Can Xue - Five Spice Street

‘‘But you haven’t given me your material!’’

‘‘Bah! Men are always like this. Listen to him, never satisfied, bothering you all the time, as if you owed him something. A charming woman is doomed in this world. Once you weaken and do what they want, they’ll soon want more! Within five minutes, they start in on you again, just like the hungry ghosts. They make all kinds of requests and say that’s what you promised them. What did I promise? What can a woman do? She certainly can’t get anything from men; all she can do is give all she has to them, but it still isn’t enough. They want still more, still more.’’

‘‘I didn’t ask you for anything. I just mentioned the material…’’ ‘‘Just! As if this isn’t much trouble! In my lifetime, how many men have said ‘just once more’ to me? And after once more, they want another once more. It never ends. Don’t they have even a little self-control and spirit of sacrifice? No! They just seek their own satisfaction!’’

‘‘Then shall I go home?’

‘‘Go home! You haven’t gotten what you wanted, so you go home! They’re all like this, all stamped out of the same mold. They don’t know what warmth is, what affection is, or what continuous longing is. They want just one thing, and if they don’t get it, they immediately show how cold they are inside. They just tell you loud and clear: I want to go home! They even purposely show you how tired they are, to frustrate you from head to toe. How can one bear this kind of world?’’

‘‘Just now, we were talking about X,’’ the writer nervously reminded her.

‘‘What does that have to do with me? Bah! Bah! I can’t even get a handle on my own situation-it drives me nuts-so why would I want to be concerned about X! Who is she? What’s she to me? Don’t change the subject-don’t try to pull any tricks! Is she the main point, or am I? How dare you diminish me? I’ll make you know who I am. Humph!’’

In the end, the writer couldn’t get any information from Old Woman Jin. She was really tight-mouthed. And more than that, she hurried to a meeting and made an appeal: she wanted ‘‘women to unite and fight off men’s encroachments, which are all too clearly under way-we can’t take them lightly.’’ After she finished her speech, she took out a dagger. Terrifying everyone, she sent a ‘‘flying dagger’’ to a wooden post in the back row of the hall. Everyone screamed and bedlam ensued, lasting as long as thirteen minutes.

‘‘I’m also a talented dancer,’’ she turned and said to the writer. ‘‘I’ve never had a chance to perform for you. I don’t cut a smart figure. Maybe now you want to take me seriously? Too bad it’s too late! I am many-layered: no one can see through me. If anyone thinks he can get something from me, that’s impossible-like a toad lusting after a swan. I don’t have illusions about people who claim to be artistic. What can any of you do?’’

To tie up all the threads, the writer finally described Madam X’s adultery in a few words: ‘‘It was carefully planned and calmly performed.’’ By the time he finished writing this, it was dawn. Gazing out the window, he saw the sky’s brilliant red over the hotel building: it was a day suffused with hope! A woman in blue flashed past the window: it was Madam X, the person who had brought the writer immense anguish and immense joy. The writer hurriedly stuck his head out the window to get a closer look, but then he discovered no one was there: it was only a sort of blue shadow drifting in the air. When he looked more attentively, even the shadow was gone; only some footsteps that seemed both familiar and suspicious sounded on the road. Dispirited, the writer fell onto the bed, and then all at once, his face glowed: he understood everything! He had gotten to the core of the matter! Finally, the tangles and detours of so much time could be summed up! Hallelujah! I salute you, my dear female colleague! I salute you, dear Old Woman Jin! And the sweet darkskinned lady, too! With a red pen, the writer decisively crossed out the words he had just written and wrote the following inspired words:

‘‘Madam X-this person who is both corporeal and non-existent- has left our history numerous riddles. It seems that one can’t reach a conclusion about any of her activities through logic and reason, because this person is an assumption that might not be true-like a tree with massive foliage but shaky roots which will fall to the ground if it is lightly pushed. The only true existence is the illusion, the foggy mist that aroused our enormous interest.’’

The Second Point: Big Changes in Madam X after the Adultery Began

The adultery definitely occurred. Although no one can be sure about the place and time, everyone knows it happened. Late one night, the writer took part in a meeting in a small, unlit room. Emotions ran high even among the most intelligent during the two hours and twenty-five minutes of this meeting; afterwards, opinions about this reached a consensus. Once the fact was established, Madam X virtually lost her freedom. Why do we have to say ‘‘virtually’’? Because, ostensibly, those of us on Five Spice Street did not stop her freedom of movement: we weren’t brought up to be like this. If someone goes about corrupting public morals, we certainly wouldn’t club her to death. We were well-mannered people. Our people just lowered their heads and didn’t look at her when they met her. When she went past, we all stared at her thin, frail back and cast a lot of cryptic looks. The staring could last for a long time (an hour at most). We expected that she would eventually sense it and figure it out by herself. We expected to restrict her activities in this indirect way, because we were very patient people. But it didn’t work for a long time. This woman remained callous. Even though groups of people were staring at her behind her back, her activities were still as unbridled as those of a three-year-old, and she was even wilder in what she said. More often than not, she’d take a flying leap while walking, despite all the people watching.

Now everyone sees the big changes in Madam X since this affair began; they couldn’t be any clearer. The writer didn’t have to do any investigating.

One big change was that in a short time her vision was restored. Almost everyone on Five Spice Street can confirm this. There were, of course, still a few questions. For example: Why did she still look as if she were floating when she walked? Why didn’t she look at anything while walking on the street? But her vision really was restored: especially when she talked with people, her eyes were almost ‘‘a pair of shining stars’’!

About two or three days after the adultery began, Madam X was selling peanuts in the snack shop. As she weighed the peanuts, she struck up a conversation with the widow in the little felt hat. She wasn’t looking either above the old woman’s head or at the ground, but was looking right at the old woman’s face. For some unknown reason, she insisted on calling the woman “Young Miss Chen,’’ as if she were deliberately trying to please her or as if the woman she saw really was a young girl-or maybe it was a little of both. The old woman was very excited. She blushed, and sweat appeared in the folds of her skin. She kept shrugging her shoulders, as if trying to produce a certain pose. ‘‘Her eyes are really strange. After being blind, they are now even brighter. I bet that they’re just like a micro- scope-truly incredible!’’ This old woman said this to everyone.

Among the others who verified that Madam X had regained her sight were the young coal worker and the widow’s forty-eight-year-old friend. The coal worker asserted that Madam X’s treatment of him had progressed from friendship to ‘‘intimacy,’’ and also that when they parted (they met at the snack shop), she had pounded him hard on the back three times and called him her ‘‘acrobatic boy.’’ Because of these three slaps, the coal worker’s back felt funny for several days. The forty-eight-year-old friend said, ‘‘Formerly, she acted so inconceivably superior as a result of her eye disease. She must have been secretly anguished and despairing. Yet, I could not forgive her for the disgraceful thing she’s done. The fact was unfortunately a fact, and it was unrelated to her eyes. There’s no way I can sympathize with her. Even if her eyes were never bad, even if from the very beginning she could see people, even if she hadn’t ignored me when I went into her home, I still couldn’t change my mind. I can’t compromise my principles. How come her eyes weren’t better either sooner or later? Why now? This can’t help her one bit. Madam X miscalculated this time!’’