Judge Dee's Cases · chapter 4 of 8
The Runaway Innkeeper
跑掉的掌柜
Ma Rong and Qiao Tai chase the innkeeper into a barn, and Judge Di breaks his story piece by piece. Then an old woman kneels at the court gate.
Read what you hear
- Narrator 天亮以前，马荣和乔泰沿着山路追了很远，来到山坡上一间旧谷仓。
Tiān liàng yǐqián, Mǎ Róng hé Qiáo Tài yán zhe shānlù zhuī le hěn yuǎn, láidào shānpō shàng yì jiān jiù gǔcāng.
Before dawn Ma Rong and Qiao Tai chased along the mountain path a long way, to an old barn on the slope.
- Ma Rong 乔泰，你看，那里有一只鞋！
Qiáo Tài, nǐ kàn, nàlǐ yǒu yì zhī xié!
Qiao Tai, look, there's a shoe over there!
- Qiao Tai 是掌柜的鞋。他跑得太急，把鞋跑掉了，人一定就在附近。
Shì zhǎngguì de xié. Tā pǎo de tài jí, bǎ xié pǎodiào le, rén yídìng jiù zài fùjìn.
It's the innkeeper's shoe. He ran so fast he lost it, so he must be close.
Chapter 4 is part of SayMei Stories ($2.99 a month) and SayMei Premium. Chapter 1 of Judge Dee's Cases is free, and so are The Second Cup of Tea, Mulan, The Butterfly Lovers, Journey to the West: The Monkey King, Cinderella, The Night of the Nian, Chang'e and the Moon, The Great Race: The Twelve Animals, Aesop's Fables, Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, The Ugly Duckling, Pangu and Nüwa: How the World Began, Beauty and the Beast, The Magic Lotus Lantern, Alice in Wonderland, Zhong Kui the Demon Queller, The Odyssey, Robin Hood, Jiang Ziya Goes Fishing, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Kitchen God from start to finish.
- Ma Rong 掌柜！出来吧！你藏得不好！你的屁股在桶外面！
Zhǎngguì! Chūlai ba! Nǐ cáng de bù hǎo! Nǐ de pìgu zài tǒng wàimiàn!
Innkeeper! Come out! You hide badly! Your backside is sticking out of the barrel!
- The Innkeeper 别……别抓我！我什么都没有做！
Bié… bié zhuā wǒ! Wǒ shénme dōu méiyǒu zuò!
Don't... don't catch me! I didn't do anything!
- Qiao Tai 什么都没做，为什么半夜跑出来？
Shénme dōu méi zuò, wèishénme bànyè pǎo chūlai?
If you did nothing, why run out in the middle of the night?
- The Innkeeper 我……我怕鬼！房里的鬼一定会来找我！
Wǒ… wǒ pà guǐ! Fáng lǐ de guǐ yídìng huì lái zhǎo wǒ!
I... I'm afraid of the ghost! The ghost from that room will come for me!
- Ma Rong 鬼不会挖坑埋银子。走吧，大人在等你。
Guǐ búhuì wā kēng mái yínzi. Zǒu ba, dàren zài děng nǐ.
Ghosts don't dig holes to bury silver. Let's go, the magistrate is waiting for you.
- The Innkeeper 大人饶命……我只是一个做生意的人啊……
Dàren ráo mìng… wǒ zhǐshì yí gè zuò shēngyì de rén a…
Mercy, my lord... I'm only a businessman...
- Ma Rong 饶命？你埋银子的时候，怎么不想想大人会不会饶你？
Ráo mìng? Nǐ mái yínzi de shíhou, zěnme bù xiǎngxiang dàren huì búhuì ráo nǐ?
Mercy? When you buried that silver, did you think about mercy?
- Qiao Tai 有话，到了大人面前，你自己说。
Yǒuhuà, dào le dàren miànqián, nǐ zìjǐ shuō.
