hope that she could bring the young woman out of herself. It irritated Gurbesu more than a little that Jianxu had been no more than a slave all her life. First her father had sold her into slavery, and then she bowed down to her husband, and then when he died to her mother-in-law. I thought she was mad to try and change one girl who merely stood as an example of the fate of most women in Cathay. It would be like trying to push back the acqua alta in Venice with a broom. Raging high tides came and inundated the city whether we Venetians liked it or not. It was a force of nature. And so were the Three Duties and the Four Virtues in Cathay.
Gurbesu had dressed and sat combing her shiny black locks, while pondering how she would approach her task. Finally, she could put it off no longer. She got up and walked out into the central courtyard of their lodgings. Predictably, Jianxu was already awake and dressed. But, surprisingly, she wasn’t bustling about carrying out tasks as Gurbesu had imagined she might. The young woman sat on a stone bench in the middle of the yard, apparently contemplating the outside world as it passed the open doors of the house. A fruit-seller hurried by with a bucket full of prickly oval fruit clutched in each hand. Then a sedan chair went by, its two bearers transporting a pretty white- faced woman somewhere. Gurbesu could see a look of strain and tiredness on the woman’s face as she glanced into the courtyard. She was probably returning to her lodgings after a night entertaining a rich Chinee client. Gurbesu heard a sigh, only after a moment realizing it was not the white-faced entertainer, but Jianxu who had made the sound. Jianxu turned to her, and spoke sadly.
‘We are all slaves to men, are we not?’
Her attractive oval face and almond eyes had for the first time some animation in them. Gurbesu even thought she saw a small tear running down her peach-like cheek. She smiled in relief. Perhaps the girl was not as cowed as she had imagined.
Sun refused to come out of the corner of his cell where he had first cowered when I entered. So I sat on the floor next to him. Lin circumspectly retired from the cell, so as not to cause the doctor any more anxiety. He hustled the prefect away, too. For a long time, Sun and I sat side by side in silence, staring out of the open door. Finally he plucked up the courage to speak.
‘Will you close the door, demon? I will feel safer.’
I rose and pushed the door closed, glancing through the grille at a quizzical Lin, who stood patiently outside. I shook my head gently and he nodded in understanding. Lin was the most patient man I had ever encountered. He would wait all day if necessary to see what troubled Doctor Sun. As the sun reached the highest point in the sky, a few rays filtered through the grille of the door, chasing away some of the gloom of the cell. This is what Jianxu would have experienced every day for weeks, perhaps imagining that that particular day’s sun would be the last she would see. The doctor began to weep.
‘I heard the Devil last night. It took Wenbo, and I was afraid it would come for me next. And I have sins on my soul.’
I did not tell him that Wenbo had killed himself. I was far more interested in his sins. Without Wenbo’s own confession, I would need a statement from Sun, if Lin and I were to overturn the verdict on Jianxu.
‘Tell me the sins that burden you.’
A random ray of sunlight cut across his face, illuminating his fearful, staring eyes.
‘I planned with Old Geng to murder Madam Gao. And I would have done it, too.’
His words jolted through me as if I had been standing on the deck of a ship struck by lightning. I recalled the old woman saying she had been rescued by Geng from an attacker. Was this the incident that Sun was referring to? But if it was, why did he say that Geng was in on the plot?
‘You mean you planned it, and Geng stopped you?’
Sun suddenly became agitated, beating the packed earth floor of the cell. I saw Lin’s face appear briefly at the grille then disappear once he assured himself I was safe. Sun was adamant.
‘No, no, no. Old Geng and I both owed Gao a great deal of money. It was his suggestion that we sneak round to her house together. He said we were going to catch her on her own, and do away with the old bitch. But just as we were about to rush into her office, Geng said he had heard the girl — Jianxu — and he would check on her first. I entered Gao’s inner office on my own and grabbed her by the neck. She was screeching like some old cat but I just kept squeezing. The next thing I knew, Geng was in the room acting like some avenging angel. He pulled me off her and hit me in the stomach. I realized I had been betrayed — that Geng had planned it this way from the start — and I ran out of her house. After that, I knew I couldn’t show my face in Pianfu again and began to practice in the hill villages.’
All the facts were beginning to fit together nicely now, but I still needed something more.
‘But you did come back. You sold Old Geng’s son aconite in order that he might kill his father.’
Sun nodded.
‘The boy knew what I had tried to do to Madam Gao. The old bitch must have told him or the girl, I am not sure. One day, in the village where you found me, I got a message. It simply said, “I know about you and Gao. If you would like to revenge yourself, come to the Geng household in disguise. Bring poison. If you don’t come, remember that I know how to find you.”’
He stared at me with horror in his eyes.
‘Save me from the Devil. Don’t leave me in the dark on my own.’
TWENTY-FIVE
‘ He told me he had heard the Devil scratching at his door.’
We were all back together in the house allocated to us. Lin, Gurbesu, Tadeusz and I sat in a circle around the low table piled high with documents about this case. Jianxu was sitting in the late afternoon sunshine, revelling in its warmth, no doubt. I could hear her singing a lilting song in quiet tones. Tadeusz questioned my statement.
‘It must have been a rat or a mouse. Those prison cells have straw on the floor that has not been cleaned for weeks.’
I tilted my head, not quite so sure of his rational explanation. Normally, I would have agreed, but I knew what Sun had said next.
‘He said himself that he thought it was a rat at first, and told it to go away. When it heard his voice, it stopped scratching at his door. But then the noise began at the next cell door. The cell occupied by Wenbo. Sun claims he heard the murmur of voices.’ I looked at Tadeusz. ‘Do you know of a rat that can talk?’
The silversmith was still not convinced.
‘He probably heard Wenbo talking to himself, trying to talk himself into self-murder. Or maybe Wenbo imagined he was hearing voices, and was talking to thin air. Either way, the boy killed himself.’
‘I am not so sure.’
Lin was concerned about my story now.
‘You are not sure that Wenbo killed himself?’
‘No, I’m not. Though I don’t have a lot of evidence to back up my fears. Only the words of a half-demented doctor scared of his own shadow.’
Tadeusz indicated with a snort that he reckoned that was an accurate summary of Sun’s state of mind, and therefore he was not to be trusted. Lin, however, was still open-minded.
‘Tell us exactly what he said.’
I paused, recalling the terror in Sun’s eyes, and what he said next.
‘Then the whispering stopped, and for a moment there was silence. I heard a strange low moan. It was a man’s voice saying “no” over and over again. More and more insistent, as if whoever it was had been forced to do something against his will, and now he had changed his mind.’
Sun stopped speaking and stared down at the straw and packed earth that we both sat on. I could hear his breath coming faster and faster. I had to make him go on before he collapsed.
‘And then?’
‘And then the sound of the voice was cut off, as though a hand or a cord had been squeezed round the man’s neck, cutting off his air. I heard a wheezy gasp, then a drumming sound on the door like he was kicking it with his
