Can Xue - Five Spice Street

Madam X: Before I pick up my toes, I must have the will to do so. But I prefer to stay where I am, wait for the crack to blast open, and then play it by ear. Do you think I’ve stayed too long? I’ve just begun! Ha, in every moment it begins! There is the fuchsia-colored glow of the weak sunset! Do I still have time to sort it out? I will decide. There is always a possible scheme. It emerges suddenly from chaos, like the lurking shark.

The sister: You have no choice. Look at that crack, look at that crack: it has already stretched from your feet to the edge of the ice. The shark has opened its mouth and is waiting on the reef over there. This water is so frighteningly black! It’s so cold I’ll soon freeze to death.

Madam X: I hear there isn’t much time. Must this drama end? Finally, do I-this woman who sells peanuts-have to grit my teeth and hold out until the end, and flip my body-wounded all over by arrows-into the sea? Wait, I still want to do something whimsical: I want to dance on this sheet of ice. It’s so bright! So bright!

The sister: Let’s go, let’s go. It’s getting dark. Who’s shouting? I’m scared to death.

Madam X: Who’s there? Who are you? How can you stay there? Go away! I don’t like spectators, not even friends or relatives: all of you hinder me. That time in the mountain gully, they acknowledged my steely heart. Go away! You gossipy woman! I never believed there could be any scheme that would be satisfactory to both sides. I have always been capricious, contemptible, and abnormal. Just go away! Don’t exaggerate: it has nothing to do with winning or losing. I’ve done no more than find a different place to observe the stars. Heaven is so bright, the stars have passed by. Go!!

After her sister left, Madam X picked up a flashing sliver of ice and kept reflecting heaven’s dim light in it. Sometimes she squatted, sometimes she stood. Then she struck the ice beneath her feet with an ice brick, freeing her feet. Perhaps someone thought she would get away, but she didn’t. She sat down at the edge of the floating ice and thrust her feet into the black water. In a flash, she dreamed of the southern jungle and also of the swamps. She went on dreaming this way as she sat there elegantly with her eyes open. She was humming some song, and at the same time, the crack kept widening and breaking up the ice. The next day at dawn, her sister returned and saw that Madam X’s face had grown rosy, and that she was more ‘‘radiant and beautiful’’ than she’d ever been, and was so ‘‘amiable’’ that the sister felt ‘‘a great load had been lifted from her shoulders.’’ She finally made up her mind not to interfere.

But there was another question: Would the people on Five Spice Street be indifferent to Madam X’s predicament? Was it possible that they were too busy to notice? Or would they be uninterested and look on with one eye closed? In fact, they didn’t know where Madam X was, nor had they heard about the floating ice. This was Madam X’s secret. You could say it was a fairyland. We had known for a long time that Madam X was a sort of sorceress. She could fabricate miracles-couldn’t she also fabricate a fairyland? So she made up her mind to stay away from the crowds and to dwell on a floating sheet of ice. This was no more than a whim, a fairyland that ordinary people couldn’t enter. Even her own sister could reach only the side of the enclosure and encounter her ‘‘meditation.’’ With it, she could be a stranger to her own sister. Her ability had actually become more and more mighty. She could enter ‘‘a meditative state’’ at any time and at any place. When speaking with her, a certain person would sometimes notice that her sight was fixed, while her expression was roving. How would this person know that in this instant she had probably gone beyond the highest heavens! It was a big joke. We kicked up a fuss, followed her, and held meetings-in short, we took it quite seriously. She, however, was fine: she was sound asleep on the floating ice! We didn’t know her secret, yet we were confident and persistent, blindly following the set path to the end.

Only years later did the younger sister reveal Madam X’s magical ability. Word spread until everyone knew. Only then, feeling lost, did we remember a little something. Then someone shouted, ‘‘All our efforts gave full consideration to her intrigue. We were really canny!’’

The little sister retorted: how did he know her older sister’s ability? That wasn’t possible. He was just talking. It didn’t affect Madam X in the least. She never let anyone see her deploy her magic. She didn’t use props. Her ability now was much loftier than when she’d been doing research with mirrors and microscopes. That research could be called low-level by comparison. Only now was she truly inventing and creating. No one else, including her followers, could attain this level. Not even she-her younger sister. As for the ordinary people, they were completely out of reach of Madam X’s realm. If one kept probing, one might see some unusual expression on Madam X’s face, but nothing more. She performed a special magic. Although her soul was wandering, she appeared no different from anyone else. She had never paraded her newly attained ability, nor did she think she was above others. Quite the opposite. She was a little diffident. She didn’t want others to be aware of her new magical ability. The little sister-who had lived with Madam X and been influenced by her-approached the border of her older sister’s fairyland several times, but though she had some sense of it, she couldn’t completely understand it.

‘‘It makes the heart quake,’’ she said with a silly solemnity that elicited amused guffaws from the crowd.

‘‘Who needs her to advertise this?’’ someone sneered. “You can’t believe a word she says-like in a quack medicine show. Does she think we can’t see through it? Magic ability? My ass! A person’s brilliance has to be demonstrated at some point or it’s just rubbish, words, a silver tongue. Special ability has to be shown. People have to see it. Are we blind? We’ve observed her closely for a long time. Where have we seen any fairyland? It must have been stage fright that made her pretend to be in a trance in order to fool people. Perhaps it’s simply that she was sleepy and some muddle-headed persons among us mistook her sleepiness for a magic trick and started spreading nonsense. People can sense magic. If they can’t perceive it, then it doesn’t exist. We can’t believe a certain foolish girl’s boasting.’’

The crowd’s indifference wasn’t groundless. The floating ice or the region beyond the highest heavens was a private concern, with no connection to the outside world or influence over them. Why should we want to trouble ourselves with thinking about this? Didn’t we have enough to do in a day? If Madam X enjoyed it and was infatuated with it, fine. But if she wanted to attract our sedate, serious attention with it-no way!

After Madam X and Mr. Q snuck undetected into the dark granary, we imagined what happened next. There’s just one major unanswered question: who took the offensive-that is, who made the first move?

At the meeting in the dark room, our elites approached this sensitive subject from three different perspectives. After vehement debate, the group finally agreed with the first speaker. They reached their conclusion through a systematic analysis based on comparative studies in the context of a grand historical vision. Several major scholars and sociologists, with important roles in Five Spice Street’s ideological realm, took part. The third speaker (Dr. C) impatiently asserted his viewpoint, never imagining that this would lead to a fiasco: the elites of our community shouldn’t be underestimated!