The Mystery of Zhang Gong

Wang Yan Took a Sip of His Tea. “I Think There’s Something Strange About This Case. The Perpetrator May Not Be Zhang Ping.”

Minister Tao pondered for a moment with an expression of clarity. “I understand now. Is it because you didn’t change the script according to Class Teacher Jin’s requirements, causing him to still brood over it even when unconscious? The three words ‘Great Yellow Immortal’ refers to you. Zhang Ping, so far, all the evidence is against you. How are you going to defend yourself?”

Zhang Ping lowered his eyelids again. “This student has nothing to say.”

Wife Jin kowtowed fiercely. “I plead Master to quickly close the case and appeal for my husband’s justice!”

Minister Tao stroked his beard, shaking his head and sighing; Wang Yan finally couldn’t help but step forward. “Master, this humble servant believes there are still many questionable aspects of this case. Why don’t we continue investigating this matter for another day or two? Maybe we’d find more dependable evidence.”

Minister Tao nodded lightly. “Alright – today, let’s temporarily leave the court-hall. Wife Jin, rest assured. I’ll definitely give you justice.”

Zhang Ping was temporarily taken to prison, and since there was insufficient evidence that Chen Chuo was an accomplice, he was released after the trial. Crying and wailing, Wife Jin left with her troupe. 

Minister Tao removed his robe after the trial and Lan Jue took this opportunity to come up and explain his intention of arrival; after obtaining Minister Tao’s written permission, he went to the dossier storage to inspect the files. 

Although this was just a formality, he couldn’t be sloppy; evening had already approached by the time Lan Jue came out to inform Wang Yan of his inspection results.

Lan Jue sat beside a bookcase, writing a record for the file investigations, whilst Wang Yan sat aside staring at a bowl of tea as he rubbed his temples. 

Lan Jue couldn’t help but smile. “Why is Assistant Minister Wang sighing so much?”

Wang Yan replied dispiritedly, “Ai, my colleagues and I accompanied our Chief Minister in a discussion about this case for the entire afternoon. My head hurts.”

Lan Jue dipped his brush in ink. “Your Chief Minister seems to have determined Zhang Ping to be the criminal, so why do you have a headache?”

“Our Minister Tao has always been cautious and pitied the weak. He’s afraid that he’d make a wrong judgement for the case, so he’s hesitant and indecisive,” Wang Yan said. 

Lan Jue didn’t say anything; Chief Minister Tao’s case-trial today truly opened his eyes. Pitiful Zhang Ping unexpectedly bumped into such a situation – who knew if he’d turn into another unlucky soul at (1) Caishikou. 

Wang Yan took a sip of his tea. “I think there’s something strange about this case. The perpetrator may not be Zhang Ping.”

Lan Jue still didn’t answer. When he finished writing the record and the ink had dried, Wang Yan stamped it and placed it in the archives. Suddenly, he asked, “(2) Pei-zhi, are you free tonight?” 

“I’ll have no more matters to deal with after I finish archiving in my ministry. Could it be that you want to invite me to dinner?”

Wang Yan proceeded to laugh and said, “Rather than eating, isn’t it better to listen to a new play? Will you go?”

“Assistant Minister Wang, if you’re going to be investigating today’s case, wouldn’t it be a bit unorthodox for me to come along?”

“You’re speaking as if you’re so well-behaved. Rest assured, I definitely won’t make you find trouble with me; I just need your help. I’ll treat you to tonight’s play, however, can it be performed at your residence?”

»»————-¤————-««

In the evening, the Xuanluo Water Pavilion in *Assistant Minister Lan’s residence was draped with veils, lights brightly glittering and curtains swaying with the breeze; it brought a natural serene coolness. On the temporarily set up stage, a scholar was pulling a lady and singing emotionally. “My good sister, for the past few days my heart has been broken from yearning. Tea couldn’t stop my longing, nor were my meals fragrant. Every day I watch you from the pavilion and wonder if you ever think of me…” 

Lan Jue felt his molars sour. Wang Yan shook his fan and said, “Aiya, this is a really good place for listening to music.” 

A servant girl bowed and added more tea. Lan Jue’s gaze swept not too far away and caught a glimpse of a corner of clothing exposed behind a pillar. 

Lan Jue murmured, “Come out.”

A small figure stiffly turned out from behind the pillar, his head down. “(3) Diedie.” He cupped his hands in greeting to Wang Yan.

Wang Yan spoke. “It’s been a long time since I’ve visited your residence; your esteemed son has grown taller again. I remember your name is Lan Hui, right? Come; listen to the play.”

Lan Hui raised his head with delight, only to drop his eyes again after seeing Lan Jue’s expression. 

Lan Jue said slowly, “You’re still young, so it’s not appropriate for you to watch these plays involving passionate love between a man and woman. Return to your room and revise your work. If you get distracted, then just sleep.” 

Lan Hui made an ‘hn’ sound and reluctantly moved a little. Lan Jue asked, “Have you eaten dinner?”

