The young man smiled condescendingly. He left the brush in the jar. Folding his arms he leaned back against the table so that he faced Judge Dee and remarked:
'I fancy myself as a portrait painter. Now you, Sir, are the very prototype of a judge. Pray observe this Infernal Judge on this picture here! You could have sat as model for it, though I admit it is by no means a flattering portrait!'
The judge could not forbear smiling. He realized that it was no use to try to fool this clever young man. So he said:
'You are not mistaken, I am indeed Dee Jen-djieh, the new magistrate of Lan-fang, and this is my lieutenant.'
Woo nodded slowly. Looking straight at the judge he said:
'Your name is well known in the capital, Sir. Now to what am I indebted for the honour of this visit? I don't think you have come to arrest me. That job you would have left to your constables.'
'What', Judge Dee inquired, 'makes you think that you might be arrested?'
Woo pushed his turban back.
'Sir, please forgive me for skipping all the usual polite preliminaries. Let me save your time and mine. This morning the news spread that the old General Ding had been murdered. That, by the way, is just what the hypocritical scoundrel deserved. Now that sneaking son of his has been passing the word around that I, the son of Commander Woo who is known to be the General's arch-enemy, intended to kill him. Young Ding has been snooping in this neighbourhood for more than a month, trying to worm information about me out of the proprietor of the shop here, at the same time telling all kinds of slanderous tales.
Doubtless young Ding has now accused me of having killed his father. An ordinary magistrate would have sent out his constables to arrest me immediately. But you, Sir, are known as a man of unusual perspicacity. So you thought you would first come round here yourself and see what I looked like.'
Sergeant Hoong had been listening with mounting anger tot his nonchalant statement. Now he jumped up exclaiming:
'Your Honour, the insolence of this dogshead is unbearable!'
Judge Dee raised his hand. He said with a thin smile:
'Mr. Woo and I understand each other perfectly, Sergeant! I for one find him rather refreshing!'
As the sergeant sat down again the judge continued:
'You are right, my friend. Now I shall be as direct as yourself: why did you, the son of a well known military commander in the Board of Military Affairs, settle down all alone in this out-of-the-way place?'
Woo looked round at his pictures on the wall.
'Five years ago', he replied, 'I passed the examination for Junior Candidate. To the disappointment of my father I then resolved to break off my studies and devote myself to painting. I worked under two famous masters in the capital but was not satisfied with their style.
Two years ago I happened to meet a monk who had come all the way from Khotan, the tributary kingdom in the far west. That man showed me his style of painting, full of life and exciting colours. I realized that our Chinese artists ought to study that style in order to renew our national art. I thought that I might become the pioneer and resolved to travel to Khotan myself.'
'Personally', the judge remarked dryly, 'I find our national art perfectly satisfactory and I fail to see what a barbarian foreign nation could ever teach us. But I don't pretend to be a connoisseur. Pray proceed!'
'So I wangled travelling funds from my good father', Woo went on. 'He let me go in the hope that this was youthful extravagance, and that some day I would return as a sedate young official. Until two years ago the route to the western kingdoms led via Lan-fang, thus I came here. Then I found that this route had been abandoned for the northern one. Now the plains to the west of this town are inhabited only by roaming Uigur hordes, people without art or culture.'
'That being so', Judge Dee interrupted him, 'why did you not leave this district at once and travel north to continue your journey?'
The young man smiled.
'That, Sir, is not so easy to make you understand. You must know that I am a lazy man and much given to moods. Somehow or other I felt comfortable here and thought that I might as well stay on for a while and practise. Moreover I took a liking to this house. I am mighty fond of wine and it suits me to have my dealer right under the same roof. That man has an uncanny intuition for a good wine and his stock can compare with the best shops in the capital. So I just stayed on here.'
The judge did not comment on this statement. He said:
'Now I come to my second question. Where were you last night, say from the first to the third night- watch?'
'Here!', the young man replied immediately.
'Have you witnesses who can testify to that?'
Woo sadly shook his head.
'No', he replied, 'it so happened that I did not know that the General was going to be murdered last night!'
Judge Dee went to the stairway and shouted for the proprietor.
When his round face appeared at the bottom of the stairs the judge called out:
'Just to settle a friendly argument. Did you notice whether Master Woo went out last night?'
The man scratched his head, then said with a grin:
'I am sorry I can't oblige, Sir! Last night there was much coming and going here, I really could not say whether Master Woo went out or not!'
Judge Dee nodded. He stroked his beard for some time, then said:
'Candidate Ding reported that you have hired men to spy on his mansion!'
Woo burst out laughing.
'What a ridiculous lie!', he exclaimed. 'I studiously ignore that faked General. I would not spend one copper for knowing what he is doing!'
'What', the judge asked, 'did your father accuse General Ding of?'
Woo's face grew serious.
'That old scoundrel', he said bitterly, 'sacrified the lives of one battalion of the Imperial army, eight hundred good men in all, to extricate himself from a difficult position. Every single man was hacked to pieces by the barbarians. General Ding would have been beheaded were it not for the fact that at that time there was widespread discontent among the troops. Therefore the authorities did not want the General's foul deed to become common knowledge. He was ordered to tender his resignation.'
Judge Dee said nothing.
He walked along the walls and examined Woo's work. It were all pictures of Buddhist saints and deities. The goddess Kwan Yin was very well represented, sometimes single, sometimes with a group of attendant deities.
The judge turned round.
'If I may end a frank conversation with a frank statement', he remarked, 'allow me to observe that I don't think that your so-called new style is an improvement. Maybe one must get accustomed to it. You might give me one of those pictures so that I can study your work at leisure.'
Woo gave the judge a doubtful look. After a moment of hesitation he took down a medium-size picture showing the goddess Kwan Yin accompanied by four other deities. He spread it out on the table and picked up his seal, an intricately carved small block of white jade. It stood on a dimunitive blackwood stand. Woo pressed the seal on a vermilion seal pad and then stamped it in a corner of the picture. The impression showed a quaint, archaic form of the character Feng, his personal name. Then he rolled the picture up and presented it to the judge.
'Am I under arrest?', he asked.
'A feeling of guilt seems to weigh heavily on your mind', the judge remarked dryly. 'No, you are not under arrest. But you will not leave this house until further notice. Good day, and thanks for the picture!'
Judge Dee gave a sign to Sergeant Hoong. They went down the stairway. Woo bowed his farewell. He did not bother to conduct them to the door.
