take an old man home

In the evening of March 22, Lao Lin's plane landed at Shanghai Pudong Airport. On that day, the epidemic in Shanghai was about to come, and he didn't know that, but he had to come back, because his hometown called a few days ago to tell him that his old mother was critically ill, and he wanted to see him one last time before she died.

Before returning to China, he helped his son look at the store in Mozambique. In recent years, it has been difficult to make money in China. Many people from his hometown of Fuqing, Fujian have gone to Africa to start a small business. There are no direct domestic flights from Mozambique, so this time the father and son had to fly to Addis Ababa, where they would be quarantined for seven days.

In those days, he was not used to Ethiopian food, and his daughter Yueqin, who was far away from home, comforted him during a video call: "It's good to go back to China. As long as you set foot on Chinese soil, you don't have to worry about anything."

After the test was normal, the father and son flew for 12 hours and finally set foot on the long-lost Chinese land. After entering the country, they stayed at the Park Inn at City Plaza on Tianmu West Road in Shanghai that night. According to domestic epidemic prevention regulations, they have to quarantine in Shanghai for 14 days.

The days of isolation are like years. Every day, I watch the dying old mother on the video side, but on this side I am stuck in the hotel and can't move. He knew that the old mother was just holding on with the tone of "seeing her son for the last time", but no one knew whether she could last until the end of the quarantine. That was torture for everyone.

In those days, they watched the rising number of infections in Shanghai every day. However, Shanghai still insisted on not closing the city, and it seemed that at least they could go home as scheduled. On the evening of March 27, bad news came: Shanghai was shut down by the river, and the epidemic prevention measures were suddenly upgraded to an incomprehensible level.

On April 6, they finally completed 14 days of isolation. However, worse news came: on this day, he tested positive for nucleic acid. He didn't know what was going on, but as a rule he had to be immediately transferred to an isolation hospital for further observation. My son's nucleic acid result was fine, but he was worried that he was alone and wanted to stay with him, but the quarantine hotel said that you must go, or you will have to go to Shanghai after the lockdown is lifted.

In this way, he was transferred to Zhabei Hospital in Jing'an District for a follow-up consultation on April 7. It was found that it was a false positive. After another week of investigation, nothing was found, but the life was more difficult. He has been abroad for a long time, and his mobile phone did not have a domestic card. When the hotel was isolated, his son helped him to connect to the wifi, but in the isolated hospital, the wifi signal was very poor, and it was even difficult to video with his family.

He is 61 years old, and he is not familiar with the functions of mobile phones. He is limited to making calls, sending text messages, and using WeChat on weekdays. Now, he suddenly has to rely on this mobile phone to survive.

Fortunately, there is a doctor-patient group in the hospital, and her daughter Yueqin also joined in. I asked the doctors in the group how to buy daily necessities. The doctor said that I can only contact Meituan and Hungry. Wechat, help Dad place orders, buy tissue, apples, bananas, etc. to the hospital. At this juncture, only these errand brothers know where to buy supplies.

On April 15, the hospital informed him to be discharged from the hospital and then transferred to the Shanghai Hotel, but after arriving there, since his nucleic acid report was normal and he didn't even check in, he was directly issued a "Notice of Release from Quarantine" on the spot and asked to leave by himself, Don't stay.

His bizarre misfortune had only just begun: before he left the hotel, he suddenly discovered to his horror that although the quarantine was lifted, his health code was still red. He can't go anywhere.

There were four people like him who came out of the isolation hospital to the Shanghai hotel together. One of them transferred the green code after being released from isolation and left first. The other three seemed to be stuck in the revolving door.

I went to the doctor in the isolation hotel, but the doctor also said that there was nothing I could do, saying that I could only click "I want to appeal" under the red code. Lao Lin is not very good at doing these things. A young man from Hong Kong who is in the same situation as him has complained several times, but it is completely useless.

Quarantine hotels are no longer available, because it is a designated hotel that only accepts people returning from abroad for quarantine. After the quarantine period expires, you will be kicked out-theoretically, you are "free".

When they "released the quarantine" from the hotel, they called the police, and there were indeed three police officers, but they couldn't do anything with the red health code, let alone enter the police station. Suggestion: Call the Culture and Tourism Bureau to see if you can stay for one night; now that the bus has stopped, and the taxi cannot be called, after the nucleic acid report comes out, try to walk towards the airport or train station as much as possible. However, I contacted the Culture and Tourism Bureau. In a special situation like them, they could neither isolate nor stay normally, and there was no place to receive them.

