The Traveling Is Over; Back to Normal Life

I do not like rushing about, especially not traveling fully kitted out during a pandemic, but for the past week or more I have been traveling everywhere. During a pandemic, eating, drinking, toileting, and sleeping away from home all require great care; if there were no compelling reason, I would not venture out under such circumstances.

On the evening of November 8, I finally arrived in Beijing, returning earlier than originally planned. Because I watched pandemic news every day, I felt very uneasy, fearing that if Hubei also reported new cases I would be unable to buy a ticket back to Beijing. My child is in high school and needs my companionship and supervision.

When I deplaned at Daxing Airport, I took a taxi. The driver told me he had been queuing at the airport for eight hours that day, and I was his first passenger. Business at the airport was so depressed that, without asking, one knows how many people's livelihoods have been affected.

Throughout the journey I wore an N95 mask, medical gloves, and medical goggles; I did not eat or drink along the way. I am not afraid of catching COVID-19; I am afraid of being quarantined. But the China Eastern flight I was on actually served dinner, so the epidemic-prevention work on the plane was simply a joke. At dinner time, many people took off their masks to eat, while some, like me, kept their masks on throughout.

After returning to Beijing, I am living separately from my family, planning to self-isolate for a week or two, and only after confirming that the regions I passed through, the hotels I stayed in, and the flights I took are all clear, will I go back to live with them. Before arriving, I had my wife prepare oil, salt, rice, flour, and eggs at my isolation location; I came straight there after getting home, avoiding going out as much as possible.

After arriving in Beijing, except for going to the vegetable garden when there are few people to pick some vegetables, I basically stay in my room reading. Even when I go out, I avoid everyone as much as possible, wearing a mask and keeping more than a meter's distance from people. Although I returned from a so-called low-risk area, the world is unpredictable; no one knows whether, upon waking up, they will find themselves a close contact.

For most of the past month I have been self-isolating. After returning from Beijing to the village, I isolated at home for two weeks before visiting relatives. On November 6, more than two weeks after returning to the village, I went to the hospital for a nucleic acid test. On November 8, I flew from Wuhan back to Beijing; I plan to take another nucleic acid test after my self-isolation in Beijing ends, and then reunite with my family. I do not want to cause trouble for anyone. My wife teaches at a school, and my son is in his second year of high school; a single careless move would cause a whole crowd of people to be quarantined because of me.

This trip home I installed a few cameras at home. It has been nearly three years since I was last home, and I do not know when I will be able to return next time. The elderly at home have no one to care for; with a camera, I can at least remotely see how they are doing at home and communicate with them through the camera, so they are not so lonely. In this special era, without these high-tech products, maintaining family bonds would be such a difficult thing.

Although I can no longer frequently travel between Huanggang and Beijing as before, being able to stay for over half a month in the place I miss day and night on this trip is enough to comfort my heart. The value of a person lies in being content; in such an era, we cannot expect too much.

At home, most of the things I needed to settle have been settled, and those I did not have time to settle I have now let go. After returning to Beijing, I have far fewer worries. This journey is over; it is time to return to normal life and continue studying and researching TCM anticancer therapy.