The author's collection of the famous Dutch writer includes two fascinating detective stories. While drinking tea on the terrace, Judge Dee notices a gibbon jumping from branch to branch and playing with a ring decorated with a huge emerald. And soon the corpse of a man with his fingers cut off is discovered in an abandoned forest hut... Heading to a new place of duty, Judge Dee is forced to stop in a secluded estate. The judge doesn't believe in ghosts, but how else can you explain what's happening here?