by Ian Morson
Cautiously optimistic now, Li waved his chopsticks, and wiped his sticky mouth with a napkin.
‘I exercised all diligence to come to the right conclusion.’
‘Ah yes. I am sure Taitemir was pleased with the outcome.’
At first he wasn’t sure how to take my comment. Was I suggesting that he had condemned Jianxu because that was what his overlord wanted? And was I thereby criticizing him, or praising him? I let him hang for a while, before smiling broadly.
‘It was just what I would have done.’
Li relaxed, and scooped up some more fish from his bowl, stuffing it in his mouth and chewing noisily. I paused before continuing.
‘But tell me, was Old Geng making himself a nuisance with Taitemir? Is that it? I understand he supplied goods to the household, and was always badgering them for money.’
Li laughed throatily, spitting out the remains of his food as he did so. Lin would not have liked such uncouth behaviour.
‘The fool believed he should be paid rather than think it a privilege that he supplied items to Taitemir. He was a miser, who was always complaining about having no money. Yet people would go to his house to borrow money, I am told. Though I must say there was a contrary rumour that had it that, ultimately, he was borrowing money himself. He probably put it around he had nothing as a rumour so that robbers wouldn’t come and steal from him.’
I joined in his laughter, while at the same time avoiding the spray of half-eaten food coming from his full, red lips.
‘Tell me, do you see many thieves in your court?’
‘Often. And I get many complaints from people claiming their neighbour has stolen this or that. I tell them to go away and sort it out for themselves, or to leave some funds at my disposal to ensure my investigations conclude satisfactorily.’ He winked at me knowingly. ‘I cannot clog the court up with neighbourly disputes, after all.’
‘Quite right too. Summary justice is the best form of justice. Next to that sort of justice whose progress is oiled with money.’ I let the comment hang in the air for a moment, then went on. ‘And the thieves you do see, do they come back regularly?’
Li shook his head regretfully.
‘I am afraid there are some who do not respond to a flogging, but come back in front of me time and again. Every time they repent, and claim to have seen the error of their ways as the law demands they do. Confession is an obligatory step in the moral purpose of the courts of law. But I still see some faces too often. Like Ho Shu-heng, for example. He is a thorn in my side – a small-time thief but a thief nevertheless.’
I marvelled at Li’s duplicity, casting scorn on the morals of others, when, by his own admission, he had his own snout in the trough taking bribes. I had been sure that was the case, and was about to test it now. I eased the satchel strap off my shoulder and let the flap fall open. Li’s eyes opened wide when he spotted the dark sheets of paper money stuffed inside. I feigned not to notice, but continued the conversation.
‘I should like to see this Ho person when next he appears in front of you. And how you deal with him. It will all contribute to our report on the way Jianxu’s case was handled when we report to the Great Khan. You will be rewarded for your cooperation, of course.’
Li lifted a hand of dismissal in the air, waving away my suggestion of payment.
‘My reward will be to have been of service to the Great Khan.’
However, I noticed that his eyes were still on the contents of my satchel. I nodded solemnly, and yet my hand still patted the bulging bag.
‘I understand perfectly, Master Li. Now I will take my leave, but I am sure we will speak again very soon.’
I had baited the hook, but wasn’t going to act too hastily. I wanted to let Li get his juices flowing and his eagerness to please me to a high pitch. I rose and left the prefect licking his lips. I don’t think it was the food this time that had him salivating, though.
When I got back to our temporary quarters, I saw Po Ku, Lin’s servant, hurrying towards me. He indicated that his master wanted to see me immediately, and led me to him. Lin was with another tall, handsome man, whom I immediately recognized. It was the writer of plays, Guan Han-Ching, whom we had last seen in T’ai-Yuan-Fu. Both men had serious looks on their faces. On seeing me, Lin came over with uncharacteristic speed. He was not one for hurried actions or thinking, but something perturbed him.
