Chapter Five: Who Is Living Her Life

Wen laughed. “Even the original has to audition for herself.” She called her father. He answered and hesitantly asked who she was. On a billboard below, the long-haired Wen ate breakfast beside him. Wen opened her mouth but could not produce the first syllable of Dad. Her voice seemed trapped behind glass. Jianwei closed the curtains. “Public belief strengthens replacement. What if the public starts doubting?” They needed something only the true Wen could do. Wen remembered a small southern theater where she had performed an unrecorded graduation play. The lines might be gone, but her body might remember the blocking. That night, Xiaoman used Long Hair's access code to enter backstage. Wen went on without makeup, wearing an old shirt.