In the town where I grew up, it was rare to see young people. Even when the family pharmacy was stocking up, Dad's statistical analysis of sales was dominated by cardiovascular drugs and common cold medications.
In my memory, the town closed down the dance hall, ice skating rink, karaoke, game room and other places one after another more than ten years ago. Junior high school, as if just one summer vacation, I immediately felt, the town, so cold. I also began to take the bus to the city on weekends to play, shopping malls, bookstores, classmate reunions, and then to the city's high school after school, only once a month to come back.
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The epidemic that arrived in a hurry in January? , didn't seem to cause an uproar in the town. There were fewer people on the streets to begin with, and daily life was kept at a distance that naturally exceeded a safe distance, and all life continued to proceed on a trajectory. This is what made many middle-aged and elderly people in the town let their guard down in the early days of the epidemic.
If the outbreak had occurred during a non-Chinese New Year or other holiday, I think this sense of indifference would have been even stronger.
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It is well established that from the beginning of the Lunar New Year, the streets should be lined with joint rows of stores selling red Chinese New Year couplets, firecrackers, lanterns and other assorted New Year's goods? The town will have a "youthful" look for a few months or so, as the main road will be jammed with traffic at exaggerated times.
Originally, the Spring Festival is the main stage of the students' vacation and workers' return home, but the students in the town have moved to the city one after another, seeking better educational resources; workers in a variety of restrictions on traffic, closed to the city's measures, back to very few. Mainly back to the town, is not far from the city of work and life of young people (driving an hour away), their childhood spent in the town (like me), New Year's Eve, there will be a lot of childhood friends in the town, we get together to eat, play cards, amusement of the next generation, the old people, although a lot of extra burden of life, but also enjoy this kind of family.
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Until there was the first confirmed case of driving back from Wuhan (he actually belongs to the category of middle-aged and elderly people).
All sorts of rumors and road closure videos started to spread around my circle of friends, true or false, and things took a huge turn from the first time I tried so hard to stop my mom and dad from going out that they didn't think it was a good idea, to the time when they were frantically trying to stop me from going to the supermarket, picking up the delivery, or getting the milk.
The older people in the town also gradually put on masks and went to the river to wash their clothes farther apart (although they would have been about 5 meters apart), surrounded by all sorts of information. The square dance gradually stopped, the board room and bathhouse also closed one after another, they began to daily in the family WeChat group to send a variety of experts said, the government said, forum post, health post, the young people will also be in the group a variety of rumors, reminded.
Fortunately, the town because most of the people have a few parties to grow vegetables in the field, the daily supply of vegetables is naturally not a problem, when I asked if the family needs to reserve vegetables, my mother's directly dumped me a picture.
This chart, as if written with two words in capital letters, "rich". At the same time, Dad's keen sense of smell, in the early days of the epidemic went to Tuen Mun rice and other food (for fear of later price increases, the fact is that it did not go up!)
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Those young people who have gone back from the city, because the village closed the road after the house in the old home, sunbathing, cooking, while the weather is good to go to the mountains to dig bamboo shoots, with children to experience their childhood life. This is perhaps the longest vacation they have stayed in their hometown after leaving the town to work in the city.
The sun made their faces red, stoned on melon seeds and peanuts, the burning wood fire in the stove cooking an iron pot of crispy pot roast, braised pork and stewed chicken, the rice cakes baked on the fire pit with mom and dad's homemade chili sauce, and the New Year's Eve goods prepared by the old folks at home years ago made them the main force of the food competition in the circle of friends.
Those who did not go back to the young people, still remotely online daily attention to the physical state of the elders at home.
These young people who didn't go back to their homes are still following the health of their elders remotely online, and although they often feel that technology is making the world more and more cold, they often thank technology for allowing them to link up in this way whenever they see their families' audio and video feeds.
Life goes on, the epidemic is gradually under control, and the day of resumption of work is approaching, and the few young people who have returned to the town are also starting to return one after another. This has nothing to do with the young people of the town, and slowly began to return to the state of peace, the epidemic so that we have a period of time together, although every day are scared to stare at the data map, but the closed road did not seal the young people in the other side of the home of the thoughts, but also did not seal the home of the love of the several generations of the same family?
Before the trip, the old people repeatedly instructed to take precautions, the young people will still be impatient to say know know.
But this time they did not directly dust and go, but will be added in the back of a sentence, you are at home also well, do not just go out, pay attention to warmth, good disinfection.