by Qiu Xiaolong
Perhaps intrigued with their Zen-spirited talk, Nameless remained standing by the table, nodding respectfully like a private-room waiter in attendance, instead of immediately excusing himself.
‘Our temple is known for its vegetarian meals,’ he went on with another broad grin, ‘much better known than the exotic dishes at Xuanji’s wild parties.’
It was an unexpected comment from the young monk, who might have heard Xuanji’s name mentioned earlier in the talk between Han Shan and Judge Dee. But why was he bringing it up?
While Han Shan might have told the judge what he knew about her life as a poetess, a young monk in the temple not too far from the nunnery could have known more about the case, particularly about the trial under the local mayor.
‘You know what, Nameless, Han Shan and I were talking about poetry, but also about things happening here. And about Xuanji’s murder case, too. She’s an excellent poetess. Both Han Shan and I have read her poems. Her murder trial was so sensational that we cannot help feeling curious about it. You must have heard or seen a thing or two about it.’
‘Oh, it’s such a spectacular trial. I was lucky enough to be in the audience that succeeded in squeezing into the courtroom that morning.’
‘You’re lucky, indeed,’ Judge Dee said, pulling out a chair for him. ‘Sit at the table and tell us about it.’
Judge Dee had a feeling that, sitting across the table, Han Shan began to suspect the real motive of the judge’s visit to the temple, but the poet monk was a wise man, simply nodding in encouragement, picking a slice of the vegetarian rice paddy eel, and sipping at his tea, without saying anything.
So Nameless seated himself at the table, poured out a cup of tea for himself, and launched into a vivid account of the trial with great gusto.
‘That morning, when Xuanji was brought into the courtroom from prison, pale and disheveled and barefoot in black iron chains, what a shock it was to all of us at the courtroom! Not at all the beauty we had imagined.’
‘What did she say to the mayor?’
‘Instead of pleading guilty, she kept on saying that she did not know anything.’
‘Did you know anything about the murder case before the trial, Nameless?’
‘No, not really, except that the body of her maid Ning was discovered in the nunnery backyard on the third day of the month. According to Xuanji’s statement, the day before, Ning had mentioned to her about going back home for a day or two, so Xuanji did not suspect anything about Ning’s absence when she came back from shopping that afternoon. Being all alone in the nunnery, she started drinking by herself, tossing down one cup after another until she fell straight into a drunken stupor.
‘Thereupon Mayor Pei summoned two witnesses who had been to the parties at the nunnery. They both testified that she’s no alcoholic, hardly touching a drop at the parties. Still, she kept saying she was dead drunk that afternoon, unaware of anything that was happening around her at the time.’
‘Was there any other evidence found in the nunnery or in the backyard?’
‘That I don’t know, Your Honor, but in accordance with a coroner’s report, Ning was brutally beaten, kicked, and whipped until she breathed her last. The broken whip was also buried with her, I’ve heard.
‘Anyway, Xuanji’s statement about her ignorance did not add up. With all the evidence pointing to her, Mayor Pei had no choice but to interrogate her further in the courtroom, you know, with a brutal bludgeon beating.’
‘A bludgeon beating of Xuanji in public!’ Han Shan commented for the first time.
‘Oh, what a scene in public! She’s known as such a great beauty. And an arrogant one, too. In the past, ordinary people like us could not even have dreamed of taking a close look at her. So we would not have missed it for the world. Now she was pinned down on the ground, with her pants pulled down to the ankles, and her bare buttocks glistening white like two half-moons, and part of her blouse pulled up, too—’
‘Such a humiliation for a well-known poetess like Xuanji!’ Han Shan cut in hastily.
‘Things like that happen in the courtroom,’ Judge Dee said, stroking his white-streaked beard. ‘The moment a suspect – particularly a female one – is pinned down to the ground, with the constables raising the bludgeons high, and pulling down her pants, she may more likely than not start spilling out secrets, being too crushed even at the thought of the cruel humiliation.’