‘Nick. Good, you are here. Guan has been telling me about his new play.’
‘Oh?’
For the life of me, I couldn’t imagine why that would have worried Lin so much. Why would the trifle of a bit of play-acting be a problem? On the other hand, I was glad to see Guan, because it meant the acting troupe was in town also. I wanted to speak to Tien-jan Hsiu, the actress who had played the part of Empress Tu upon my arrival in T’ai-Yuan-Fu, about a matter related to the prefect, and something I could not speak to Lin about. I smiled at Guan, and went to shake his hand. He took my hand briefly in the Chinee way, but did not smile. Lin came up beside me.
‘Tell Master Zuliani what you have just told me, Guan.’
Guan nodded, and cleared his throat.
‘I was telling Master Lin that I want to write about Jianxu. You know I was personally involved in the petition that brought you here. Well, I want to see justice done, as I told you when we met last time.’
‘Yes and that is why weare here.’
Guan did not like my interjection, with its pointed reference to the fact that justice would be best served by Lin and me alone. He shook his head.
‘You will have to excuse me, but wethink differently.’
It was his turn to emphasize that little word, and claim the high ground. Not for the first time I wondered why educated men should think themselves so much better than any others at knowing the truth. In my experience truth was something even the lowest had intimate knowledge of. It’s just that they didn’t have the power to express it. Guan, however, was ploughing on.
‘The downtrodden in China think that Mongol justice is no justice whatsoever. And Jianxu’s predicament is a shining example of that. I know everything about the case because I spoke to her at length while preparing the petition.’
At last it fitted together. The reason why Jianxu’s story had come out so pat when Gurbesu questioned her was now apparent. She had been tutored, even though inadvertently, by this writer of plays. Every word she spoke was akin to a line in a kung-ancrime play.
‘And you will write of her innocence?’
Guan nodded vigorously.
‘Naturally. I will present the case next week in the form of a play. I have nearly finished writing it. It only remains to work out an ending.’ He looked a little wistful. ‘I had expected for the petition to fail and the execution to have taken place already.’
I could see what he was hinting at, and it reached to the true heart of the man. He was not concerned for Jianxu as a person, but as a symbol of injustice as he – a young, and hot-headed youth – saw it. It would have made a more powerful play, and a better ending, if Jianxu had been beheaded. Then the wrong would have been all the greater and her ghost could have called for justice. I smiled coldly.
‘What a shame for you that we were despatched to investigate and she was spared.’
Guan did at least have enough shame to blush and look away from my glare. For once, the playwright was lost for words. All he could manage in the end was a defiant stare, and then he turned to leave.
After he had gone, Lin gave me a worried look.
‘If we do not sort this matter out before he finishes that play, it will make it almost impossible to be seen to come to an impartial conclusion. If we find Jianxu innocent, Ko will say the play has affected our decision. If we find her guilty, Ko will spread the rumour that we came to that conclusion for political reasons. We can’t win.’
‘Then we will just have to solve the case within the week.’
I tried to sound confident, but I wasn’t. Guan had just made our
work that much more difficult. So I told Lin what the prefect had told me. Not about thieves, for that was something I was going to keep from him, but about Geng’s apparent lack of money.
‘Li told me that Geng claimed to be nearly broke because Taitemir’s household had not paid him for goods supplied. Now, I don’t think that was the reason he was killed, but it is interesting that Li also told me he was borrowing money from someone.’
‘Not lending it? I was told he was a moneylender.’
‘Not according to Li, though the prefect passed it off as a tall tale Geng let out to protect him from robbers, who might otherwise think he was rich pickings. But if he was borrowing money, who was it from? And did that have anything to do with his murder?’
Lin began to make notes in that elegant Chinee script of his. I waited patiently, knowing he was not to be hurried. Finally he laid his writing implement down.
‘We must dig deeper. This case does not begin and end with Jianxu and Old Geng. We have much to learn from the other members of both families. Tomorrow we will go together and talk to Madam Gao, and the boy, Geng Wenbo. I think we have to go further back into the past.’
