Winter, 1983. Tiexi District, Shenyang. Zhou Muye, a temporary worker in the boiler room, bent a ring out of scrap wire but didn’t dare give it to Lin Xiuzhi, a widow. Over the next twenty-six years, they came close four times and missed each other four times: once because of a furnace fire, once because of a fire in the gatehouse, once because of a well-intentioned lie, and once because of the tolling of death’s bell. In the end, one of their two rusted iron rings was cremated with her, and the other was buried beneath a paulownia tree. They were never worn together, yet they would never be apart again.
