When Lin Xiaoman found the tin box in the attic, the cobwebs were hanging gently on the carved wooden beams. She pushed aside the hanging gray wadding, and the rust on the corners of the iron box rubbed against her fingertips, like crushed rust-red paint. This was an object dug out from the bottom of my great-grandmother's camphor wood box when I moved. There are still crescent-shaped indentations in the recessed area of the box lid, as if it had been struck by something round for many years.
