A kind gesture by a stranger in Zhengzhou, in central China’s Henan Province, not only provided a warm meal to a lonely man but also captured netizens’ hearts. 

A special order arrived on Thursday night at Zhang Xuedong’s restaurant via a mobile app. This order however was unlike any other: the delivery address was a bus stop and a postscript read “There is a ‘beggar’ there, please have the meal delivered to him. If you have mosquito-repellent incense, please send some to him too.”

Zhang complied and had the meal - rice with potatoes and beef, and an extra bowl of rice and chicken feet - delivered to the bus stop, along with the incense and an additional free soup.

He then posted a photo of the order on his WeChat Moments social media page, earning many likes from friends and colleagues.

The order /Weibo 

“If there had not been only me at my restaurant that night, I would have delivered the meal to the ‘beggar’ myself,” Zhang told Dahe Daily, a Henan newspaper.

As Zhang’s photo circulated on Chinese social media, people grew curious about who had placed the order. 

After a two-day search, the Daily finally found the Good Samaritan. A 26-year-old office worker in Zhengzhou, identified as Mr. Bao, he said he felt heartbroken when he saw a man – maybe a beggar or a worker - with his luggage, alone. So he ordered a meal for him.

Homeless men in China. VCG Photo

“I thought of my father, who had been a construction worker like him. My father did not want to waste a single cent so he always slept on the streets in the summer, saving money for his kids at home,” Bao said, declining a week-long free meal deal offer from Zhang’s restaurant.

The identity of the man at the bus stop, and his reaction to the unexpected meal, is unknown.

But Chinese net users have complimented Bao for his gesture and praised him as a model of goodwill in society.

“Kind people are blessed with life-long peace,” said user @Zhaoan1996525, citing a Chinese idiom.

“It is a trifling matter but he is a great person,” added @Zimoguan.