There was nothing they could do. They had to go to the nearby Huashan Hospital together and do another round of nucleic acid testing. Before the results came out, because of the red code, they had no place to receive them and could only live on the streets. It was already 5 o'clock after leaving the hospital. It was still a bit chilly at dusk in early spring in Shanghai. The market was depressed, all the shops were closed, and the roads were almost empty.

He has no relatives or friends in Shanghai, and even if he did, he would not know how to find refuge under the lockdown. To make matters worse, the mobile phone is about to run out of power. Once I cut off contact with my family and I don’t have RMB in my pocket, I will be completely isolated. I don’t even know if the health code has turned green. leave Shanghai. He never thought that he might starve to death silently on the streets of Shanghai. Who would believe that such a thing will happen in Shanghai in 2022.

Ah Tian was worried that it would be difficult for him to live alone, and stayed by his side all the time. Both of them don't speak Mandarin very well, but fortunately there is no problem in communication. Fortunately, Ah Tian still has a serving of self-heating rice, which can always support a dinner. But the last meal didn't last, and no one knew how long it would last on the desolate streets of Shanghai.

The daughter Yueqin, who is far away from her hometown, has no other choice but to continue calling the errand brother in a series of life-threatening serial calls. I beg him to do me a favor. If you can't buy a lunch box, then buy at least three power banks and a quilt. Mozambique is not cold, and he didn't expect such a thing to happen in Shanghai. There was no clothes in Lao Lin's luggage to keep out the cold. Fortunately, before his phone's power ran out, the errand brother arrived, bringing a power bank and a quilt. Ironically, as soon as it was delivered to the charging treasure, A Tian found a charging pile on the side of the road.

He and Ah Tian wandered hungry in the deserted streets of this prosperous city. They found a sheltered corner on the street in the middle of the night, wrapped in quilts, and slept in a curled up night. Although physically and mentally exhausted, it is not like the bed at home after all. Not to mention it is very uncomfortable. They are also afraid that the night will be cold. Countless times, confirming that he and his companions are still alive.

When I opened my eyes, it was dawn, they were still alive, but the whole city seemed to be dead. They were trapped in this empty city, with cold hands and feet, unable to move an inch. At noon, a kind eldest sister came over to ask a few questions, and gave them a meal. She said that she had seen you wandering the streets all day. The heat of the food brought tears to my eyes.

At 5 pm on April 16, after 24 hours, they went to Huashan Hospital for nucleic acid testing. The report the day before was negative, but for some reason, the health code is still red. The whole thing is incomprehensible, not knowing what's wrong, not making sense, but you just can't move.

After the nucleic acid was done, they were unkempt and dragging their luggage. They were passing by the patrolling police. They just wanted to ask for help, but what they didn't expect was that the police reprimanded them not to stay here, otherwise they would be driven away with batons. Only then did they realize that, I haven't looked in the mirror for a long time, and I have become a homeless person in the eyes of the other party.

During the waiting time, they, Yueqin, and Xiaolin have gone through various channels to appeal, but they have all gone to naught; the 24-hour public helpline has also been tried one by one, but to no avail. I also found all the interpersonal networks, and even found the chairman of the Shanghai Fuqing Chamber of Commerce, but under the current strict city closure measures, even the chairman is helpless. Originally, Yueqin had finally managed to book a hotel. As long as the nucleic acid was negative, they could check in, but when they walked over, they found that the hotel was also blocked, and the money was not refunded. Finally, they had to call Ctrip to deal with it.

When they were about to despair, another policeman saw them and gave them a meal and two bottles of water. The police also know that this is only a temporary solution, but now they have nowhere to go, so they recommended a homeless shelter for them, but, "There may be positives in it, do you dare to go?"

They dare not. If you are really infected with positive, it will be even more difficult to get out of trouble. A doctor told Ah Tian to do the nucleic acid more times, but it is unclear how many times the nucleic acid will turn green, and if there is no food or shelter, how many days can it be boiled? Dragging luggage, physical strength is being lost at a speed within reach, and if this goes on, it will freeze to death.

Forced to be helpless, Yueqin could only ask for help in various WeChat groups. At 19 o'clock on the evening of April 16, she wrote a description of the situation of her father and A Tian, and at the end said, "I implore the government to help." What she didn't expect was that she didn't hold out much hope, but she actually received overwhelming enthusiasm, which instantly became a hot topic in the group, and even those who dived on weekdays came out to help out.