‘You can say that again, Your Honor. How could she have ever held her head high again? There would be no way for her to live down the shame. Never. Do you think a man would touch her with the memories of her naked butt like a cracked watermelon, broken under the gaze of all the men standing around, watching like hungry wolves? She’s definitely bewitched out of her mind, as people may tell you,’ Nameless said enthusiastically, carried way with the vivid details of the courtroom scene, his cheeks flushed and his voice hoarse. ‘Under the bludgeons, she writhed and screamed like a dying fox. After less than ten blows, her bare thighs and buttocks were already a bloody mess.
‘Then they had to turn her over, spread-eagled on her back, her groin hairy, luxuriant like a black fox, and her bare thighs scarlet like jinhua hams—’
‘So you were there, watching, all the time?’ Judge Dee cut in before Nameless could have moved further.
‘Yes, I was there, watching from the very beginning. Unfortunately, she passed out after fifteen blows or so and the constables had to stop.’
‘She did not spill even under the blows?’
‘No. No one could tell why, but she’s finished, no question about it.’ Nameless paused to chopstick up a plump and shiny red date fruit from a cold dish. ‘Oh, it’s our chef’s special today, called the soft heart. With the kernel removed, the fruit is filled with sticky white rice and steamed in a bamboo steamer. Sweet, soft, and date-flavored.’
‘Another interesting name,’ Han Shan commented reflectively. ‘The appearance of things in this world – you call it soft or hard.’
‘Alas, I don’t think our mayor has such a soft heart for a beauty like Xuanji. People do not believe he will ever let her off the hook so easily.’
‘Why?’
‘The mayor had invited her to a party at his residence, but she said no,’ Nameless said, shaking his head again. ‘At least, that’s the story several people have told me. What a huge loss of face for the mayor! And what an opportunity for him to retaliate in the courtroom!’
‘Come on. Declining a party invitation is not a big deal. How could the mayor have stooped to such a low level? It would not have helped his official reputation at all.’ Judge Dee added after a pause, ‘His name is Pei?’
‘Yes, his name is Pei Changhong. And people are also speculating about the real reason behind it.’
‘The real reason?’
‘The mayor is also a man – a man rejected by a woman.’
‘Rejected – you mean he fell for her?’
‘He wanted her to come to the party not just as his guest, but as his woman. Everyone knows about it. Whether as his woman or his guest, however, it’s very uncommon for a mayor to invite a courtesan home. And it appeared to be an extraordinary favor he was trying to do for her. But far from appreciating it, she gave a flat no to the invitation without any pretext. A loud slap on the face for him.’
‘You’re certainly very well informed, Nameless.’
‘Our temple is frequented by celebrities, Your Honor, and they tell us things like that. Anyway, guess what happened then? Just a couple of days after the trial, she abruptly pleaded guilty in prison, coming up with an equally preposterous statement, which no one would buy. She insisted that she had been drunk that day, but not in a totally unconscious stupor as she had described in the courtroom. In the new version, later that afternoon, when her maid Ning talked back to her for something she could no longer remember, she flew into an uncontrollable rage. She beat Ning up with all her strength – without really knowing what she was doing – until to her horror, the
maidservant suddenly dropped dead to the floor. Panic-stricken, Xuanji managed to dig a large hole in the backyard and buried Ning there in a hurry under the cover of night.’
‘That’s strange,’ Judge Dee said reflectively. ‘Such a statement still spells the death sentence for her. Manslaughter. In other words, she suffered the brutal bludgeon beatings at the courtroom for nothing?’
‘Well, imagine what could have happened to her then – a young, attractive woman alone in a dark, isolated prison cell, where horrible things have happened time and again – abusing, torturing, raping, and what not. Have you heard of those gruesome tortures, such as the wooden horse for a woman to ride bare-assed, riding non-stop with a hardwood wand bobbing up and down in her holes—’
‘Stop there!’ Han Shan cut in with an agitated voice. ‘But how could she have possibly killed the maid without knowing anything about it?’
‘It’s all because of the black fox spirit,’ Nameless said with a wry smile. ‘She’s fucked out of her brains!’