‘I agree. Oh, by the way, does the presence of Guan mean the travelling players are here also? I should like to see another play, especially if Tien-jan Hsiu is in it. Will you be seeing the boy?’
Lin blushed a little, but retained his composure.
‘I am not sure if he wants to see me. But, yes, you are correct. The players are here, and I believe they will be presenting a play in the town square tonight. Shall we go?’
Of course I agreed to go. I was getting a taste for these entertainments, and as so much of it was pantomime and acrobatics, it was easy to follow. Which is why Lin and I, accompanied by Pyka and Gurbesu, found ourselves walking amongst the throng of people making their way to the central square of the town. Banners were draped across buildings along the way, and Lin translated one of them for us.
‘On the stage tonight at the Pianfu Theatre, the great actor Yi-shih Hsiu is now performing.’
‘Hsiu? Is he related to Natural Elegance?’
Lin smiled at my question.
‘Not that you would know from his name, which simply means Fashionable Elegance. But they could be related – most of these travelling troupes are.’
We emerged into a large square, which had a permanent stage set at one end next to a building I knew from its shape to be a temple. I checked that out with Lin, though.
‘Is that the Temple of the Earth-Goddess?’
‘Yes. And it houses temples and shrines to other gods too.’
‘Including the god of lost items?’
Lin looked puzzled at my enquiry, but nodded.
‘Yes, that too. You will see opposite the entrance two small statues of young children. That is the form of the god you refer to. There will no doubt be an old priest or priestess who acts as its intermediary. Now, can we get to our seats?’
I raised my hands in submission, but still had time as we passed to cast a quick look into the temple. I could just make out the statues Lin had described, but there was no priest. We made our way to an elevated platform facing the stage, which was obviously intended for important officials such as ourselves. As we ascended the stairs I saw Li Wen-Tao amongst the blue-robed old men already there. We nodded at each other, as Lin explained.
‘This is the shen-lou. It means god’s tower, and I suppose is entirely appropriate seeing those who are seated in it.’
He gave a little grin and we sat down too. The play soon began and developed into what Lin had described as a ‘strip-and-fight thriller’. It was an old tale called ‘The Three Princes at Tiger Palace’, and involved lots of acrobatics from young men who were stripped to the waist. I could see out the corner of my eye that Gurbesu was on the edge of her seat. And I envied the youths their physiques – wine-drinking was not good for my waistline.
As the story progressed I saw that Lin was getting more and more agitated. Eventually, I leaned across and whispered in his ear.
‘What’s going on, Chu-Tsai?’
He turned his head slightly without taking his eyes off the stage.
‘Some of the lines – I have not heard them before in this play. Just now one of the princes said, “When frost fell, men knew how a virtuous woman suffered,” and earlier, the same prince said, “The greater the position, the shorter the memory.” Often lines are changed in these plays. The words of plays are not set in stone. But . . .’
‘It sounds like the lines are meant for us to hear, you think?’
He nodded.
‘Let us wait until the end and we will see.’
When the play had finished, we all went backstage to congratulate the troupe. Natural Elegance saw Lin and quickly slipped through the crowd of well-wishers to speak to him. He still had his female make-up on, but close up you could not mistake him for a woman. I wondered how I had been deceived before. Words tumbled out of his mouth as he sought Lin’s approval.
‘Did you see the technique of my empty exit?’
I looked at Lin questioningly. He explained what the boy meant.
‘An empty exit – hsu-hsia– is when the actor turns upstage to be out of the action, even though he is still visible to the audience.’
I nodded in understanding, though all this pretence was beyond me.
‘Tell him I liked the use of the offstage voices when the princes were fighting. Even if I didn’t quite understand what they were saying.’
The boy laughed, clearly understanding my Mongol.
‘There was no one offstage. I can throw my voice.’
