On January 18, the weather in Guangzhou was gloomy, full of thick, low gray-yellow turbid clouds, and the north wind swept by, and the air was full of chills. The sky over the Pearl River is shrouded in a faint cloud and mist, as if covered with a thin veil, which is not as bright as in the past, and looks very mysterious.

In the morning, Zhong Nanshan, director of the National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Diseases, head of the high-level expert group of the National Health Commission, and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, frowned and was discussing the new crown pneumonia issue with several experts. Yesterday, he and a professor went to the Third Hospital in Shenzhen to investigate, where there was a new suspected case of new coronavirus. This professor was also a comrade-in-arms who fought with Academician Zhong during the "fight against SARS", and they are still in the same trench today.

Since the expert group of the National Health Commission confirmed that the new coronavirus is the cause of the epidemic on January 8, as an 84-year-old academician with a good reputation at home and abroad, he has been unable to sleep and eat for the past few days. The experience of participating in the fight against SARS in 2003 made him deeply worried, and at the same time, he was speculating and pondering: what kind of serious harm will this new coronavirus have?

Academician Zhong Nanshan's assistant was busy in the office, when he received a call from a staff member of the National Health Commission:

"After full discussion, we still want to ask Academician Zhong Nanshan to come out in person, and we must come to Wuhan today!"

"Academician Zhong is going to attend an emergency meeting of the Provincial Health Commission in the afternoon. In this way, you wait a minute, I will immediately check today's flight and high-speed rail information to see if there is a ticket to Wuhan?" After speaking, he hurriedly used his mobile phone to check the day's plane flights and high-speed rail trains. At this time, the Spring Festival is approaching, and the ticket supply is very tight. At first glance, there were no tickets.

He hurriedly replied by phone: "I have just checked carefully, and there are no more tickets for today's plane to Wuhan, and the high-speed rail has even sold out of tickets without seats! Do you think you can postpone it for a day and let Academician Zhong fly over early tomorrow morning?"

"Then I'll hurry up and ask the leader for instructions, and I'll answer you right away. ”

An hour later, the reply phone called: "The leaders have discussed, or ask Academician Zhong to rush to Wuhan today." We will contact you for high-speed rail tickets. ”

The assistant hurriedly rushed to the conference room and made an urgent report to Academician Zhong Nanshan.

"They also called me just now, and we have to rush to Wuhan today. This matter of the country is very important, the country needs us to go, we must rush over today!" Zhong Nanshan said firmly, "In this case, you hurry up and go to my house and pack my luggage and bring it over." In the afternoon, after I attended the emergency meeting of the Provincial Health Commission, we immediately set off!"

"Okay, I'll go over and get your luggage. ”

The morning meeting lasted until 12 o'clock, and Zhong Nanshan hurriedly ate lunch before rushing to attend an emergency meeting of the Guangdong Provincial Health Commission.

The topic of discussion at the meeting was how to deal with the sudden outbreak of the new coronavirus. Well-known experts from all over the province gathered together for lively discussions, vigilously and cautiously carrying out various plans.

The meeting did not end until 4:30 p.m. Unable to take a break, Academician Zhong Nanshan and his assistant got into a car and hurriedly rushed to the high-speed rail station. The car rushed all the way and arrived at Guangzhou South High-speed Railway Station at half past five in the afternoon.

The New Year is approaching, the annual Spring Festival is coming as scheduled, and the railway station is crowded with people. Guangdong is at the forefront of reform and opening up, and it is also a major labor importing province in the country, and the migrant workers in the Pearl River Delta have been looking forward to returning to reunite with their relatives after a hard year. The people who are about to embark on the journey home with large bags and small bags are excited and full of joy, and they have only one purpose, that is, to rush home as soon as possible for the New Year and reunite with their families. Among the passengers, almost no one wears masks, and how many people in the sea of joy know that a storm is coming that will sweep the country?

Because the National Health Commission contacted the railway department in advance, the South Railway Station arranged for Academician Zhong Nanshan and his assistant to board the G1022 high-speed train that departed at 5:45 p.m. Since there were no seats in the carriage, the conductor had to help them reserve two seats in the dining car. The two were relieved and finally got into the car, although it was in the dining car, it was much better than standing to go to Wuhan.

As soon as he sat down, Academician Zhong Nanshan immediately turned on his computer and began to consult and sort out relevant materials. When he is working and thinking, he doesn't like to be disturbed by others. Luckily, no one in the car recognized him. The carriage was quiet, and most of the people were quietly playing with their phones to pass the time.

Zhong Nanshan sometimes frowned, sometimes lowered his head in contemplation, and sometimes kept tapping his fingers on the keyboard. In the face of the sudden outbreak of the epidemic, as the director of the National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Diseases and the leader of the high-level expert group of the National Health Commission, he felt a heavy heart and a great responsibility.

