soles of her feet with a cane in order to extract information about Geng’s death. Well, we had solved the case without such unnecessary violence. Thank the Lord that Jianxu had risked her own life to stop the bastinado being imposed on Gao.
The old lady stalked up to Li and peered closely at him. Finally realizing who he was, she tidied her dishevelled grey hair and pulled her robe closer around her skinny frame. I almost saw her simper at the sight of such authority. Perhaps I was mistaken though, because suddenly her gaze was fixed on the boy. She pointed a claw-like finger at him.
‘What has the boy done now? It must be something serious to bring the prefect and this foreign demon out in the middle of the night.’
Li gazed uncertainly at Lin and me, unsure whether he was in control here or not. Finally, he spoke up.
‘Madam, this boy has been accused by these people of the murder of Geng Biao. It remains to be proven if this is the case. But he must be taken in for investigation.’
Wenbo howled at the thought of the torture that awaited him. But the old lady’s eyes simply gleamed with pleasure. She cared nothing for the person who could have been her son-in-law in other circumstances. Another thought occurred to her, though.
‘Does that mean the girl will be released?’
Li was about to speak, but I did not give him a chance to prevaricate.
‘She will be freed this very night. As soon as we can deliver Geng Wenbo to the same jail.’
I could see that Li wanted to disagree, but he knew the consequences if he did not now cooperate with us. He merely growled, and stalked off across the courtyard. We all followed, with Wenbo firmly held in my grip. The old lady called after us.
‘Good. Send the girl back as soon as you can. I have need of her services around the house. There is much tidying up to do.’
As we marched up the road that led to the jail, Gurbesu shook her head in astonishment.
‘Did you hear what that old witch said? Jianxu, who protected her from Li’s bastinado by falsely confessing, and who was near to being executed, is to be freed. And all she can think about is, good, my slave and chattel is coming back.’
‘Yes, those are old-fashioned values for you. Always thinking about duty.’
Gurbesu snorted.
‘Of the woman, not the man.’
‘I am not so sure, though I know what you are getting at. Look at Wenbo, on the other hand.’
The boy was walking along ahead of us now and at the heels of Lin and the prefect. I had released him from my grip, and fallen back to talk to Gurbesu. With all his hopes of escape gone, he should have been subdued. But he almost seemed exultant, as though with all the subterfuge shed away, he had achieved his goal.
‘He should be afraid, and he was when I grabbed him. But now he looks as though he is the happiest person in the world.’
‘Of course he’s happy. He has secured Jianxu’s freedom.’
‘At the cost of his own life.’
‘I am not sure he realizes that yet. He is naive enough to think that if Jianxu can escape the executioner, then so can he.’
‘Hmmm.’ I was still puzzled. ‘Maybe he did what he did to win her over in the first place, thinking he was doing what she wanted.’
Gurbesu put a hand on my arm.
‘You are not going to let Li torture him, are you? If we can get a full confession, there is no need to do the poor boy any more harm, is there?’
‘That poor boy poisoned his father’s soup and murdered P’ing-Yang Nu in cold blood in order to hide his guilt. But no, we don’t need to hurt him any further. Just so long as he confesses.’
By now, we had almost reached the cell block where the girl had been incarcerated for so long. Unable to contain himself, Wenbo rushed ahead of us all, shouting for Jianxu to come and see.
‘Jianxu, look! I have saved you. They have arrested me for the murder of my father, and you will be freed.’
He fell to his knees before her cell, his arms outstretched. It was as if he was welcoming his fate. A pale face appeared at the grille in the door. There was a calm smile on Jianxu’s face, and I got the impression she had expected this turn of events all along. The gaoler came scurrying out of his back room, caught unawares by the lateness of our arrival. It was almost pitch dark, and he quickly lit a lamp with a burning taper. When he saw the prefect, he bowed low and jabbered in his coarse dialect. Even Lin had difficulty understanding him, but Li was more used to his toothless gabble. He pointed at the girl’s cell and ordered the gaoler to open the door.
‘Let the girl go. The ruling of the court has been overturned.’
I could see that the words stuck in Li’s throat, but there was nothing he could do. The little man hurried to carry out his master’s command, whilst shaking his head in disbelief. He unlocked the door and pulled it open. For a moment, Jianxu hesitated on the threshold, as if unsure of herself at this last moment of her confinement. Then, more confidently, she took a step out of her cell, then another and another until she was free. Gurbesu took her in her arms, but Jianxu, not knowing how to respond, I suppose, stiffened with her arms held down by her side. Gurbesu gently released her, and spoke words of encouragement.
‘It will take some time to appreciate it fully. But you are free now.’
A faint smile crossed Jianxu’s lips, and, encouraged, Gurbesu led her away. Meanwhile, at Li’s command, the gaoler bundled Wenbo into the cell he had so often peered into from the outside. He was now to be its occupant, changing places with the girl he had so frequently visited. I warned Li to take good care of our prisoner.
‘He is not to be tortured. I will be back tomorrow morning and I expect him to be fit and well enough to make a full confession of his crimes.’
The prefect gave me a mocking bow.
‘I am as ever at your command, Investigator of Crimes.’
I did not like the evil look in his eye, but Lin indicated that we had done all we could. We followed Gurbesu and Jianxu back down the track towards town, leaving Li to pass on our commands to the gaoler.
Our triumphant return to our temporary quarters was witnessed by Tadeusz, who had kept the doctor securely locked away. Sun’s pale face poked out from the barred upper window of a storage room we had had no use for. Gurbesu had brought Jianxu here because she thought it a better place than the Geng house for the time being. Sun stared hard at the girl as she crossed the courtyard and passed inside the communal room we all used. Tadeusz congratulated us.
‘So, it is done then? The girl is freed?’
Lin was more cautious than I was.
‘For the time being. But we must get a confession out of Wenbo, or the prefect may try to change the verdict again. And we must get Sun’s evidence on paper.’
He glanced up at where the doctor’s sad face had been. But he was no longer at the window. Lin touched Tadeusz’s arm.
‘Bring him to us and we will get it all down tonight, before he has reason to think again, or deny what he has already told us.’
Tadeusz nodded and hurried away to fetch the doctor from his cell. Meanwhile, we followed Gurbesu and Jianxu inside. The girl looked a little bewildered by the course of events, and was seated in a corner hugging her knees to her chest. Her eyes were dull and appeared to be staring far off. Gurbesu came bustling back into the room with a ladle of water. She offered it to Jianxu, who drank greedily. But when she had finished drinking, she resumed her original motionless position. Gurbesu looked at us and shook her head slightly. She whispered in my ear so as not to be overheard by the girl.
‘She will take some time to recover, I suppose. She has been no more than a slave to Madam Gao for so long. And then under threat of execution’
Jianxu must have heard the sound of her mother-in-law’s name in the Mongol that Gurbesu spoke to me. Her eyes flickered, and she spoke finally.
‘When am I to return to Madam Gao? She will have need of me.’
Gurbesu went to pat her on the shoulder, but thought better of it. Any intimacy had seemed to cause Jianxu
