Fu Jiangna always hides her face with a veil, adds a hard hat and ice sleeves, wraps herself up tightly and speaks less.
Photo by Lei Ceyuan
Reporter Lei Ceyuan
It was raining heavily outside the window, and the hour hand of the wall clock slowly moved towards 11 noon. The day's takeaway noon peak had arrived.
The webmaster Cai Lifei stared at the computer intently. New orders kept popping up. The location and delivery status of each takeaway was updated in real time on the old 14-inch screen.
The old-fashioned phone that he can only call and send text messages has hardly stopped.
Most of the calls are customers who urge meals and takeaways who request dispatch.
Another call came in. It was Lin Wenjing, a takeaway who had just been on duty for a month.
He overturned the car in the rain and the meal was spilled all over the floor.
He repeatedly apologized and transferred 20 yuan to the customer as compensation, but he was still worried about being marked with bad reviews.
After understanding the situation, Cai Lifei dialed the customer's phone.
After explaining a few words, the person on the other end of the phone immediately expressed understanding.
Soon after, Lin Wenjing received a 66 yuan red envelope from this customer, with two words, "Come on!"
Cai Lifei often encounters such situations.
"I didn't say anything else, I told the customer that he was a'Little White Rider'. Most people would understand when he heard this."
Those who have spent some time in Yanjiao know that the "little white rider" that Cai Lifei calls is not an unskilled novice, but a name for a takeaway who has relatives suffering from leukemia.
At the Meituan Takeaway Yanjiao Dongmao Station, which Cai Lifei is in charge of, 70 of the 146 takeaway riders in the station are "Little White riders" from all over the country.
At this time, their children, wives or husbands are receiving treatment at the Hematology Specialty Hospital, Hebei Yanda Lu Daopei Hospital (hereinafter referred to as "Lu Daopei Hospital"), 3 kilometers away, and they are going out to deliver food to supplement their families.
The "Little White Riders" said that the lives of people with leukemia are not good, but they also said that "you cannot accept your fate, you must be strong."
Therefore, in Yanjiao, you can see "Little White Riders" running desperately on the food delivery road every day.
The connection between fetching and serving is the hope of the whole family behind them.
Mom, run
Starting from Beijing International Trade Center, 30 kilometers east, crossing the Chaobai River, you enter the boundary of Yanjiao.
In the past ten years or so, this Hebei enclave has become more dense, lively and well-known than ever because of the arrival of hundreds of thousands of "North Drifts".
Those who came to this town together with the numerous communities of 10,000 people and the commercial center of the order of one million square meters, as well as the medical institutions and elderly care centers "overflowing" from the capital, Lu Daopei Hospital is one of them.
In this private hospital, 350 beds and 54 sterile wards with 100-level laminar flow are full all the year round.
In 2020 alone, 752 cases of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation were completed here, with an average of more than 2 transplants per day. It is currently one of the largest transplantation units in China.
It only takes half an hour to ride a battery car from the outskirts of Sanhe City, where Yang Junjuan lives, to Lu Daopei Hospital.
Over the years, Yang Junjuan has witnessed the development of Yanjiao with his own eyes, but never imagined that one day he would have a relationship with this hospital.
In September 2013, Yang Junjuan's son Feng Yaolei, who is less than 3 years old, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B cell line) at the Langfang Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital.
Holding the diagnosis report, Yang Junjuan was completely blinded: "Isn't leukemia only in the TV series? How can it happen to us?" She felt the sky above her head collapse.
After three years of chemotherapy, the young child suffered too much pain and suffering that he should not have suffered at his age.
Yang Junjuan, a young mother born in 1988, has also experienced a series of life changes such as accompanying her son to fight cancer, unplanned pregnancy and giving birth to a second daughter, and divorce.
However, the reality is sometimes more cruel than the TV series-just a year after the chemotherapy ended, the cancer cells killed in the child's body came back, and he had to continue to receive 3 courses of chemotherapy.
Less than a year later, in July 2018, the child's illness relapsed for the second time.
"It's over, there is no way to survive." Yang Junjuan's world broke again.
The doctor told her that the only way to save the child's life was a transplant.
Yang Junjuan decided to take the last fight.
Soon after, she took her son to receive a hematopoietic stem cell transplant at Lu Daopei Hospital.
Fortunately, this time, she won.
After the transplant operation, the child who was in danger was saved, but financial pressure ensues: entering the warehouse for transplantation costs 300,000 yuan; after leaving the warehouse, the child’s liver and spleen were rejected and hospitalization spent nearly 200,000 yuan; after being discharged from the hospital, More than 100,000 yuan was spent on registration, medication, and size checks.
