‘Don’t worry about it, Judge Dee. Whatever we’re discussing in the temple – about the poetry collection or the murder case – stays in the temple. Just between you and me.’

‘Thank you, Han Shan. Now, to begin with, it’s an open question as to whether Xuanji is a murderer or a victim in a devilish trap, as suggested in her original statement.’

‘So you mean the body of the maid Ning was planted in the nunnery backyard by somebody else – with Xuanji being completely unconscious in a drunken stupor. But who could have planted the body and why, Judge Dee?’

‘Xuanji’s a much-sought-after celebrity courtesan, yet also arrogant in her way, as Nameless has just said. It’s not unimaginable that she had made things unpleasant for some people – like her refusal to come to Mayor Pei’s party.’

‘It’s possible,’ Han Shan said, a finger massaging at his temple, ‘but could that have been enough for such a murderous plot?’

‘Do you think her “poetry talk” – night after night with one man or another – was something tolerable to the people intimately close to her – such as Wen or Zi’an?’

‘That’s a good question, Your Honor. The motive of intense jealousy. But both Wen and Zi’an have alibis, I happen to know. For the last two or three months, Wen has been sick and bedridden at home, hundreds of miles away. It would have been out of the question for him to travel all the way here. As for Zi’an, he’s having a good time in a promising official position in another province, along with his wife and a baby on the way. I don’t see how either of them could have chosen to set a trap against Xuanji at the moment.’

‘You surely have a point, Han Shan.’

‘Besides, it was Wen who pushed her into Zi’an’s arms, and then it was Zi’an who pushed her into others’ arms, so to speak. According to people in the circle, neither Wen nor Zi’an had been embarrassed or upset by her being a fashionably notorious courtesan here. And the three of them have kept on writing romantic poems for one another. No, I cannot see the motive in either of them.’

‘It is so helpful to talk to you, Han Shan, with all your information in the circle of poets. I, too, do not believe they would have done that, but it could have taken me much longer to rule out that possibility. I have to read more of their poems, I think.’

‘Wen has recently composed a nice ci poem for her,’ Han Shan said. ‘It would be fantastic for you to include the poem in the collection. You may add a note about the date of its composition. I’ll find it for you. But back to the murder case at the present moment: is such a conspiracy theory backed up by any concrete evidence?’