I live in Pudong District, where the Covid-19 pandemic is getting worse recently. The community l live in has been hit hard by the pandemic since March. Recently, we have to do a nucleic acid test every day and residents of the entire community aren’t allowed to leave the residential building. I am already tired of this lifestyle that I can’t be free.

   The date was March the twenty-seventh. The government of Shanghai declared that medical teams from Zhejiang would rescue Shanghai. Just like last week, our nucleic acid test was done by doctors or nurses in white. They all had ‘Zhejiang medical team’ written on their protective suits and they just seemed so young. They could finish a test fluently and in a short time. I knew they had huge work pressure as there were so many residents. At about seven in the evening, all the residents in our block completed the nucleic acid test. These exhausted doctors left our block.

   Watching the whole medical team leaving, a random question came to my mind abruptly. Where would these doctors live after they left our block? They didn’t have enough time to return to Zhejiang while they still had to come to our community tomorrow. Just before l was ready to go to sleep, I heard a loud engine noise in the street. An enormous coach full of passengers parked on the road with the lights on. I walked to the windowsill quickly, wondering who would the passengers be in the coach. Street lights illuminated the coach, making the words ‘Zhejiang Passenger Transport’ particularly clear. Then I saw a moving scene, many doctors were leaning on the seats while they were sleeping with their masks on. The doctors were exhausted but they had to sleep in their coach for a long cold night. They were even unable to meet their family members for the following days! I couldn’t see their faces clearly, but I thought that was enough for me. I felt guilty at that time to be honest. I was always complaining that I couldn’t go out to play for a long time, however I hadn’t considered these doctors running between blocks and communities. And they couldn’t go back to their home to look after their children and parents. They worked hard without complaints, in exchange for the health of local residents. Compared to the work of doctors, how could we have fun without them?

   At that time, I started to understand things around me. I saw a nurse on night duty sitting on a collapsible chair. A security guard stood in front of the gate with tiredness on his face. A cleaner spouted disinfectant on door knobs. Just when I was about to rest there were still a lot of busy figures in the community.

   ‘The years are quiet, but some people forge ahead.’ Whenever I think of this lyric, I can’t help thinking of those obscure doctors and that unforgettable night.