In addition to savings, donations from public welfare platforms, and medical insurance reimbursement, the family owed nearly 200,000 yuan in debt.
"If you owe favors, you will owe it. There is no other way but to report it later, but the money has to be returned to others." Yang Junjuan thought.
It was at that time that she saw information about hiring delivery workers in the patient group.
She rushed to apply for a job and became a takeaway rider.
The female rider in the take-out station can be counted with one hand.
There are fewer female "white riders" because most families with children with leukemia have a clear division of labor. The mother takes care of the children and the father goes out to work.
Yang Junjuan is an exception.
When divorced, she asked her husband: "Do you want the boss or the second?"
The husband looked embarrassed and hesitated: "The boss is ill and can't do without you. The second child is still young, so..."
"Okay, don't tell me. Both children are left with me, and I don't worry about leaving it to you." The young mother carried all the burdens.
There is always a smile on Yang Junjuan's face, and even the voice of his speech is brisk and sweet.
But she did not dare to slack off, there was always a voice in her heart urging her: "Mom, run!"
"Little White Rider"
Yang Junjuan’s battery car was left by a patient who had returned to her hometown, and she is now sharing it with another patient.
The old car was not in good condition. Every time he started, Yang Junjuan had to hold the handle and push his feet on the ground to send his body forward, so that the car could run smoothly by inertia.
This looks clumsy and laborious, but Yang Junjuan does not dislike it, because this car saves her 15 yuan in car rental fees every day.
She has been doing food delivery for just 3 months, and she is not familiar with the road. Most of the time, she can only rely on mobile phone navigation. It is common to make detours or go the wrong way.
What caused her the most headache was the densely packed elevator buildings in the villages in the city and the community without a house number in Yanjiao.
For example, Shangcheng Phase 5, known as the "highest-density real estate in Hebei", contained nearly 70,000 people in 63 similar-looking iron-gray high-rise buildings, often confusing riders.
One day in June, Yang Junjuan went online to take orders under the heat.
From 11 to 12 noon, she completed 8 orders.
Before she had time to rest, the system sent 5 more orders, and she went on the road non-stop.
But when she delivered the twelfth order, the customer of the tenth order called and said that she had not received the meal.
Yang Junjuan quickly turned back.
It turned out that Yang Junjuan sent the wrong building amidst the rush.
She wanted to find the meal back, but these buildings were exactly the same. She really couldn't remember which building she was in just now, so she could only "find it blindly" based on her impression.
I ran back and forth five or six times and couldn't find it. Yang Junjuan was embarrassed to let the customer wait, and was afraid that the customer would give a bad review, so she had to buy the same meal and send it over, which cost 60 yuan.
Calculated on the basis of the delivery fee of 4 yuan per order, Yang Junjuan lost 12 yuan after working on a noon.
She was a little frustrated, but didn't want to give up, because this is a necessary stage for every "Little White Rider"-constantly experiencing setbacks, and then continuing on the road.
According to the "National Children's Tumor Surveillance Annual Report 2020", leukemia is the major malignant disease with the largest number of children in China.
China's childhood leukemia diagnosis and treatment registration management system shows that the average annual registration rate of new cases of leukemia in children aged 0-14 is 42.9 per million.
The "Little White Riders", like Yang Junjuan, unfortunately often start from the "disease only found in TV dramas" on the diagnosis.
After the diagnosis, long-term insomnia and great mental stress damaged their memory and reaction speed, but the date of the diagnosis of their loved ones was burned into their brains with a soldering iron. As long as others ask, everyone can report it like a conditioned reflex. Set a date-the day that made the whole family irreversible.
The children had a sudden illness, and their respective lives were slammed on the brakes.
Before coming to Yanjiao, some of them sold mobile phones in Shaanxi, some built hydroelectric power stations in Yunnan, some renovated in Guangxi, and some sold barbecues in Beijing... Now they all have the same new profession, a takeaway rider.
In fact, for most "Little White Riders", what they value is not only the 4 yuan delivery fee per order, but the more attractive subsidy of 50,000 yuan-a delivery by Meituan, The "Kangaroo Baby Charity Program" initiated by the Beijing Meituan Charity Foundation to provide serious illness and accidental injury to the children of takeaway riders.
To get this money, in addition to submitting a series of certification materials, there is also the most basic point. Only riders who have worked in Meituan for more than 3 months are eligible to apply.
"We were driven by leukemia and ran desperately," said Yu Yuanjiang, a young Yi from Qujing, Yunnan.
His two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Yu Xinqi suffers from myeloid leukemia (M7). She was diagnosed with high-risk type last winter, and the family immediately went north to seek medical treatment.
