‘Sure enough, here it is. The very proof. And His Honor may keep it as long as he likes, of course. He is such a noble Confucianist statesman of integrity, unwavering in his support of the Li family in the difficult times. Yes, Judge Dee can have it. No charge for him.’

‘Thank you so much, Mr Mo. My master will truly appreciate it, but you may still need the proof for your reprint edition.’

‘I have another copy – in my own poor handwriting, hardly readable to others. It’s really an honor for Judge Dee to have the proof from me. Let me wrap it for you, Yang.’

‘A different question, Mr Mo. Since you’re familiar with Xuanji, did you happen to notice anything unusual about her in the days before the discovery of the maid’s body in the nunnery backyard?’

‘It’s for the murder investigation, correct? But I was not that familiar with her – except in the matter of book business, as you know.’

‘But you’ve just mentioned that she put the names of her lovers into the poems. What about them?’

‘Yes, Wen and Zi’an particularly. Wen is one of the most prominent contemporary poets, both in shi and ci. A number of masterpieces in the “soft style” – even with a female persona like her. It’s to her credit that she had included her poems written to him in the collection. As for Zi’an, you know the love story between the two. In spite of his success in the capital civil service examination, he’s a mediocre poet with hardly anything readable except for two or three quatrains written in response to hers. But neither Wen nor Zi’an has been here for at least half a year …’

Mo gushed on like the bookish man he truly was, but the talk about poetry-writing and printing began to wear Yang out.

‘For a woodblock printer like me, she’s an extraordinary customer. Not too many poets could have afforded to have their poems printed like her.’

Mo then took out a block of wood engraved with all the tiny Chinese characters.

‘It’s just for one page, you see, but it took me several days to have all the words engraved. A couple of mistakes could have ruined the whole block. So most poets prefer to hire a calligrapher for handwritten copies. It’s a lot cheaper that way.’

‘Yes, I see.’

‘She paid me well. And she introduced both Wen and Zi’an to me. In the event of printing Wen’s poetry collection, it will be read for thousands of years because of my special edition, you know, so it’s an incredible opportunity I cannot afford to miss, not just for the money.’