Winter 1983, Tiexi District, Shenyang. Zhou Muye, a temporary worker in the boiler room, bent a ring out of scrap wire and did not dare to give it to the widow Lin Xiuzhi. In the next twenty-six years, they came close four times and missed four times: once destroyed by the flames in the furnace, once by the fire in the communication room, once by a white lie, and once by the death bell. Two rusty iron rings, one was cremated with her and the other was buried under the sycamore tree - never worn together, but never separated.