Lan Hui replied a soft “yes” before raising his eyes to look at Lan Jue again. “Diedie, Uncle told me to visit him during the Dragon Boat Festival to eat Zongzi.” 

“Then you can go. Your (4) biao-ge Tong will be participating in this year’s preliminary exam, so I need to avoid him and won’t be going with you.” 

Lan Hui made another ‘hn’ sound and cupped his hands towards Lan Jue and Wang Yan each to bid them farewell before he was led back to his room by the steward. 

Wang Yan sneered. “Pei-zhi, aren’t you too strict on your son? He’s already seven or eight this year, what’s so wrong about letting him watch this play? Those three wild monkeys back at my home would always remember to watch plays with their grandmother and have seen everything. They jump up and down every day and almost demolished my courtyard wall once; truly not as gentle as your son.” 

Lan Jue picked up his teacup and stirred the floating leaves. “I’ve never cared about what plays he watched; however, he has to watch good plays. Such a troupe performing such a wild play – don’t tell me you’d invite them back to your residence for your esteemed sons to listen to?” 

Wang Yan cupped his hands in surrender. “I was wrong. This time, I’m truly sorry to Assistant Minister Lan. If there’s a turning point in this case this humble one would definitely reward you.” 

With that said, the play on-stage had already finished; a pageboy went to their seats and (5) genuflected. “Greeting Master Lan and this master. Was the small play just then pleasing to your eyes? We have another gift prepared for you; coming next is《The Meeting Under the Moon》.

Lan Jue frowned. “The play just then was mediocre. There’s no need to sing the next one; bring the roster and choose another one.” 

The pageboy retreated in fear and trepidation. After a while, a middle-aged man came over. The man played the role of a clown and he’d already put on the appropriate make-up; wiping his snow-white nose, he held up the roster and respectfully said, “If these two masters don’t like watching literary plays, then I’ll get some people to sing a martial arts play.”

Lan Jue slowly flipped through the roster. “Actually, I’d like to listen to literary plays – it’s too noisy to watch martial plays at night. However, all the plays are of a gifted scholar and beautiful lady; I’ve gotten tired of listening to them. Don’t you have anything new?” 

The man nodded quickly. “We do, we do! Does this Master like to listen to mythological plays? We have one called《Lady of the Ancient Well》, about a scholar and a water ghost; another one called《Fairy’s Resentment》, about the (6) Cowherd and Weaving maid, and another one called《Enchanting Maiden》, about the Fox Immortal…”

“There’s always something about a female fox immortal, where a scholar meets the female fox immortal – it’s still a bit trite. Isn’t there anything fresher? Like a maiden meeting a male fox immortal…” 

The man’s expression flickered, and he hesitated. “We do, however…”

Lan Jue raised his eyebrows. “Could it be inconvenient to be sung in my residence?”

The man promptly said, “How could one dare? To be able to sing at Master Lan’s residence is a blessing to all of us. It’s just, this is a new play and hasn’t been added to our pamphlet yet. We’ve only just performed it for a few days, so we’re afraid the newborn words would be badly sung and Master would blame us.”

From aside, Wang Yan spoke up. “We won’t blame you. Everything’s fine as long as there’s something new to listen to.”

Lan Jue closed the roster. “We’ll just have a listen – it’ll be fine even if you make a mistake.” 

The man nodded repeatedly in response and left with the pageboy. 

Not long after, the play began; it was called《Fox Youth》. Wang Yan said, “Fox Youth, Fox Youth. It should be called Weasel Youth.” 

On-stage, a lady dressed as a noble lady inclined on a couch, holding a circular fan as she sang. “Another season of spring has arrived, and an entire garden of spring flowers and thoughts make cacophony. I look towards the splendour of spring, weary, and pick up my (7) Linghua Mirror. The person in the mirror doesn’t have the slightest hint of spring’s complexion on her brows…”

Lan Jue’s teeth began to feel sour again. That Zhang Ping always appeared dazed, yet he could actually write a young maiden’s spring thoughts with such liveliness. One truly couldn’t judge someone by their appearance. 

The noble lady in the play was called Yudie. Hoping for amorous feelings, she burnt incense at a temple; unexpectedly, the god statue suddenly opened its mouth and spoke to her. “…I am an immortal from Heaven who would occasionally come down to the mortal world. Seeing your sincerity and determination, I promise you a good marriage in the back garden at midnight…” 

After Yudie returned home, she thought to herself, “A wood-carved and clay-moulded statue spoke with such immodesty. I’m afraid there are no immortals in the world; someone must’ve dressed up as God to play like the devil and deceive me.”  

“This woman suddenly became shrewd; but to be this shrewd, they won’t be able to continue the play,” Wang Yan said. 

Just as he finished speaking, Yudie suddenly changed her words. “I really shouldn’t think this way; all gods have good intentions to assist mortal beings. Since I’ve been enlightened, how can I not meet the perfect man the heavens had bestowed me…?”

