Didi driver stuck in quarantine zone reunites with girlfriend
Peng Hui reunites with his girlfriend after 14-day quarantine.
Didi driver Peng Hui rushed to hug his girlfriend Xiao Lei after his 14-day quarantine ended early Saturday.
His enforced isolation was a matter of bad luck. Just minutes after he dropped off a passenger at the Mingtianhuacheng residential complex, it was declared shutdown after the discovery of COVID-19 cases.
Xiao worked overtime on Friday night but she managed to arrive hotfoot to the complex in Pudong’s Zhoupu Town from downtown at 11:50pm, 10 minutes before the community lockdown was lifted, to pick up her boyfriend.
When they met, she couldn’t help bursting into tears, and Peng’s eyes were also filled with tears.
She had been allowed to greet Peng from a distance outside the cordon line when she came to send him sweaters and coats to brace for drops in temperatures during his quarantine. This time, they could finally feel each other for real.
“What I want to do most right now is to hug him,” she said. “We rarely stay apart for so many days, and I want to spend the weekend with him.”
Peng seemed not to have suffered from the quarantine as he looks a little bit fatter than before, which according to Xiao, made her feel reassured.
“We chatted late every night after he finished his work,” she said. “I’m really grateful for the help and care he received here, which shows the light of humanity.”
Peng said: “I was kind of nervous at the very start when I was put under quarantine, but my girlfriend has been encouraging me all the time. Without her, I wouldn’t be able to put myself together so quickly.”
Due to the community lockdown, they failed to celebrate their sixth anniversary. So, he prepared a hand-written love letter to her, with signatures of volunteers and residential committee workers as blessings.
Peng said they were planning marriage next year, and unexpectedly, their love has grown stronger after 14-day separation.
Xiao said: “I didn’t misjudge him. He’s a companion worthy of me.”
The 35-year-old Peng, from Xinghua City in Jiangsu Province, has been working in Shanghai for more than 10 years. He became a driver on Didi Chuxing, China's leading online ride-sharing platform, in July after he lost his job due to the pandemic.
He drove a passenger to the complex about 9:30pm on November 20. Two to three minutes later when he was about to leave, the complex shut its doors. He was completely bewildered.
Soon, two buses of medical workers arrived. Everyone in the complex, including Peng, was told to take nucleic acid tests. It took about five hours to test more than 6,000 people in a total.
That night, he ate snacks he had on hand and spent night in his car. He had thought he would be permitted to leave once the result came negative. However, the next morning, he got to know that the complex was listed as a medium-risk region and he had to receive two more tests. He then realized that he was really stranded in the complex.
The residents’ committee workers vacated part of their office as his temporary shelter. They set up a cot for him and bought him daily necessities, including towels, toothbrushes and sheets. To repay their kindness, he decided to become a volunteer.
He hadn’t expected that his job included taking care of a 9-year-old boy. But he has done a great job.
During lockdown, the boy stayed with his sister, aged 23, as their parents were not in Shanghai. On November 29, the woman had heart troubles and was admitted to hospital, leaving the boy at home alone. None of residents’ committee workers were available, and Peng volunteered to take care of the boy.
Peng let the boy sleep on his cot, and he slept on the ground. In the daytime, Peng took him to play in the complex’s children’s playground. Before bedtime, he played Ultraman and Transformers toys with him.
“I felt like back to my childhood,” he said.
Peng said he would remember the special experience for life.
He said he learnt a lot through cooperation and working with other staff in the complex during the past two weeks.
“The grassroot workers and medical staff really dedicated themselves to the residents here, they are the true heroes of this fight,” he said.
He added that his comrades have formed a special bond, and they got plan to gather together soon.
“I’m a stranger to the complex but nobody takes me as stranger,” he said. “If given another chance, I will outdo myself.”
