Happy ending for an unwanted lockdown couple: During a date that never ended due to a curfew, two Chinese discovered love for each other.
They have decided to get engaged, Zhao Xiaoqing, 28, told local website Jimu News.
It is the second time within a few days that Chinese media have reported on the involuntary togetherness in lockdown - but this time with a happy ending.
She and her partner Zhao Fei only saw each other for the second time when the small town of Xianyang, near Xi'an, was suddenly sealed off in mid-December due to a virus outbreak, the 28-year-old reported.
"I never intended to stay the night," but now she was forced to stay with her date and his family.
The parents had urged the two to get engaged after just a week.
However, she rejected it as "too rushed," Zhao Xiaoqing told the news website.
Despite the awkward start, they eventually developed feelings for each other.
"He is always by my side"
"We get along very well," said Zhao Xiaoqing, who works as an online apple trader.
"I have to sell apples at his house via livestream, but no matter what time it is, he's always by my side.
That touches me very much."
They are soul mates, "and our parents are both happy".
He also looks much better in reality than in his dating photo.
The story has captured the hearts of many online readers in China.
But while some became enthusiastic, others warned against hasty decisions.
"After a year or two you get tired of each other and get divorced.
I've seen too many marriages like this," one reader wrote.
"Sis, think it over carefully," warned another.
Zhao's story went viral in China's online media, as did the fate of another couple who were stuck after a blind date.
Wang, a woman from central China's Henan Province, was stuck at her suitor's home after they first met to cook in early January.
Love wasn't in the lockdown air here, though: Wang complained, among other things, that her companion was as talkative as a "wooden mannequin".