Finished reading the Willow Pattern mystery, where the Emperor and its court abandoned the city and left Judge Dee in charge. The common people hides in their houses and bands of scavengers in black hoods collect the corpses and rob anything not nailed down. The Judge says it is necessary to repress in the bud all disorder and beheads four for molesting a streetwalker, and an unknown number for disrespectful words against the absent Emperor. He accuses them of organizing an uprising and using Chinese torture, identifies the infiltrated leaders. As usual in Van Gulik mysteries, prostitutes play a central part in the intrigues. In Van Gulik's China, prostitution is regulated, work in licensed houses and pay taxes. The girls are peasant class, sold into the trade by indebted families. Elderly millionaires use to purchase the girls for legal wives, and prostitution can be a road to social advancement, as it carries no moral stigma. Judge Dee has three wives, and number one wife manages the household. Some wives are jealous and will not agree with sharing, forcing the husband to maintain a separate home in a nearby village.
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