The microphone is on. The red light is glowing. No one is speaking.
Jincheng, a declining chemical-industry city in the northeast. The fertilizer plant shut down fifteen years ago, and the young people have all left. The radio station is struggling too.
Lin Qiushi hosts Night Talk, the late-night call-in show on Jincheng People’s Radio, FM 97.6. She inherited her father’s job, notebook, and five ironclad rules. In the early-morning studio, she listens to people talk and only ever says, “Mm.”
A caller named Zhou Xiaoman phones in three nights in a row, describing someone standing outside the fertilizer plant. Lin Qiushi digs out her father’s notebook. Fourteen years ago, the same name, the same fertilizer plant, and the same description. Then her father wrote, “I’ll go check out the plant tomorrow night.” Then he died.
Fourteen years later, Zhou Xiaoman calls again. This time, Lin Qiushi decides to push the fader up. When she switches on “She Isn’t Zhou Xiaoman,” Lin Qiushi is faced with more than just a death that was covered up. Zhou Xiaoman really is gone, but she is still calling, guiding Lin Qiushi toward the evidence.
