(Yicai Global) June 5 -- It's been two months since Wuhan, China's hardest-hit city by the new coronavirus, reopened after a lockdown but the ramifications of the pandemic are still lingering in the city.

YiMagazine has interviewed Wuhan residents in an attempt to get a grip on how they move on with their lives. This is the fourth article in the series.

Early this year, Jiang Chen, who owns two video game stores and a hot pot restaurant, was up to something big. He was planning to build a more than 1,000-square meter video games center in Wuhan. He was loosening the purse strings too, putting down CNY3 million (USD422,077). The opening date was set to be Jan. 23.

No one knew that that was going to be the day when the central Chinese city entered a lockdown.

But Jiang was not the type to stay home and moan about all the money he lost. Like many people in the city, he volunteered to transport medical staff and donate face masks. Since the end of March, he was keenly anticipating the day that the lockdown would end, April 8.

Going back to work, he inspected the situation: Not good. It was time to pay the rent. According to local epidemic relief policies, state-owned landlords could agree to forgive full rent for up to three months, after which they could ask for half of it for six months. But two of his properties were rented out from non-state entities, and those payments amounted to more than CNY100,000 (USD14,068).

Jiang tried to negotiate to lower his rent. But the landlord did not budge. Still, they offered to collect one month of rent at a time instead of three months worth of payments all at once.

The gaming entrepreneur said that although he understood how the landlord was also feeling pinched he could not stop stressing out, proven by the pack of cigarettes he smoked that day. "Our living standards are certainly not low in Wuhan, but after several months of lockdown and with monthly expenses for mortgages and rents, I really feel the pressure," said the business owner.

So Jiang did what he had to do. He closed his old video stores. But what about his employees? "We've been through a lot together. It's hard to get them back once they leave." So he continues paying these employees basic salary, trying to assure them that once the business gets back to normal, better pay will follow.

This article was originally published on YiMagazine.

Editor: Chen Juan, Emmi Laine