Judge Dee at Work

Wang paused. He bit his lips and swallowed. 'I knew then what an utter fool I had been. Shen had not dropped the hand­kerchief there; it was one he had ordered from her, and on which she was still working. ... I went out to look for my wife. I went to her sister's home, but nobody was there. Then I walked to Shen's shop; I wanted to pawn my jacket and buy something nice for my wife. But Shen said he owed me a string of coppers for a set of twenty handkerchiefs he had ordered from her. The last one had not been quite finished when he had looked in at our house in the afternoon, but his concubine had been very pleased with the ones he had given her. And since it was New Year's eve, he said, he would pay me anyway. I bought a package of noodles, and a paper flower for my wife, and came here.' Gazing at the judge, he burst out: 'Tell me, what has happened to her? Where is she?'

The headman guffawed. He shouted: 'What a string of stupid lies the dog is telling! The bastard hopes to gain time!' Lifting the handle of his whip, he asked the judge: 'Shall I knock his teeth in, Your Honour, to make the truth come out a bit easier?'

Judge Dee shook his head. Slowly stroking his long sidewhiskers, he looked fixedly at the drawn face of the pedlar kneeling before him. Then he ordered the headman: 'See whether he has a paper flower on him!'

The headman put his hand in the pedlar's bosom, and brought out a red paper flower. He held it up for the judge to see, then threw it disdainfully on the floor and put his foot on it.

Judge Dee rose. He walked over to the bedstead, picked up the handkerchief and looked it over carefully. Then he went to the table and stood there for a while, staring down at the dirty noodles on the piece of oil paper. The only sound heard was the heavy breathing of the kneeling man.

Suddenly the uproar of voices on the floor above burst out again. Judge Dee looked up at the ceiling. Then he turned to the headman and ordered: 'Bring those two down here!’

As soon as the pedlar saw his wife and his son, his mouth opened in astonished delight. He cried out: 'Heaven be praised, you are safe!' He would have jumped up, but the constables roughly pressed him down again.

His wife threw herself down on the floor in front of the kneel­ing man. She moaned, 'Forgive me, forgive me! I was such a fool, I only wanted to tease you! What have I done, what have I done! Now you have ... They will take you away and ...'

'Rise, you two!' the stern voice of the judge interrupted her. At his peremptory gesture the two constables let go of Wang's shoulders.

Take the chains off him!’ Judge Dee ordered. As the dumb-founded headman carried out this order, the judge continued to Wang, 'Tonight your foolish jealousy nearly made you lose your wife. It is your son who averted a terrible tragedy, he came to warn me just in time. Let tonight be a lesson to you — to both of you, man and wife. New Year's eve is a time to remember. To remember the blessings Heaven has bestowed on you, the gifts we are wont to take too much for granted and forget too soon. You love each other, you are in good health, and you have a fine son. That is more than many can say! Make the resolution that henceforward you shall try to prove yourselves worthy of those blessings!' Turning to the small boy, he patted him on his head and added: 'Lest you forget, I order you to change this boy's name into Ta-pao. That means "Big Treasure"!'