Photos by Liu Zhongcan

With a time-worn photo of her family of three in her hand—a photo taken on the 50th birthday of her husband,Zeng Hongbing,Deng Yanping was unable to accept the fact that her husband had passed away.She had cried for three days,holding the photo.In her cellphone,she kept another photo with her husband,which was taken by a colleague on March 10,25 days after they started working in Jiangxia Makeshift Hospital.

Her husband,Zeng Hongbing,was the deputy director of Skin Disease Prevention and Treatment Institute of Jiangxia District in Wuhan and participated in the fight against SARS 17 years ago.On the morning of April 10,Zeng Hongbing had chest pain while carrying protective clothing and disinfectant.In the evening,he suffered a heart attack and died at 4 am the next morning,at the age of 53.

The couple had their last photo taken by chance as they worked in the makeshift hospital for the 25th day

On February 15,Zeng Hongbing actively responded to the call of the Jiangxia District Headquarters for COVID-19 Prevention and Control and volunteered to deliver meals to the patients in the Jiangxia Makeshift Hospital.He and three other volunteers formed a delivery team.At peak times,nearly a thousand meals were delivered per day.

In order to serve the patients hot meals,he went to the hospital around 7 o’clock every morning,distributed meals for 5 inpatient areas,and waited for the nurses and volunteers to fetch the meals.

To avoid cross infection,Zeng Hongbing came up with a system allowing for orderly collection of meal boxes.Wang Juan,a member of the team,recalled that the system worked pretty well to March 10,the day when the makeshift hospital was closed.Sometimes Zeng would ask nurses about patients’ tastes.Then he gave the feedback to food providers.He said to his team members,“When the patients have an appetite for food,their conditions are improving.We should try our best to meet their needs.” According to Wang Juan,Zeng followed the procedures well and set an example in preventing cross-infection in the hospital.“I was the only woman on the team.He was always active in distributing the meals and took care of all the heavy work.

The couple’s last photo together邓艳平与丈夫曾红兵最后的合影

邓艳平的手上，紧攥一张泛黄的三口之家合影照——那是在丈夫曾红兵50 岁生日时拍的。

她没法接受丈夫离去的现实，就这么攥着照片哭了三天。手机里还有一张夫妻合影照，那是3月10日，夫妻俩在江夏方舱医院奋战25 天后同事帮忙拍的。

丈夫曾红兵生前是武汉市江夏区皮肤病防治所副所长，曾参加17年前的非典抗战。4月10日上午，曾红兵在搬运防护服、消毒水等防护物资后出现胸闷不适症状，晚上突发心脏病，次日凌晨4 时经抢救无效去世，年仅53 岁。

驻方舱25 天，偶然拍下最后的夫妻合影

2月15日，曾红兵响应区抗击新冠肺炎指挥部要求，请缨到江夏区方舱医院负责给患者送餐，他与另3 名同志组成送餐小组，高峰时每天早中晚要送近千份餐。

为让患者吃上热饭，他每天早上7 点左右就赶到方舱医院，分配好5 个病区的餐食，等待护士、志愿者们来领取分发。

为防交叉感染，曾红兵设计出一套有序领餐模式。小组成员王娟回忆说，直到3月10日休舱再没有差错。有机会，他就与舱内护士交流，询问患者口味，然后给配餐方提建议，他向小组成员们说：“患者想吃，说明病情在好转，要尽量满足康复需要。”王娟说，老曾特别注意操作流程，身先士卒做榜样，避免舱内交叉感染，“我是组里唯一的女同志，分餐过程中他总在前面，搬运的重活都被他包了”。

3月1日，曾红兵53 岁生日，在方舱医院A 区负责给医护人员发放防护用品的妻子邓艳平，电话里给在C 区的丈夫送去祝福，但她怎么也没想到这竟是丈夫的最后一个生日。……