There Are Really Angels
Honestly, I still haven't experienced that sense of panic – the feeling that 'the devil' is always nearby. Not just me, but my family, my friends all feel the same. Outside, we breathe the air beyond the non-woven fabric, yet we feel the sun on our heads remains brilliantly cheerful. Every phone call brings the sound of a clear, cheerful voice and the commotion of children; every video shows a frequent smile from the other party. We seem to have missed something, but we feel like nothing has been missed. Beauty is often engraved in these quiet years.
However, 'beauty' should be earned by oneself, not dropped like the sun by reaching out. My son was lying on the sofa next to me, playing on his phone, completely relaxed; my father was watching a small comedy show on TV, still grimacing; my mother moved the table and continued to dance to the upbeat 'Most Stunning National Style.' I pulled up my wife's WeChat, sent her a message: 'How many patients are hospitalized today?' A long silence followed before a reply finally came.
My wife is the only one I can truly sense the panic – perhaps she 'knows and fears it.' Every time she enters the house, she sprays alcohol, changes clothes, washes her hands, and even brushes her shoes. We watch her busy herself. Although there's no spoken word, it's clear she's anxious and unsettled, especially after a recent infection in a neighboring county. However, a month later, she feels much more relaxed. 'Men fear entering the wrong profession, and women also fear entering the wrong profession,' she often says after working late at 2 a.m. 'Patients point out needing her to administer acupuncture – it's not a bad thing.' She adds, 'It's too late to regret it – just like when you married me, it's a dead end.' She laughs cheerfully. My wife is known for her 'hard-shell, soft-core' personality and often complains about her work, but she still receives many requests for acupuncture from patients.
My wife's photos
My wife and I
A few days ago, after the list of volunteers from Wuhan was released, she felt surprisingly relaxed – 'Good, good, fortunately I wasn't on the list.' However, her tone seemed strange. After saying that, she sat on the sofa and started endlessly scrolling through Douyin ('You guys actually have so many people going to ten counties to contribute—can you squeeze out so many people?' 'They've been infection-free for so long—it shows our area has already controlled it, so we can bring them here.' She was right. Being able to control it and remain infection-free is a great thing. For a moment, I suddenly thought of a friend of mine. I wanted to call him, but I hesitated because I didn't want to disturb his work at the highway station.
My friend is a fiery person. He loves cursing at home and cursing at his father and at home, and he has repeatedly been reprimanded by his superiors. Once, he passed by his workplace and saw him using a thermometer to check the temperature of a driver, and his movements were exactly like those of in 'Uncharted.' Whenever he has an appointment with us, he almost arrives early. When I asked him why, he said, 'I'll be late if I don't.' We were waiting impatiently, and after we finished eating, we delivered the food to him. They were two teams, rotating shifts. The elderly in another household has a chronic illness and hasn't visited for three days. I asked him why he didn't let the leader send someone to cover for him. He said, 'After I told the boss, the boy was fired, and the boss is a stickler for details, and he would never let anyone go astray.' Later, a highway worker told me that he once stubbornly called twenty drivers into a line and one by one to register and check their temperatures before letting them go.
I suddenly thought of the word 'angel' and blurted it out. But really, there are angels, with different faces – some strangers, some familiar, some gentle, some irritable, some close at hand, some far away…
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