that had been in another town. No one here could have known of that, except for other actors, and someone in our little group. Who on earth could have spread such a rumour? And why? It sounded like something Ko Su-Tsung would do, but he was hundreds of miles away in Khan-balik. But then maybe he wasn’t. He had been likened to a spider in the centre of a web. Did he have an agent here? I would have to speak to Lin, but in the meantime I tried to play down the idea.
‘It is impossible that such a thing could have happened. I know Lin Chu-Tsai well, and he is of an unstained character.’
Li grunted, suggesting he was unconvinced. I diverted his thinking by asking about our scam.
‘Now, how much have you for me in your purse. You have just been to the temple, have you not?’
Li puffed out his fat cheeks.
‘That is the main reason I wanted to talk to you alone. I want to renegotiate our arrangement. It seems to me I do all the work, and you take all the money.’
I smiled coldly.
‘Only my fair share. You are paying in instalments for my original idea. However, I am prepared to negotiate. You will find me a generous and accommodating man. Look, meet me in the theatre shortly after dusk tonight. It is empty then, and no one will disturb us.’
Li licked his lips, obviously wondering if he could trust me. But then we were both involved in something illegal, so what could I do that would endanger him? He agreed, and hurried away across the square. I returned to the house, unsure if I would tell Lin about the rumours or not.
As it turned out, I didn’t have time.
I was bothered by Wenbo’s introduction of the beggar into the story. This person had never appeared in the official documents. I was also mindful of the play we had seen in T’ai-Yuan-Fu — The Mo-Ho-Lo Doll. In it, a crucial piece of missing information was the identity of the unknown man who had told the murderer of the victim’s illness. This had led to the murderer administering poison, thinking the illness would cover his killing. It was only when the doll-maker had been identified that the truth came out. I was concerned that the unidentified beggar might equally prove the key to this murder case.
Not being able to let matters lie, I hunted out Tadeusz as soon as I got back, catching him before he had disappeared to seek out the doctor. I asked him to put off that search for the time being, and use his connections with the guild members in Pianfu to see if they could identify the beggar. Wenbo had said he was dressed in a distinctive off-white, loose robe that he used to envelop himself in, wrapping the end around his head. Tadeusz said he would try and find out who it might have been.
‘Though I am not confident of achieving a result, Nick. On my wanderings round the city, I am aware there are many beggars in the streets. Some are simply poor and without work, but others have no eyes, or are mutilated in some other way. I have seen beggars without legs, who propel themselves around on little carts. The fact that this is a very prosperous city does not seem to diminish the numbers of the destitute.’
‘I would guess, Tadeusz, that the prosperity of the city is the very reason these poor souls have gravitated here. To scrape an existence from the generosity of the rich and well-fed.’
I was reminded again how I, in my own way, lived off the beneficence of Kubilai, picking up scraps from his table almost. These beggars were at the very bottom of that heap. I put my arm over Tadeusz’s shoulder, and walked with him across the courtyard.
‘Do what you can, and let me know whatever you find out.’
It was early afternoon when I received a curious message from Tadeusz. I had been thinking of the rumour about Lin and how to broach it with him. And I was also planning how I was to deal with the prefect when I met up with him. All that brain work had made me feel tired, and I had resorted to a mind-refreshing doze in the courtyard. I would need to be at my most alert later, after all. I was soon dreaming of white-faced handmaidens singing to me and plying me with grapes, when I felt a tugging at my sleeve. Was it a courtesan, or a nimble and willowy acrobat ready to indulge my every whim?
‘My darling,’ I murmured, reaching out, only to hear a snort of childish laughter. I opened my eyes, and sat abruptly up. Beside me stood a filthy urchin, wiping the snot from his nose with a grubby sleeve that, from its shininess, I deduced had been long used for the purpose. He had a broad and lascivious grin on his dirty face. I soon wiped that off by grabbing the front of his tattered shirt and pulling him close. I shoved my face into his, putting on my best demonic look.
