"You didn't see wrong, did you? It's been fourteen years since we last saw Mrs. Li." Mrs. Nangong shook her head, expressing disbelief at her husband's words.

"At first, I thought I had misidentified her too," Mr. Nangong suddenly felt extremely thirsty and rose to pour himself a glass of water. The thermos stood forlornly in the kitchen. He felt a moment of disorientation, as if he had just packed the thermos into a moving box, yet here it was, sitting in its usual spot. He wondered if he was just tired today, or if his mind was playing tricks.

"What is it? Hurry up and tell me!" Mrs. Nangong urged, pulling her husband's thoughts away from the insignificant thermos in front of him.

"Here's what happened," Mr. Nangong gathered his thoughts. "Old Li was cremated this morning. His family pulled a lot of strings with the funeral home, insisting he be the very first cremation slot, so his ashes wouldn't mix with anyone else's. So, I got up very early, arriving at the funeral home before dawn to help out. When I got there, only Old Li's daughter was present; the body hadn't been moved to the wake hall yet. Old Li's daughter begged me to do her a favor. She said her father was still wearing the ring he married her mother in on his finger, and that ring would surely be taken by Old Li's son and daughter-in-law during the cremation. They weren't born of the same mother, and for the others, taking it would only be about greed, holding no other meaning, whereas for her, it was the most precious relic left by her parents. She asked me to go to the cold storage unit and retrieve it for her."

"Why didn't she go and get it herself?" Mrs. Nangong interjected.

"Just listen to the rest of the story!" Mr. Nangong took a sip of water. It was perfectly warm and incredibly refreshing, so he gulped down two more mouthfuls, wiped the moisture from his lips, and continued, "She's just a girl; going into the morgue terrified her, let alone opening the cold storage unit to remove a ring from her own father's body. Furthermore, when Old Li was alive, he often spoke about missing his late wife and repeatedly told me he couldn't bear to take off the wedding ring he shared with her—he'd even fought with his subsequent wife about it many times. I know the origin of that ring, and Old Li's daughter wanting it back was perfectly reasonable, so I agreed to retrieve it for her."

"And you just went in? The funeral home staff didn't say anything?" Mrs. Nangong interrupted again.

"Can you stop cutting in so much? The morgue isn't a shopping mall; most people avoid walking near it, even if the doors were wide open, no one would venture inside." Mr. Nangong was annoyed, gesticulating animatedly, which made Mrs. Nangong stifle a giggle.

"Alright, alright, continue. What does this have to do with Mrs. Li?" Mrs. Nangong managed to suppress her laughter.

"Mrs. Li... I haven't even gotten to Mrs. Li yet. I promised Old Li's daughter I would help her get the ring. So, steeling my nerves, I walked toward the morgue from the back door of the wake hall. That morgue was truly a grim and terrifying place. It was the middle of June outside, scorching hot when the sun came out. I stepped out of the air-conditioned wake hall and could feel the heat blast me, but when I reached the door of the morgue, a wave of chilling cold shot out from within, making me jump. June, I tell you! Even with the air conditioning set to eighteen degrees, standing at the morgue door shouldn't feel bone-chillingly cold, yet it was unnaturally frigid there.

"When I pushed the door open, there was a very, very long corridor inside, lined with countless doors on either side, each marked with a number above it. Following the number Old Li's daughter gave me, I located the room where the body was stored. Inside that room, a row of cold storage units lined the base of the wall. Old Li’s body was in unit A12. I searched and searched, and after a long time, I found that the last digit on the A1X row of units was very faded, making it impossible to distinguish one from the next. So, I counted from the left and opened the second unit, only to find it empty. Then, I counted from the right and opened the second one—also empty. Just as I was wondering how both the second units from either side could be vacant, a thumping sound, dong, dong, dong, came from the fifth unit counting from the left, as if someone inside were knocking with their fist."