Cheng Xingyu, a native of Wuhan City, central China's Hubei Province, was faced with a difficult choice when the local government announced a lockdown of the city: "To stay open or not?"

"On January 23, one face mask was selling at around 20 yuan. If I didn't keep my business going, I couldn't even afford to buy masks," Cheng recalled.

So she turned to running a barbecue delivery service, but her family was unable to offer her much help. Her husband has been disabled since he contracted a serious illness nine years ago.

Her daughter, a college student, had just returned home for the winter vacation. She knew nothing about cooking. 

That left Cheng on multiple roles in her restaurant - the only cook, and for most of the times also the delivery woman.

"I will never forget February 15, (when) it was raining so heavily with strong winds. I could not find any delivery man that day. I had to drive myself to deliver food from house to house. That day was so scary: all roads were empty. Even the traffic lights weren't working," said Cheng.     

Some of her friends tragically lost their family members in the epidemic.

Cheng feels lucky to have had the company and support of her family. And the owner of the greengrocer's store next door also stayed open, giving her encouragement.

"On April 8, Wuhan will lift the lockdown and customers who prefer to eat-in will come back. People in Wuhan don't like to be alone. They always gather to eat and chat," said Cheng.       

While talking about her experience in the last two months, she sounds determined and proud.

"Wuhan is a city of heroes. We Wuhan people are great. All these difficulties will be over with," she said.