HANGZHOU -- After working as a jack-of-all-trades volunteer for 74 days, Lou Weichen left Wuhan on April 8, the day when the city's lockdown was officially lifted. At the expressway gate, a local girl who recovered from COVID-19 hugged him and wished he would come back to visit Wuhan again. 

That grateful girl was Xiu Xiu, the first local citizen who Lou helped after he arrived in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, on Jan. 25.

The 25-year-old man, from Anji County in the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, stayed and worked as a volunteer in Wuhan, after falling into the job almost accidentally.

Following a sleepless night on Chinese New Year's eve, he decided to deliver masks to Wuhan. Online information about the grave situation and news of the shortage of medical materials in Wuhan kept him awake that night and made him think about what he could do for the city.

The next day, or Spring Festival day, China's most important occasion for family reunions, he drove his car around the county in search of shops selling masks. He struck gold and found 4,000 masks in one store. On the spot he bought the whole stock to the owner's surprise.

"'Why are you buying so many masks?' The owner asked. 'To help out Wuhan,' I said," Lou recalled.

Immediately he set off with the supplies and a quilt in his car, without telling his grandma whom he lives with where he was going, as he didn't want her to worry.

Lou has been living with his grandmother since his parents divorced when he was two years old. He lived with his father too before he sadly passed away from a disease when Lou was 16. And his grandpa died three years later.

After the nine-hour drive, he arrived in Wuhan on the rainy evening of Jan. 25, two days after the city was put under lockdown on Jan. 23. The ride was 700 km long. Before his departure, he was so worried about his travels that he even told his best friend about his phone's switch and payment passwords in case something happened to him.

He had planned to return home to spend the Spring Festival holiday with his grandma after delivering the masks. But the doomsday-like scene he encountered upon arrival made him change his mind and decide to stay in the city to work as a volunteer.

He donated the masks to a local hospital. There he asked to work as a volunteer, but was declined as the hospital did not receive untrained volunteers.

Lou's offer was later accepted by the Wuhan branch of the Red Cross Society of China. He began working for them and took charge of receiving and distributing materials. But after the branch found out about his advertising background, he was asked to do publicity work for roughly half a month.

Lou's eagerness to help those in need didn't stop there, after his stint with Wuhan Red Cross, he worked as an independent volunteer and the first local he helped was Xiu Xiu.

On Feb. 11, Lou found out that Xiu Xiu's father died from the novel coronavirus and her mother was in critical condition. She and her younger brother also showed suspected symptoms. After he was made aware of the situation, Lou immediately sprang into action and spent one whole afternoon collecting protein powder, disinfectant products and medicine and sent them to the girl's residence, together with a packed meal for the siblings.

In the beginning, Xiu Xiu resisted Lou's help. She did not want sympathy from others. But Lou was determined and told her he was just making up for the loss of his family members. The girl eventually agreed. Lou also went the extra mile by leaving a note with some words of encouragement and his mobile phone number on it in case they needed it in the future. With the help of Lou and a few others, Xiu Xiu was admitted to a hospital and her brother was sent to a hotel for quarantine.

Lou also recalled another unforgettable instance. "There was a time after I finished work, a granny called me crying, expressing her gratitude towards our group of volunteers," he said. "At that moment, I felt that my stay here was all worthwhile."

There were many risks for the volunteers. "My co-worker's mother in Wuhan was infected with the coronavirus and her condition was serious, but no ambulance was available. I knew she couldn't wait any longer for help to arrive, so I drove them to the hospital without thinking of my own safety," he remembered.

The very next day, Lou had a cold. He was coughing and felt exhausted. "Do I have the virus? I asked himself. I even wrote a note to make the arrangements after my death," he remembered.

Lou eventually took himself to a hospital to have a nucleic acid test. Luckily, the results came back negative. But soon after he came across more risks during his stay in Wuhan.

The selfless volunteer helped numerous locals and worked different jobs, delivering meals to the elderly who lived alone, picking up medics, delivering take-away food for couriers, and even repairing power switches for the disabled.

"I was like an errands boy and I fulfilled every mission," Lou said. Indeed, he did something which seemed impossible to do.

There was another time when there were almost no shops open in Wuhan, Lou searched the streets to buy a bunch of roses to give to a girl stranded in Wuhan from a boy on Valentine's Day. And there was that other time, where he went across downtown to speak to the owner of a bakery shop, just to ask him to make a birthday cake for one of the nurses working on the front line.

"For me, flowers are not just flowers, and a cake is not just food to fill the stomach. They represent hope. During the long nights of the epidemic, I wanted those individuals to know that society was behind them and that the future is still full of hope."

Lou himself came across some financial difficulties. As he could not return to work temporarily and had to pay his house mortgage, he spent all his savings and was 20,000 yuan (2,822 U.S. dollars) in debt to an online credit platform. Also, his car dashboard showed he drove a total of 10,000 km in Wuhan and became more familiar with the city than with his hometown county after driving so much. But through all of this, he never regretted his decision to volunteer in the city.

During his time in Wuhan, Lou put together a team of volunteers, called the Firefly Volunteer Group, to bring light and hope to those going through difficulties. People from other provinces and cities were able to donate materials to Wuhan locals through them.

Finally, after serving the people of Wuhan and as the epidemic waned in the city, Lou decided to head home to Anji County. After passing the nucleic acid test, he was reunited with his grandma, who was immensely proud of her grandson's selfless work.

Lou is now planning to set up a team of volunteers in his hometown. "That whole volunteering experience was a first for me, and I'd like to think I did a decent job."