Zhong Nanshan was born into a medical family and has been engaged in the medical, teaching and scientific research of respiratory medicine for a long time. Focusing on the standardized diagnosis and treatment of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, respiratory failure and common respiratory diseases, difficult diseases, rare diseases and respiratory critical care and treatment, he has won the Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Award, the first prize and the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, and is a "national treasure" expert with rich clinical and scientific research experience, and in the 2003 battle against SARS, he fought hard and became famous and became the first hero in the fight against SARS. The treatment methods he researched saved the people of the country from the shadow of death and made a special contribution to the country.

It wasn't until after 8 o'clock in the evening that Zhong Nanshan remembered that he hadn't eaten dinner yet. The assistant hurriedly went to buy two servings of potato and beef rice, and then went to make up for the ticket. But after a while, the conductor came over and said, "Academician Zhong is rushing to Wuhan for the country, and we can't take his food money!" Although the assistant repeatedly refused, he still resolutely returned the food money to the assistant.

After dinner, it was 9 p.m. Academician Zhong Nanshan finally stopped, closed his eyes, leaned his head on the back of the seat at the table, and squinted his eyes to rest. His face was tired, his brows were furrowed, and his white hair on his temples glistened in the light of the dining car's lights. The assistant had an idea, hurriedly raised his mobile phone, and secretly took this photo that was later widely disseminated, and fixed the moment at 9:15 p.m. on January 18, 2020.

As an 84-year-old man, it is indeed very exhausting to overload work every day. Zhong Nanshan was already very tired, but he would never say it. After "squinting" for more than ten minutes, he pushed the computer to the assistant: "You can help me knock on my research and judgment on the epidemic, mainly two points: one is that there must be human-to-human transmission of the new crown pneumonia, because there are already two suspected cases in Guangdong, although they have not been to Wuhan, they have still been infected by family members who have been to Wuhan; ”

At 10:20 p.m., the high-speed train arrived in Wuhan. The temperature in Wuhan is very low, and the cold wind is like a sharp sword flying in the night sky, making a sharp whistling sound. The cold was dense and biting, and when they got out of the car, both of them shivered, and finally experienced the cold of the legendary Jianghan Plain.

Academician Zhong Nanshan was still wearing the brown fine checkered blazer on the train, with only a shirt inside. Although he felt the cold, he was still in good spirits, his back was straight, he walked forward, and under the guidance of the pick-up staff, he strode towards the parking lot of the railway station.

In the middle of the night, the streets of Wuhan are brightly lit and colorful, and the air is still filled with the fragrance of hot dry noodles. This heroic city, which is always fierce and fierce, still seems to be alive and well. People walking on the streets have not been affected by the epidemic, and there are still very few people wearing masks.

Zhong Nanshan and his assistant were taken directly to the Wuhan Convention Center by the car that picked them up. After listening to the report of the experts of the National Health Commission, I returned to the room, and it was almost the early morning of January 19.

Zhong Nanshan's expression was a little heavy, and he didn't say too much to the assistant. From the briefing of the experts of the National Health Commission, Zhong Nanshan felt that the epidemic was far worse than he imagined. But he was mentally prepared along the way: if the situation in Wuhan was well controlled, how could he be invited over so urgently?

On the morning of the 19th, Zhong Nanshan, together with other members of the high-level expert group of the National Health Commission, went to Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital and Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention and other medical institutions to conduct on-the-spot investigations to understand the facts and grasp first-hand information.

Through field research, he learned that some doctors in some hospitals in Wuhan were infected by the new coronavirus, which once again confirmed his judgment before coming to Wuhan: the new crown pneumonia does have human-to-human transmission. Because he had previously investigated and learned that there were two suspected cases of a family cluster pneumonia admitted to the Shenzhen Securities Hospital of the University of Hong Kong on January 10, although they had not been to Wuhan, they were still infected by family members who had been to Wuhan during the party.

At a press conference in Beijing on January 20, Zhong Nanshan reiterated that the epidemic had been confirmed to be transmitted from person to person, and that a number of health care workers in Wuhan had been infected with the novel coronavirus pneumonia.

At 9:30 that night, the national audience saw the video connection of the host Bai Yansong and Zhong Nanshan on CCTV's "News 1+1" program. At this time, Zhong Nanshan's appearance seems to be a social and emotional tranquilizer.

Zhong Nanshan's expression was solemn, and he announced categorically: "Now it can be said that there must be a phenomenon of people passing on from person to person, and there are no special circumstances, don't go to Wuhan!"

"The new crown pneumonia must be transmitted from person to person!", like a thunderbolt in the clear sky and thunder on the ground, shocked Wuhan, shook the whole country, and suddenly sounded the alarm for the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in the country, which can be called a milestone moment for the whole country to unite and fight against the new crown pneumonia epidemic......