I was glad of his confirmation. It was exactly as I had hoped. My plans were beginning to fall into place.
ELEVEN
To understand your parents’ love you must raise children yourself.
Lying beside the warm body of Gurbesu that night, I found I could not sleep. It looked as though, with Guan’s play due to be performed soon, we needed to dig out the truth of Old Geng’s murder more quickly than I had anticipated. Some of the lines from the play that evening were still rattling around in my head. One of them – ‘a pinch of arsenic, or an inch of steel’ – whispered in my ear by Lin, had particularly struck home. Not that it necessarily had anything to do with Jianxu’s case, though it may well have done. No, it reminded me once again of my parents.
I was nine at the time, and the ongoing war between my mother and father was coming to a head. Being the selfish little brat I was then, I assumed it was all about me. Rosamund, my mother, was English and the daughter of a knight who had sojourned in Venice on his way to Outremer. He had stayed overlong because his wife had contracted a fever. It was unusual for a crusader to be travelling with his wife and child, but they had come nevertheless. Now my grandmother was paying the price of her obstinate insistence on travelling. She was bedridden and delirious. In the end, the crusader knight had to depart on one of the ships taking men-at-arms to Cyprus, the launching-off point for Outremer. Two days later, his wife died. He never got to know about it because he was drowned in the Nile when the ship he was on got sunk in a minor skirmish. His chain mail dragged him to the bottom of the river. The dark-haired girl Rosamund – my mother – was only fourteen and suddenly an orphan. But there were already the signs of the startling beauty she was to become, and Agostino Zuliani took her in. He was twenty years her senior, but it didn’t stop him marrying her when she was sixteen. I was the first child to survive any length of time, and by the time I was nine, I was aware of the feuding between my parents. Agostino had other children by his first marriage, but for my mother I was an only child, and therefore precious. Father accused her of making me soft through not exposing me to the harsh realities of the world. They were both hot-tempered, but father was a strong and cruel man, who used his strength to bully his way to dominance in the marriage. My mother got her revenge in secretive ways, sometimes spreading rumours about her husband’s impotence – which was not
true – and sometimes lacing his food with mild emetics. I knew this because she delighted in telling me. It was a secret we shared that united us against the tyrant who was my father.
At my side, Gurbesu stirred, and gazed sleepily up at me. I could feel the heat of her body, but I was not excited. The past bore down on me too heavily. She muttered a query.
‘What’s the matter, Nick?’
I stroked her thigh.
‘Nothing, my sweet. I am just thinking about tomorrow.’
‘Do you need some somnifera? I can make it up?’
I knew somnifera, her mixture of opium, hemlock and mandragora soaked into a sponge. It rendered you happily unconscious, but left you with a heavy head the following day. I couldn’t afford that, as I needed my mind to be clear.
‘No. You go back to sleep. I will be fine.’
She rolled over, pressing her buttocks against my thigh, and was soon snoring gently. The line from the play came back to me – ‘a pinch of arsenic, or an inch of steel.’ You see, I could not rid my mind of the persistent thought that my mother had gone one step further than emetics, and actually poisoned my father. Soon after a particularly bad row concerning how, in Agostino’s eyes, Rosamund molly-coddled me, I had told her that I would willingly stick a dagger into my father. An inch of steel, you see. She was shocked by my vehemence, but convinced me it would not be necessary. I still recall her words to me on that night. She said that evil acts always result in evil ends. The next day Agostino Zuliani fell sick. Being poisoned by arsenic resulted in a painful and slow death. I still believe she killed him first so that I didn’t do it.
The following morning, Lin and I went in search of Madam Gao and Geng Wenbo. Tadeusz’s job was to find out what he could about the source of the poison – a subject that had not been pursued yet, if we were to believe the documents related to the case. It had been surprising that amidst all the piles of paperwork there had not been one line explaining where the poison had come from, even though the detailed examination of the body had been exemplary.