Say what you have to say in front of the magistrate.
- Ma Rong 快走！我的早饭还没吃呢！
Kuài zǒu! Wǒ de zǎofàn hái méi chī ne!
Hurry! I haven't had breakfast yet!
- Judge Dee (Di Renjie) 掌柜，你的客人是怎么死的？现在，请你一句一句地说，不要着急。
Zhǎngguì, nǐ de kèren shì zěnme sǐ de? Xiànzài, qǐng nǐ yí jù yí jù de shuō, búyào zháojí.
Innkeeper, how did your guests die? Now tell me, one sentence at a time. No rush.
- The Innkeeper 是……是炭火的烟！天气冷，他们自己点了炭！
Shì… shì tànhuǒ de yān! Tiānqì lěng, tāmen zìjǐ diǎn le tàn!
It was... the charcoal smoke! It was cold and they lit the charcoal themselves!
- Judge Dee (Di Renjie) 可是小二说，炭盆是你自己端上去的。而且现在是八月。
Kěshì xiǎo'èr shuō, tànpén shì nǐ zìjǐ duān shàngqu de. Érqiě xiànzài shì bāyuè.
But the boy says you carried the brazier up yourself. And it is the eighth month.
- The Innkeeper 那是……那是客人要的！小二记错了！
Nà shì… nà shì kèren yào de! Xiǎo'èr jìcuò le!
That was... the guests asked for it! The boy remembers wrong!
- Judge Dee (Di Renjie) 那门闩呢？是谁把它闩上的？
Nà ménshuān ne? Shì shuí bǎ tā shuān shàng de?
And the door bolt? Who bolted it?
- The Innkeeper 是客人自己闩的！他们睡觉以前闩的！
Shì kèren zìjǐ shuān de! Tāmen shuìjiào yǐqián shuān de!
The guests bolted it themselves! Before they went to sleep!
- Hong Liang 大人，掌柜的床下面有一卷红线。和门闩上的线印一模一样。
Dàren, zhǎngguì de chuáng xiàmiàn yǒu yì juǎn hóngxiàn. Hé ménshuān shàng de xiàn yìn yì mú yí yàng.
My lord, there was a spool of red thread under the innkeeper's bed. It matches the mark on the bolt exactly.
- The Innkeeper 那……那是我缝衣服用的！
Nà… nà shì wǒ féng yīfu yòng de!
That's... that's what I sew my clothes with!
- Ma Rong 缝衣服？你的手指像萝卜一样粗，你会缝衣服？
Féng yīfu? Nǐ de shǒuzhǐ xiàng luóbo yíyàng cū, nǐ huì féng yīfu?
Sewing? Your fingers are as thick as carrots. You sew?
- Judge Dee (Di Renjie) 还有那箱银子。箱子上写着客人的名字，可是你把它埋在自己的后院里。
Hái yǒu nà xiāng yínzi. Xiāngzi shàng xiě zhe kèren de míngzi, kěshì nǐ bǎ tā mái zài zìjǐ de hòuyuàn lǐ.
And there's the box of silver. It bears a guest's name, yet you buried it in your own back yard.
- The Innkeeper ……大人，我，我没有话说了。
… Dàren, wǒ, wǒ méiyǒu huà shuō le.
...My lord, I... I have nothing more to say.
- The Innkeeper 那两位客人带着很多银子。我一看见，就想要。
Nà liǎng wèi kèren dài zhe hěnduō yínzi. Wǒ yí kànjiàn, jiù xiǎngyào.
The two guests carried so much silver. The moment I saw it, I wanted it.
- Judge Dee (Di Renjie) 那两位客人，只想平平安安地回家。你却让他们再也回不了家。
Nà liǎng wèi kèren, zhǐ xiǎng píngpíng ān'ān de huí jiā. Nǐ què ràng tāmen zài yě huí bu liǎo jiā.
Those two guests only wanted to go home safely. You made sure they never would.
