The protagonist alone rents a basement in the fifth ring of Beijing. Beijing has just been chilled in the winter, and the basement is cold. In addition to going out to find work, the only thing he can do is to be wrapped in bed and read poetry, which seems to expel a little chill. One morning he vaguely heard someone knocking at the door. When he opened the door, he found nobody. There was a letter without an address and a post. It said: Is it snowing in Beijing? Apart from doubts, he cursed this boring man in his heart, which made him as lonely as if he had been ridiculed by life. But "is it snowing in Beijing?" The question was buried deep in his heart, as if it were a new life in his uninteresting life, and it caught his attention. Since then, he has often received the same letters, but the snow has never fallen in Beijing.