Frame 73

In the rare-books section of the city library, on shelf seventy-three, lies a fragment of a revised edition, tucked among the books without a title. The paper's curtain pattern looks Song, the printing on its replacement block looks Ming, and a missing stroke in a taboo character sits on the same line as a wormhole. The library's catalogue card reads, "Date undetermined." The missing half of the line comes after "following the mountain."

The first person to notice it lived across the hall from me. He wore a Sun Yat-sen suit, and always fastened it up to the second button. He said people called him Passerby.

Later, I followed him as he pored over that half-line countless times. Each time, the dynasty was different, the smell of rammed earth was different, and the direction of the bottom of the cup was different, but the way the text was missing never changed. Things can be added to the archives. Some words are not accepted by the pages.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.