Before delivering food, Yu Yuanjiang had never felt so concretely how long a minute was.
Sometimes even if you try your best, the time for the pick-up order is not enough.
Therefore, the riders must race against time.
Sometimes the pace of running desperately stops.
That day, Zhang Wenguang, a 39-year-old from Handan, Hebei, sent the order to the Yanjiao campus of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. He saw a girl wearing a bachelor's uniform at the entrance of the school and was happily taking a photo with her parents.
The girls are in the Mood for Love and smile brightly, which reminds Zhang Wenguang of his daughter.
14-year-old Zhang Enqi has been sensible since he was a child, with excellent grades, and his awards covered the entire wall of the room. He was originally expected to be the first college student in the family by his family, but he did not want to be diagnosed with myeloid leukemia (M2) two years ago.
"It would be great if my daughter had such a day..." Zhang Wenguang didn't dare to think about it anymore.
As soon as he turned around, his tears shed.
A big mountain
Money is always a big mountain on the heads of leukemia families.
"In the hospital, money is really not as good as paper. Paper can save a little when you use it. You don't know how to save money." Yang Junjuan sighed while pulling out two napkins from the tissue box on the table.
Before coming to Yanjiao, most of the patients had a course of disease for one or two years.
In the meantime, because of the high cost of treatment, the medical insurance reimbursement ratio and upper limit vary from place to place, and there are many imported drugs that cannot be reimbursed.
The female rider Guo Yang sold the only house in the family.
Now, she lives in Yanjiao with her husband and mother-in-law, taking care of her son Chengcheng, while her father-in-law lives alone in a warehouse in his hometown.
The one-year-old Cheng Cheng got juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia. This disease is dangerous and costly. The Guo family has already spent 1.8 million yuan before and after. Guo Yang said that his son is a veritable "million babies."
In February of this year, Cheng Cheng suffered a sudden hepatic vein obstruction after transplantation. Many medicines did not show any effect.
The doctor suggested using defibrin, a box of 25,000 yuan, not in medical insurance.
To help, use!
But using two boxes of indicators in a row is still abnormal, and Guo Yang's family really can't raise money.
"This medicine is withdrawn today, and the child will be gone tomorrow." The doctor persuaded them to insist and use another box.
The husband cried, and turned around to ask someone to borrow money.
The third box of medicine was used, and the child's life was saved.
"It is the most difficult to ask someone to borrow money." Guo Xinli, 48, is the oldest among the "Little White Riders".
He originally ran a dairy farm in Handan, Hebei, but he didn't expect that he would have to clear everything and start over when he reached middle age.
Guo Xinli's wife, Zhang Fengzhen, is two years older than him, and was diagnosed with myeloid leukemia (M1) in June last year.
"My lover has not been easy in this life. I have suffered a lot since I was a child, and then I didn't enjoy much happiness with me." He choked and said, full of heartache.
In order to treat his wife's illness, Guo Xinli sold the dairy farm at a low price, which he and his wife developed from two cows.
The money was still not enough, so he went to borrow from his best buddies.
Unexpectedly, I have helped many friends for decades, but refused to borrow money on the grounds that "I just bought a car and have a tight hand."
His wife has been in treatment for more than a year, and the Guo family has "borrowed money and no relatives or friends."
The wife who was on the sick bed heard that she had only spent 420,000 yuan for the transplant, and she felt distressed.
She said to Guo Xinli: "420,000 is enough for you to remarry a daughter-in-law!" Guo Xinli can only comfort her over and over again: "This family will be separated without you, and the hearts of the people will not gather. What's the use of asking for money."
Guo Xinli has two sons. The eldest son was a fireman. The younger son was just in his second year of high school. He didn't dare to tell his son about the difficulties. He just said: "We can only walk with our heads down now. Let's save our lives first. We can't take care of the long-term." 80 in the drawer. The multi-million dollar bill for medical expenses made Guo Xinli breathless, so he went to the balcony to smoke a few cigarettes.
"It's not easy to love someone." Guo Xinli kept repeating the singles for the ending song of the movie called "Escape", "I want to escape, but I can't escape."
In Yanjiao, there are not no people who have fled.
Fu Jiangna ignored these.
Her husband Anku's temperament changed drastically after he fell ill two years ago.
Since her husband was diagnosed with leukemia, this 37-year-old rural woman from Baoding, who traveled alone for the first time, traveled all the way to Yanjiao to seek medical advice.
In order to take care of her husband who was ill, she cut off her hair and worked hard.
In order to earn money to support her family, she chose to become a "white rider", delivering meals in the wind and rain.