- The Innkeeper 半夜，我把炭盆送上去，用线把门闩拉上，又把窗户纸贴好。
Bànyè, wǒ bǎ tànpén sòng shàngqu, yòng xiàn bǎ ménshuān lāshàng, yòu bǎ chuānghu zhǐ tiē hǎo.
At midnight I took up the brazier, pulled the bolt shut with the thread, and pasted the window paper closed.
- Judge Dee (Di Renjie) 世上没有鬼，只有一个人的贪心。来人，把他带下去，按大唐的法律处理。
Shìshang méiyǒu guǐ, zhǐyǒu yí gè rén de tānxīn. Lái rén, bǎ tā dài xiàqu, àn Dà Táng de fǎlǜ chǔlǐ.
There is no ghost, only one man's greed. Take him away. He will face the law of Tang.
- Hong Liang 大人才来三天，就破了一个大案子！那些不相信县官的人，明天一定会改口的。
Dàren cái lái sān tiān, jiù pò le yí gè dà ànzi! Nàxiē bù xiāngxìn xiànguān de rén, míngtiān yídìng huì gǎikǒu de.
Only three days here, my lord, and you've solved a big case! Those who didn't trust magistrates will change their tune tomorrow.
- Narrator 傍晚，县衙的大门口，有一位老太太跪在地上。
Bàngwǎn, xiànyá de dà ménkǒu, yǒu yí wèi lǎotàitai guì zài dì shàng.
At dusk an old woman knelt on the ground at the court gate.
- The Old Mother 大人……求求您……帮帮我的儿子！
Dàren… qiúqiú nín… bāngbang wǒ de érzi!
My lord... please... help my son!
- Judge Dee (Di Renjie) 老人家，快起来。您的儿子怎么了？
Lǎorenjia, kuài qǐlai. Nín de érzi zěnme le?
Please rise, grandmother. What has happened to your son?
- The Old Mother 他昨天还好好的，能吃能睡，还能挑两桶水。今天早上，他就没有呼吸了。
Tā zuótiān hái hǎohao de, néng chī néng shuì, hái néng tiāo liǎng tǒng shuǐ. Jīntiān zǎoshang, tā jiù méiyǒu hūxī le.
He was fine yesterday, eating and sleeping and carrying two buckets of water. This morning he was no longer breathing.
- Hong Liang 会不会是生病了？
Huì búhuì shì shēngbìng le?
Could it have been an illness?
- The Old Mother 大夫说是病，我的媳妇也说是病，她还急着要下葬。
Dàifu shuō shì bìng, wǒ de xífu yě shuō shì bìng, tā hái jí zhe yào xiàzàng.
The doctor says illness. My daughter-in-law says so too, and she's in a hurry to bury him.
- Judge Dee (Di Renjie) 他的身上，有没有伤？脸上，手上，有没有看得见的地方？
Tā de shēnshàng, yǒu méi yǒu shāng? Liǎnshàng, shǒushàng, yǒu méi yǒu kàn de jiàn de dìfang?
Is there any wound on his body? On his face, his hands, anywhere visible?
- The Old Mother 一点儿都没有，大人！可是我知道，我的儿子不是病死的！
Yìdiǎnr dōu méiyǒu, dàren! Kěshì wǒ zhīdao, wǒ de érzi búshì bìngsǐ de!
None at all, my lord! But I know my son did not die of illness!
Hear the chapter
What changed in the story?
- Where do Ma Rong and Qiao Tai find the innkeeper?
“旧谷仓”
- Why does the innkeeper's story about the brazier fail?
“炭盆是你自己端上去的。而且现在是八月。”
- What does Hong Liang find under the innkeeper's bed?
“掌柜的床下面有一卷红线。”
- Why did the innkeeper commit the crime?
“我一看见，就想要。”
- What does the old woman say about her son?
“我的儿子不是病死的！”