So Yudie went to the back garden and met a young man wearing a mask, an abnormal fragrance on his body; although Yudie couldn’t see his face, she was charmed numb by the fragrance, hence she dedicated herself to that man. 

After a good round of joy and laughter, Yudie returned to her chambers and began singing again. “Calm your heart and think carefully. Don’t you unconsciously feel cold all over? Whether he’s a ghost or a human is still unconfirmed and whether this is truth or lie is unclear. The fragrance was like a soup of ecstasy, making me unable to help but bury my innocence. What am I…”

Behind the curtain, a head stuck out and murmured, “Wrong, wrong…”

Lan Jue raised his hand to stop the play and summoned the troupe members. “Why did you say it’s wrong?”

For a while, the white-nosed man mumbled as if hiding something before he hesitatingly said, “Master, to be honest, the play was changed later on. Our class teacher said the original script was a failure and someone fixed it. Just then, the words were sung wrong – it was sung according to the original – these damn juniors!” 

“That first section Yudie sang when she first returned from the temple was also wrong; it was sung according to the old script. The sections after that and from the beginning of the play were the newly-revised words, right?” 

The white-nosed man prostrated on the ground. “Yes, yes…” 

Lan Jue had already seen through it; that Yudie kept the script in the circular fan she was holding. A momentary mistake most likely occurred and she accidentally used the fan with the original script, causing her to sing wrong. He smiled. “Never mind. It was me who originally forced you to sing; there’s nothing wrong with getting it wrong. Continue.” 

The white-nosed man thanked him and left. Yudie changed to another circular fan and started singing again; the tune was still the same as before, but the words had completely changed. 

“Calm your heart and think carefully. No matter how I think about it, he’s still my husband. My darling Hu, you must be an immortal to have held my heart. My darling Hu, I long for tomorrow’s day to instantly turn to night so I can see you again…” 

Yudie and her husband Hu secretly exchanged conjugal affections for several days before Yudie suddenly found out something wrong with Husband Hu. 

On another tender night, Yudie asked, “Husband, why do you have a tail?”

Husband Hu finally admitted, “I shouldn’t lie to you. I’m actually a fox, not an immortal.”

Husband Hu said he was a fox that wanted to be an immortal. He fell in love with Yudie’s beauty, so he met her every night. Husband Hu also said the rich fragrance on his body was to hide his fox odour. 

Yudie raised the circular fan before her eyes and sang with a low voice. “…To use the fragrance of ecstasy, for this reason, is appropriate. But why do you always refuse to let me see your true face? Could it be you’re still lying to me…?”

Yudie suddenly paused before retreating until she was quickly approaching the edge of the curtains. Pretending to be rebuked, she turned around. When Husband Hu held her shoulders and turned her back around, her peony-flower circular fan had already turned into a dragonfly roost.

Lan Jue couldn’t help but laugh. 

Yudie affectionately sang to Husband Hu. “You don’t have to lie to me. Even if you’re a fox, not an immortal, my heart remains the same towards you.” 

On the second day, Yudie’s married sister returned home. Yudie told her she fell in love with an immortal and was soon going to leave with him. She also said, “Sister, if I’m unable to be filial to our parents, please apologise to them on my behalf and tell them to not blame me”.

Her sister thought Yudie was delusional. A few days later, the family suddenly discovered that Yudie was missing; the only thing left was a letter and sachet. 

In the mountainous forest, Yudie and Husband Hu were snuggling before some flowers. 

By the time the play was over, it was already the (8) fourth watch of the night; Jue ordered people to reward the troupe. Wang Yan murmured, “I’m afraid the perpetrator really isn’t Zhang Ping.”

Lan Jue felt it inappropriate to say anything; he just picked up the already-cold tea and said to the steward, “Call over the troupe leader. Just tell them I felt this play was really good, and I really want to see the original script.” 

*Changed ‘Vice Minister Lan’ to ‘Assistant Minister Lan’

(1) Caishikou – an execution ground where capital punishments in Beijing during the Qing dynasty were carried out and open for public viewing

(2) Pei-zhi – an honorific for someone admirable or respectful (?)

(3) Diedie – a more intimate way for a child to call their fathers 

(4) Biao-ge – male cousin

(5) Genuflected – when someone bends one knee to the ground as a show of respect 

(6) Cowherd and Weaving maid – a romantic Chinese folktale. There are many variations, but here’s the general plot: http://en.chinaculture.org/focus/focus/2010qixi/2010-08/16/content_391106.htm 

Fun fact about this folklore: The Chinese Valentine’s Day (known as the Qixi or Qiqiao Festival) was based on this story. It’ll be celebrated on the 14th of August this year (the date changes because it follows the Chinese lunar calendar’s seventh day of the seventh month). 

(7) Linghua mirror – the name of an ancient bronze mirror. These mirrors are typically hexagonal or have a linghua (water chestnut flower) engraved at the back.

(8) Fourth watch of the night – Between 1am-3am