However, the husband did not understand, the water was hot, the meal was cold, and if something went wrong, he threw things and yelled at him.
Fu Jiangna didn't dare to stay in front of him, so she sat silently at the door of the ward with a small bench.
Even the doctors and nurses felt distressed and told her to go home quickly.
Fu Jiangna couldn't bear it, so she sat silently.
Compared with taking care of your husband, delivering food has become easier.
Blowing the hair and running, you can throw away the annoying things.
After returning home "fully charged", Fu Jiangna became a sponge again, absorbing the bad emotions at home, encouraging him and coaxing him.
Must be strong
In the impression of colleagues at the takeaway station, Fu Jiangna always uses a veil to cover her face, plus a hard hat and ice sleeves, to wrap herself tightly and speak less.
Fu Jiangna rarely talks about family matters to others.
Only on this day, in a small Hunan cuisine restaurant on the roadside, she blushed and said to tears.
"Too tired, heart tired." The long-term depressed mood finally found its way out.
"Why don't you tell us?" Li Qi slapped the table and cried.
He is the absolute "Big Brother" in the station-the earliest "Little White Rider". He is enthusiastic, straightforward, and experienced. Everyone is willing to ask him anything.
"We don't know that you are so difficult. You have to say something, don't hold it in your heart, everyone can understand you."
Fu Jiangna nodded.
In Yanjiao, there is a close connection between patients and patients, and newcomers can always feel the true meaning of the phrase "hometown is relative."
After getting along for a long time, slowly blending in, looking for a house, moving, dispensing medicine, and even donating blood, Li Qi is willing to help whether he is a fellow or not.
A few days ago, the child of a patient Li Qi passed away.
Many people were afraid of taboos because there were patients at home, so they didn't dare to send them. Only Li Qi and another fellow went.
On the night after dealing with the funeral, Li Qi and the child's father went to the Chaobai River to burn the child's clothes.
The strange thing is that wherever he goes, the smoke floats wherever he goes.
The child's father said: "The child is remembering you in this way, thank you." Li Qi felt relieved.
Li Qi's story was once widely known by media reports-his son Qingqing was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B cell line) in 2012.
After the chemotherapy, the whole family thought that the child had recovered and the medical records were burned by the wife.
Unexpectedly, in November 2018, Qingqing's leukemia recurred.
From Xi'an to Beijing and then to Yanjiao, they moved to 6 hospitals.
When I went to Lu Daopei Hospital for bone marrow transplantation in 2019, my family had already spent more than 1 million yuan.
In those few years, Li Qi was completely defeated.
Except for going to the hospital every day to deliver meals to his wife and children, he spends the rest of the time watching TV and playing with his mobile phone on the sofa of the rental house. For him, life has no hope at all.
Until one day, he and his wife quarreled and alarmed the police at the police station.
The policeman who came to mediate casually said "I'm idle all day, it's better to go to deliver food" and wake him up.
He became the first "Little White Rider" in the station.
A breath of life, this is Li Qi's last dignity.
"Can't make a lot of money, can't you still earn monthly living expenses?" He is unwilling to talk about his past, "Because there will be no substantial help except to make others look down on himself. It is better to be with a patient. Encourage each other and run the order."
Li Qi can ride the battery bike out of speed, at a speed of forty to fifty kilometers per hour, without having to look at his mobile phone during the trip.
He is more familiar with the streets and shops of Yanjiao than many locals, knows which crossroads are more blocked, and even knows the unlocking code for a certain unit building... When he ran the order, he felt that he had become the chasing boy back then.
He thought that as long as he could run sixty to seventy orders a day and earn income every month, he would be able to rent a building and buy food for his children without having to reach out to his relatives and friends in a shameless manner. In this way, he would be able to save the opportunity to borrow money. At the most urgent time.
No one can tell how many "leukemia immigrants" are in Yanjiao.
Even if everyone on the street wears masks because of the epidemic, Li Qi can quickly identify those pale children and parents carrying rice buckets on the road. These are his patients.
In the past, Li Qi always couldn't figure out how this disease would fall on his son, but now he seldom goes to the horns anymore.
"Never admit one's fate, must be strong" has become his mantra. When he sees someone in need, he will help no matter how young he is.
He said, this is to accumulate virtue for his son.
On that day, halfway through the delivery of food, he suddenly rode a battery car to chase the van in front of him.
He honked and shouted along the way, but the driver didn't hear it.
Until a red light, Li Qi finally caught up with the car.
The driver was puzzled.
Li Qi panted, and said lightly: "Brother, the fuel tank cap behind is not closed." Then he continued on the road, a figure wearing a yellow takeaway suit disappeared into the rolling traffic in Yanjiao...