‘For the majority of the local folk, they could not help attributing the murder case to the curse of the black fox spirit, as if that alone could have explained all the inexplicable facts in the mystery,’ Judge Dee said, putting a steamed red date fruit of ‘soft heart’ into his mouth. The sticky rice tasted surprisingly sweet and delicious. ‘Well, tell us something more about the legend of the black fox spirit, Nameless.’
‘I’m a Buddhist monk, not a Daoist monk, Your Honor.’
‘Humor us, please.’ Judge Dee poured more water into the monk’s cup in a gesture of appreciation.
Those fox spirit stories could have had their roots in Daoism, but Judge Dee wondered at the possible existence of a clear-cut dividing line between Buddhism and Daoism in the Tang Empire, especially among those village folks.
So the Buddhist monk began to recapture a popular folk belief about the fox spirit. According to it, an extremely lucky fox, perhaps one out of ten thousand, could have managed through supernatural cultivation or meditation to assume a human appearance, usually as a bewitching girl, for whom a young man would fall headlong like a moth into the fire, have his male essence sucked up in insatiable sex with her, and meet a tragic end before his time. Naturally, there are variations of the popular folk belief. A fox spirit could also take up the shape of a handsome young man and fuck a young woman out of her mind, out of shape – finally to a disastrous end.
‘Nevertheless,’ Nameless concluded, ‘I have never heard of any tale about the fox spirit turning a pretty woman into a cold-blooded murderer.’
‘Nor have I,’ Han Shan said, echoing.
‘Well, that’s enough of the black or white fox spirits for one vegetarian meal, I think. You have told us a lot, Nameless, and I really appreciate it, but I have to discuss something with you, Han Shan,’ Judge Dee said in a suddenly serious voice, tracing his finger on the table as if in an effort to write a character understandable to Han Shan alone. ‘The murder case is so complicated because of possible involvement and pressure from above. What I’m going to tell you is supposed to be highly confidential, but I need the help of your profound wisdom, Han Shan.’
Judge Dee paused, eying Nameless without saying another word, picking up another sticky-rice-filled red date.
‘It’s indeed a fabulous meal from the temple kitchen.’
The young monk got the hint, rose with a bow, and withdrew respectfully from the room.
Tucking the silk scroll of Xuanji’s calligraphy under his arm, Yang walked out of the curiosity store near the center of the town.
The village called Jiangling was in walking distance, also close to the Xianyi Nunnery. He decided to further his inquiries with Xuanji’s neighbors first.
To his pleasant surprise, he found the scroll of her calligraphy provided him a ready pretext, and convincing evidence, as an antique dealer’s servant inquiring for more business opportunities in the field.
As it turned out, however, the village people invariably avoided talking about Xuanji like the plague. With or without the pretext, mentioning her name seemed to be capable of bringing them bad luck because of the black fox spirit.
‘Don’t ever bring up her name to me. What an evil, shameless bitch! She ruins herself, the men around her, and the nunnery, too. An ominous black fox spirit indeed!’
‘But have you ever seen a black fox spirit skulking around in the neighborhood?’ Yang asked.
‘A number of people have seen the damned black fox spirit in the neighborhood. Don’t ask me any more questions about the evil bitch from hell.’
Another villager turned out to be even more dramatic in response.
‘I have to spit three times on the ground for talking to you about the damned slut,’ she said, spitting spitefully far more than three times and stamping her foot forcefully, too.
Spitting three times was a superstitious practice, Yang knew, for people to try to ward off evil spirits possibly lurking around them.
‘A different question, then,’ Yang said, changing his approach. ‘Can you tell me something – if not about her – about the visitors to the nunnery?’
‘She’s simply evil incarnate, drawing those men to their dire ends. Some of them are rich and successful – you could tell by the number of servants following obsequiously behind them. Some were mysterious and well guarded. When they were with her, the village folk could hardly come close to the nunnery. Quite a few times, black-attired guards were seen patrolling around the front and the back doors of the nunnery.’
