Five Spice Street

It seems we’ve hinted that the much-admired widow was both frigid and chaste. However, don’t think that just because of this, she was some sexless saint. In fact, we’d better state just the opposite. She herself thinks so. She’s always been confident about this, and with good reason. First, there’s her figure. In the eyes of male connoisseurs, it’s ‘‘steamy hot.’’ Her breasts and buttocks are ‘‘uncommonly ample’’ and ‘‘provocative.’’ (These were a certain middle-aged man’s words, which the widow had noted down.) She was so innately stunning that even a dry stick would sense its male lust. (Of course, those androgynous pieces of garbage aren’t included.) The widow’s sexual power puts her in an awkward position. That is to say, she attracts numerous men, but keeps her chastity and can’t ‘‘go beyond friendship with anybody.’’ Therefore, she has never fully displayed her charms. We’ll illuminate this below with some excerpts from her speech. i. ‘‘I’ve always been irresistible. Men from twenty to fifty are all crazy about me. Sometimes I’m awakened at midnight by these hungry ghosts rapping on the lattice: it sounds like thunder. Sometimes I feel it’s all nonsense. Too much sex appeal is disastrous for a woman. I want to live quietly, but they won’t let me. Some handsome men have beautiful, charming wives (not as hot as I am, of course), but if they see me even once, they start pining away, they actually fall ill from wanting me. I actually wish I weren’t so sexy; it doesn’t do me any good, and it causes other people great pain. But a person can’t choose. This is how I am, and there’s something gratifying about it: I can lead admirers down the right path and thus cleanse society and improve people. So even if it’s a calamity to be ‘hot,’ it’s also a woman’s good fortune: sex is powerful, and with it women can dominate society.’’

2. ‘‘Most men are brainless and indulge in fantasies. They need us strong women to lead them. Especially today, when traditional aesthetic sentiments are under fire, we can see their cowardly nature even more clearly. In the end, some deviants pursue a kind of nihilistic, monstrous stimulant that is profoundly toxic and incurable, similar to homosexuality: both are unhealthy and abnormal. I think one reason for this phenomenon is women’s frailty. Because they lack confidence in their sexuality and are never active, they’ve lost control over men. They’ve surrendered to men’s tyranny and ended up with nothing but self-pity. In fact, it could have been quite different. We should have understood the function of our own bodies and attracted and controlled men that way and then tamed them. Although weirdos like Madam X live in this world, she’s certainly not omnipotent. This much I know. I could reel in every man she’s had a relationship with whenever I want. Each of them would drool over me. If my nature were different, I might become another Scarlett O’Hara, but this is my nature, and it’s only because of this that a misfit like X can prevail for so long-and carry on with her occult activities. It’s because X knows my nature so well that she can act like this without worrying. She puts me in an untenable position. I look ‘hot,’ but decades of self-cultivation dissipated my lust a long time ago. The result is that I can’t act to prove her deceit and weakness. Nor will I stoop to fight with her for affection. I can’t degrade myself by doing that…’’

3. ‘‘Men’s sexual power is useless; it has no impact on life. Yet, a woman’s sex is her magic weapon for defeating the outside world and revealing the significance of her existence. I simply can’t imagine men with sexual power. Maybe women see all men-ugly, handsome, old, young-as basically the same as long as their organs are functioning. They all exert themselves in action. Maybe some are a little stronger than others, but there’s no essential distinction among them. Sexual power is unique to women: it is a kind of selfconsciousness about one’s bodily functions. When this consciousness sharpens, a woman becomes like a goddess. At that moment, each of her movements-each frown, each smile-makes men weak: they are shaken to the depths. (From these few words, it’s clear our widow has reached a high level of philosophical understanding. We can’t but admire this: she has dug deeply into the science of sex, and has done so on her own.) Under such conditions, if a woman can control herself and abstain from sex, her mysterious sex appeal will become fuller and riper until it sweeps all before her. (These words outraged the young and middle-aged men on Five Spice Street; they were unanimous: ‘If a woman exists just for the sake of this nutty idea, isn’t she just a ‘‘flower vase’’?’ They also said if there were a woman like this in their family, they’d ‘beat the shit out of her.’) Society these days is so prurient, and all the blame lies with us women: we’re too lax, too lethargic.’’