Five Spice Street

Madam X and her husband manage a small snack shop located on the corner. They sell sauteed broad beans, fried broad beans, five spice melon seeds, plain melon seeds, sauteed peanuts, fried peanuts, and so on. They employ no workers. Every day the husband goes somewhere and hauls back fresh broad beans, peanuts, and melon seeds. Then they wash, cook, and sell them. Generally, they’re extremely busy, and all year long, aromas waft from this corner. We’ve mentioned that Madam X and her family are outsiders. Before coming here, what kind of work did they do? They never want to talk about this. Only when forced will they reply, with a smile, ‘‘We made our living by searching garbage heaps for odds and ends.’’ Finally, when there was a general survey of the residents, in the column on the form having to do with their prior work, they wrote ‘‘party cadres.’’ The neighbors were greatly surprised: if they had been ‘‘government employees’’ before coming here, then how had they sunk so low as to be running a snack shop, totally unrelated to the government? From being government employees to selling broad beans was like dropping from heaven into hell: had they caused some trouble in their office and been driven out? The residents of Five Spice Street believed that something terribly shocking was being covered up. Day and night, they felt uneasy. For example: why couldn’t these two ever just be like the others on Five Spice Street and become part of the community? Certainly no one had stopped them from doing this! Why did they always have to engage in secretive activity, causing others to be doubly wary and suspicious?

On the surface, they seemed urbane and ordinary, but the people of Five Spice Street sniffed out something not quite right-completely unusual-from their reserved manner and distracted demeanor. They intuitively sensed that they were dissidents, and on this basis excluded them from the Five Spice Street community. But these two not only continued their snack stand with a clear conscience, they gloried in it, as if this were some high-class livelihood worth flaunting. They also indoctrinated their son, Little Bao: if someone asked him what-ideally-he would choose to do when he grew up, he answered without hesitation, ‘‘Work in a snack shop.’’ The snack shop is Madam X and her husband’s public occupation. Madam X also has a secret business that everyone knows about; she chose a complicated name for it: ‘‘diversion to dispel boredom- or mischief-making.’’ Nobody can say for sure what this is: when others investigate, they learn nothing. If you question those who take part in it, it’s even more tangled and unclear, for they explain things in double-talk: ‘‘If you close your eyes, you’ll see the spectacle of spaceships and the Earth colliding,’’ ‘‘a twig poked through a red heart and a blue heart and hanging in midair,’’ ‘‘ten articles of clothing are hanging in the closet; if you take one out, you can sense the body heat in it.’’

From the first day that X came to Five Spice Street, she stealthily pursued this ‘‘diversion to dispel boredom.’’ Most who seek her out are boys and girls in their early teens. Her activity continues smoothly when they are present, but she doesn’t take any fee. (To tell the truth, Madam X’s expression is unfathomable; it’s still debatable whether she even sees these people who show up in her room.) Once, her activity was investigated by the authorities; then, because of insufficient evidence, she got away with paying a 100-yuan fine and spending a week being forced to study relevant regulations. After this incident, Madam X became even more aggressive and reckless. She didn’t mind being degenerate. What kind of activity is Madam X engaged in? What does her activity lead to, and does it have any influence? Why-as if possessed-do young boys and girls go to her small room? What lures them? It isn’t just the government’s investigative unit but also the much-admired widow who can’t answer these questions.

The widow broke into Madam X’s inner room numerous times at night, using her admirable spirit of exploration, and spent several nights with Madam X and her young confederates. She left no stone unturned in her questioning. She even placed a stethoscope, cold, on the napes of their necks to listen from behind their backs. She took great pains but learned very little indeed.