‘Interesting,’ Yang said, thinking that it did not add up. How could the black fox have chosen to show others where the body was buried? If Xuanji really was the fox spirit incarnate, it was nothing short of suicidal.

According to some villagers, the movement of the fox spirit seemed to have intensified of late. Another mysterious catastrophic omen. Several neighbors swore that for the last one or two months, they saw the promiscuous animal skulking around the neighborhood numerous times.’

‘What did they do about the black fox running amok all of a sudden?’ Yang approached a bald, round-faced villager in threadbare clothes, who looked like a monk he had seen in the temple.

‘What could they possibly do? They ran away helter-skelter at the sight of it. One of them swore on his mother’s grave that it was a tall, monstrous, hairy black fox spirit walking straight toward him, baring its teeth.’

‘Hold on. It was walking like a human being?’

‘Yes, walking just like you and me. So people were really scared out of their wits. The abbess chose to leave the nunnery, I’ve heard, because of it.’

‘Do you know where I can find the abbess?’ Yang asked. ‘Xuanji may have given something to the abbess when she moved in, I would say.’

‘How can I possibly know the whereabouts of the frightened abbess? You’re asking questions just like a neighborhood coordinator. If you’re truly interested in cheap yet good antiques, you may well step in and take a good look at the bronze urn in my pigsty. Some people say it’s handed down from the ancient Zhou Dynasty.’

Yang thanked him without going into the pigsty for a look at the bronze urn, and moved to another villager, and then to still another.

However, they hardly offered anything new or useful for the investigation, except for some more intriguing details about the omnipresent black fox spirit, as if by way of explanation of the inexplicable mystery surrounding the murder case.

Could that be useful to Judge Dee? Yang started wondering about the possibility of Judge Dee’s representing a black fox spirit scenario to Minister Wu, claiming that it was a generally accepted scenario in the neighborhood of the nunnery. Whatever political factors might have been involved, that would probably prove to be an apolitical one.

After Nameless left the temple room, Han Shan raised the teacup to Judge Dee with a smile. ‘Now we are alone, you may discuss all the confidential details of the case with me, my celebrated Judge Dee. I’m no judge, but the murder case has become such a hot topic. Almost all the people I have met here over the last several days could not stop talking about Xuanji and the black fox spirit.’

‘The case is very complicated, but I’m not serving as a judge here. I’m leaving for my new post, as you know. Last night, however, I received a request from Minister Wu to take a quick look into it. So I cannot help being curious about the case, which may also have a bearing on the collection of Xuanji’s poems.’