The Lacquer Screen

Chiao Tai cursed violently. He said sourly:

'I do hope you have a good reason for all this, Magistrate ! For let me warn you that, in spite of its poetical name, that inn over there must be the headquarters of the boss of the underworld here!'

'I am certain it is just that,' Judge Dee said calmly. 'If we find that the Corporal is involved in some dirty scheme together with our one-eyed friend, we'll at least discover what is behind their interest in us, and if necessary fight our way out. If not, then the Corporal and his crowd are exactly the people I need for solving a queer problem that is rather worrying me. In any case we'll begin by acting the part Mr Kun-shan so kindly assigned to us, namely that of highway robbers. Come on!'

Chiao Tai grinned. Tightening his belt he said:

'Maybe we'll have a good fight there!'

They walked on to the house, a ramshackle two-storeyed building of wooden boards. Through the lighted window came the sound of rough voices. When Chiao Tai knocked on the door, the murmur within suddenly ceased. The grated peephole opened and a gruff voice asked:

'Who is it?'

'Two men coming for the Corporal!' Chiao Tai growled.

There was the sound of a crossbar being removed. A slovenly clad man let them inside a large, low-ceilinged room that smelled of stale sweat and cheap liquor. It was dimly lit by one smoking oil-lamp. The fellow was apparently the waiter, for he went straight to the high counter in the rear. Ensconced behind it he moodily looked the two men over, then muttered:

'The boss hasn't come yet.'

'We'll wait!' the judge said and walked over to a small table by the window. He sat down heavily on the chair facing the room. Chiao Tai seated himself opposite, scowled over his shoulder at the waiter and shouted:

'Two wine here. Of the best!'

Four men who had been gambling at the larger table in the far corner near the counter eyed them suspiciously for a while, then resumed their game. A slatternly young woman who stood at the counter looked them up and down with an insolent stare. She wore a long black skirt and a red sash round her waist, and on top a loose dark-green jacket that left her shapely bosom bare. A wilted red rose was stuck in her hair. Her scrutiny completed, she began to whisper to the youngster next to her. He had a rather handsome but dis­solute face. The young man shrugged, pushed the girl roughly away, and turned round to watch the gambling, leaning his back against the counter.

One of the gamblers, a thin man with a ragged moustache, let the dice rattle in the coconut shell, then threw. He announced in a sing-song voice:

'A pair of fours, four cross-eyed whores!'

The next, a broad-shouldered, completely bald man scooped up the dice. After he had thrown them he shouted with a curse:

'A three and a six! The damned luck I am having to­night!'

'You must try to play the game more often!' the young­ster at the counter sneered.

'Shut up, Student!' the bald man growled. The fourth player threw the dice. Slamming his hand on the table he called out:

'A pair of eights, two leaking crates, they walked the street, and still found mates! The pool is for me!'

The waiter placed two wine-cups on Judge Dee's table. 'That'll be six coppers!' he said in a surly voice.

The judge laboriously counted out four coppers on the table. 'I never pay more than two apiece,' he announced.

'Halve the difference or clear out!' the waiter said.

Judge Dee gave him an additional copper. As the man went, the judge said loudly to Chiao Tai: 'The dirty crook!'

The waiter turned round angrily.

'Want to make something of that, bastard? ' Chiao Tai asked invitingly. The waiter decided not to take up the chal­lenge.

Loud curses came from the other end of the room. The bald man shouted at the youngster:

'Keep out of our game, I tell you! You're too green even to steal from a monk's almsbowl, you don't even have a few coppers to gamble with. Keep your trap shut, Mister Student!'