Some people say, should you buy a tent for camping? Or, if the hotel is closed, try to see if there are any B&Bs willing to take the risk and accept it? One said: "I have a premature suggestion: the public toilet has clean water, and it is considered a place to sleep." This is shocking at first, but it seems to be correct when you think about it, at least it can protect from the wind and rain.

Some people also said that it might be useful to let that Hong Kong person make a phone call in English to complain? But the 12345 hotline can't get through directly, so you can leave a message in the applet, and there is no English option at all. Some people say that you can try the State Council client, it is said that the high-level response is fast. However, there are countless extremely urgent requests for help, and no one cares about the urgent ones.

Others said that they should continue to look for the police and find a way to make things worse, or they might simply think backwards and say, "Go to the door of the bank and shout for robbery. The detention center has at least something to eat and drink. I'm serious, I'm not joking, I'm looking for If you don’t have a weapon, pick up a wine bottle or a brick and threaten to frighten the epidemic prevention personnel. The police will take you away soon. It’s really no problem to eat and drink these days.” Yueqin said, “Alas, my dad is introverted, let me It is very difficult for him to do this kind of thing, and good people have been used to it all his life.”

A friend of mine, Amei, is also in that group. At 8 pm, she found me and asked me if I could do anything in Shanghai. I'm ashamed, I'm stuck at home myself and have no choice but to help forward.

In the group of friends in Shanghai, one of them came up with an idea: "Find a reliable person to give him a screenshot of the nucleic acid code, although it may break the law." Some people feel that doing nucleic acid is useless, and they can only continue to make calls to complain. But there is also a friend who was inexplicably assigned a yellow code: "There is no store now that will accept people with a red code. It's useless to talk about it. My experience is that you can only do nucleic acid and wait for the program to change to a green code. , I have called 12345 to complain for two days, but it is useless, I am now living under the yellow code and running around tenaciously."

At the end, another friend sighed: "It would be nice if it were in our small place, and we could still rely on the network to make a difference." This is an ironic fact: the "network" that is hated by people on weekdays, It might be a lifesaver at this point.

Amei mobilized almost all the relatives and friends she knew in Shanghai. In the end, her old classmate did not know how to get in touch with a hotel-style apartment. She could come and pick up two people at night to check in, and she also helped them buy instant noodles. , even sent by car.

While waiting for the car to arrive, at 11:30 in the middle of the night, Lao Lin's health code turned green, and even he himself didn't know what was going on. Later I understood the friend who said that this may be because the nucleic acid test data of the isolation point and the identity itinerary information did not match in time, indicating that you are still in the isolation hospital, but the red code is still there, "The big data has collapsed several times. , this is not impossible.”

At 1 o'clock in the middle of the night, they were taken to a hotel-style apartment. However, this apartment was controlled at 12 o'clock according to regulations. After more than an hour of stalemate, Lao Lin gave up. After the health code turned green, his son had helped to grab the high-speed rail ticket at 9 am the next morning. He was afraid of being locked up in Shanghai again. A Mei's friend found a fellow villager to help, and got a car to help take the old man to Hongqiao High-speed Railway Station. Go there at 2 o'clock, sleep on the ground in the square in front of the station for three hours, and you can enter after 5 o'clock.

After saying goodbye to Lao Lin in tears, at 3 o'clock, Ah Tian's health code also turned green. Taking advantage of the security's inattentiveness, he climbed over the wall and entered the serviced apartment, and finally managed to live in it. Yueqin and Amei were still worried about his safety, but they found out early the next morning that he had lost contact, and he didn't reply to WeChat or answer the phone. By noon, I finally received his news, but I was so tired that I couldn't get a ticket last night, so I fled Shanghai as soon as I got a ticket.

After the matter calmed down, Amei told me about it, and I learned that she and Yueqin had never met at all. They just happened to be in the same group. Her classmates, fellow classmates, and Lao Lin’s family naturally had a better relationship. Unacquainted. She said that she really felt that the old man was too miserable and could not bear it. "I was so excited last night that I didn't sleep well because of this incident. I am really happy to be able to help others."

I asked Yueqin, did your father go home after all the hardships and dangers, did he catch up to see his old mother for the last time? She choked and said, no, my grandmother was buried in Fuqing yesterday, when my dad was living on the streets of Shanghai, "Grandma was angry with him, two days before his death, my dad posted a video, but she refused to open her eyes to watch it. He, said: 'I'm going to die, and he can't come back to see me.'"

Please forgive him. It really wasn't his fault. He and all of us did our best.