing the data Captain Yi gave me on the frequency and placement of his patrols with the time and place of the raids. It is very curious. I don’t see how any pirates could get through his ingenious moving blockades without being spotted. Possibly they have a hiding place within the numerous islands and coves of the seas of Southern Cholla Province. I’ve charted out some areas for search that might prove useful.”
I rolled up my sleeping mat, put on my trousers and tunic, and knotted my hair atop my head.
“If you will allow me, sir. The poet I was referring to is not just any poet. He is the Young Pak, son of the provincial governor.”
Inspector Kang grew quiet and looked at me.
“He and his entourage, their so-called literary society, were in the Inn of the Diving Crane a few nights ago. Celebrating. And spending their money quite freely, according to a young lady of my acquaintance.”
“One of the wineshop girls?”
“Yes. Her name is Yun-hi, and she is very...”
“Go on with your story, scribe.”
“There’s not much more, sir. They seemed to have plenty of money and were quite bold. They were celebrating something they called ‘the conquest of art over reality.’ ”
“What did they mean by that?”