‘What are you doing here, snotface?’
I don’t think he understood my words, but he knew their meaning. He gulped, and wriggled out of my grasp. But before I could cuff him, he waved a scrap of paper at me. I went to take it, but he snatched it away, and held out his hand, palm upwards. I growled, but he stood his ground, and only let me take the paper after I had placed a small coin in his sticky hand. The business completed, he bolted for the street door, stopping only to stick his tongue out as a last defiant gesture at the foreign demon. I laughed at his cheek, and unfolded the piece of paper.
It was a message that said simply ‘Come to the bathhouse in physicians’ square’, and was signed ‘Pyka’. Though there were few words, I could still sense the urgency of the message. Knowing I had time before my meeting with Li, I left immediately to seek out the place. However, I could not for the life of me think why he had not returned to the house to report to me. I mean to say, what was he doing luxuriating in a bathhouse, if there was something urgent to discuss? It was not somewhere I would like to be seen in all that often for fear of seeming effeminate.
I knew where the square given over to doctors and astrologers was located — we had passed through it when we first arrived. But when I got there, it was not immediately obvious which of the many fine buildings was the place where people came to bathe. I traversed the square once, and finally decided to stop someone and ask. One of the words I had learned from the gaoler, while Gurbesu had been talking to Jianxu, had been the word for washing. I just hoped he hadn’t been having a joke with me and had taught me the word for fornication instead. I might get a strange reaction if so. I chose an innocuous-looking elderly man in a bei-zi robe, on the assumption that he, rather than a peasant, would use a bathhouse. Striding over to him, I tried my word.
‘ Shi-dzaw?’
He screwed his eyes up, and looked puzzled. At least I had not uttered a profanity, I thought. I tried again.
‘ Shi-dzaw?’
This time he realized what, with my awful accent, I was trying to say. He smiled, and rubbed his hands over his body in a way suggesting he was scrubbing himself clean. I nodded, and he repeated the word back to me. It came out in a much more mellifluous way, and he pointed to a large building at the top of the square. It looked like a palace to me, and I had discounted it as a simple bathhouse. I gave him my thanks, and made my way across the bustling square to my goal. Once inside the building, I could easily tell its purpose. Though the baths were not visible from the entrance hall, the place echoed with conversation and the splashing of water. I made for an archway to my right, only to be shooed away by a female attendant. Glimpsing the unmistakeable shape of bare womanly flesh through the arch, I realized I had chosen the section devoted to females. Thinking that perhaps this communal bathing thing was not such a ridiculous idea, I raised my hand in acknowledgement of the attendant’s reprimand, and crossed the hall to the other archway.
At this door into the men’s section stood a stocky, hairy and definitely male individual wearing just a loincloth. He sized me up and indicated I should go inside and remove my clothes. I had no way of telling anyone that I was just looking for Tadeusz, so I stripped off and left my clothes in a niche in the wall. Feeling a bit conspicuous with my red hair and height, I strolled past large tubs of what was clearly cold water with naked men vigorously rubbing themselves. Lin had told me once that Chins reckoned cold water was good for the health, and that from childhood they bathed in it regularly. I could only imagine it was conducive to freezing your balls off. As I could not see Pyka in any of the cold tubs, I moved on. At the end of the men’s section I could see steam emanating from a separate room. As this looked more promising, and I had not yet found Pyka, I strode towards the room. Inside was a single tub filled with hot water, and in it sat Pyka. He was vigorously scrubbing his skin, and the water splashed over the rim of the tub, causing rivers to run across the floor. As his skin was bright red, it looked to me as if he had been scrubbing for some time. Either that or the hot water had boiled him like a piece of meat. I walked over, and stood before him. He didn’t even notice me and continued his frenzied ablutions. I leaned on the rim of the tub, and with the palm of my hand splashed some water at his face. Startled, he stopped his scrubbing