‘Seriously! But can you tell me why?’
‘She’s such a notorious woman. For a visitor with high social status, it would not have done him any good if others bumped into the sight of the lascivious, notorious fox spirit moaning and groaning in his arms.’
‘But how can those tall tales about the black fox spirit be so credible?’
‘Of course they are real. I saw one with my own eyes.’
‘When and where?’
‘Near the backyard of the nunnery. Not long before the murder of that poor maid, I think. A black fox scurried over toward me in the dark night – near that particular corner of the nunnery backyard. No wonder the maid’s body came to be buried there shortly afterward.’
‘Interesting,’ Yang said, thinking that it did not add up. How could the black fox have chosen to show others where the body was buried? If Xuanji really was the fox spirit incarnate, it was nothing short of suicidal.
According to some villagers, the movement of the fox spirit seemed to have intensified of late. Another mysterious catastrophic omen. Several neighbors swore that for the last one or two months, they saw the promiscuous animal skulking around the neighborhood numerous times.’
‘What did they do about the black fox running amok all of a sudden?’ Yang approached a bald, round-faced villager in threadbare clothes, who looked like a monk he had seen in the temple.
‘What could they possibly do? They ran away helter-skelter at the sight of it. One of them swore on his mother’s grave that it was a tall, monstrous, hairy black fox spirit walking straight toward him, baring its teeth.’
‘Hold on. It was walking like a human being?’
‘Yes, walking just like you and me. So people were really scared out of their wits. The abbess chose to leave the nunnery, I’ve heard, because of it.’
‘Do you know where I can find the abbess?’ Yang asked. ‘Xuanji may have given something to the abbess when she moved in, I would say.’
‘How can I possibly know the whereabouts of the frightened abbess? You’re asking questions just like a neighborhood coordinator. If you’re truly interested in cheap yet good antiques, you may well step in and take a good look at the bronze urn in my pigsty. Some people say it’s handed down from the ancient Zhou Dynasty.’
Yang thanked him without going into the pigsty for a look at the bronze urn, and moved to another villager, and then to still another.
However, they hardly offered anything new
or useful for the investigation, except for some more intriguing details about the omnipresent black fox spirit, as if by way of explanation of the inexplicable mystery surrounding the murder case.
Could that be useful to Judge Dee? Yang started wondering about the possibility of Judge Dee’s representing a black fox spirit scenario to Minister Wu, claiming that it was a generally accepted scenario in the neighborhood of the nunnery. Whatever political factors might have been involved, that would probably prove to be an apolitical one.
After Nameless left the temple room, Han Shan raised the teacup to Judge Dee with a smile. ‘Now we are alone, you may discuss all the confidential details of the case with me, my celebrated Judge Dee. I’m no judge, but the murder case has become such a hot topic. Almost all the people I have met here over the last several days could not stop talking about Xuanji and the black fox spirit.’
‘The case is very complicated, but I’m not serving as a judge here. I’m leaving for my new post, as you know. Last night, however, I received a request from Minister Wu to take a quick look into it. So I cannot help being curious about the case, which may also have a bearing on the collection of Xuanji’s poems.’
‘Don’t worry about it, Judge Dee. Whatever we’re discussing in the temple – about the poetry collection or the murder case – stays in the temple. Just between you and me.’
‘Thank you, Han Shan. Now, to begin with, it’s an open question as to whether Xuanji is a murderer or a victim in a devilish trap, as suggested in her original statement.’
‘So you mean the body of the maid Ning was planted in the nunnery backyard by somebody else – with Xuanji being completely unconscious in a drunken stupor. But who could have planted the body and why, Judge Dee?’
‘Xuanji’s a much-sought-after celebrity courtesan, yet also arrogant in her way, as Nameless has just said. It’s not unimaginable that she had made things unpleasant for some people – like her refusal to come to Mayor Pei’s party.’
‘It’s possible,’ Han Shan said, a finger massaging at his temple, ‘but could that have been enough for such a murderous plot?’
