Boy buys food to thank stranger who lent him phone

A 12-year-old boy from Henan bought some food to thank a stranger who had lent him a mobile phone, winning the hearts of Chinese netizens, Metropolitan Express reported.

A web user shared the experience that happened at noon last Friday at a railway station in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, saying a little boy asked him to lend him a mobile phone to call his father.

The boy explained he's on holiday and that he took a train to Hangzhou alone from his hometown Nanyang, Henan Province. He explained he had just bought a train ticket to Zhuji, also in Zhejiang, where his father was working, and wanted to let him know when the train arrives.

After finishing the call, the boy said thank you and left.

However, about 20 minutes later, the boy found the man again and gave him a plastic bag with a hamburger and porridge inside, saying, "Uncle, I bought these things for you. I searched for you for a long time."

When asked why he gifted the food to him, the boy answered, "Because you lent your phone to me."

The netizen was touched by the thoughtful boy but refused to accept the food, instead suggesting the boy eat it himself on the train.

The boy wouldn't give up and then took out two pieces of chewing gum to give the man, who took just one.

When the man questioned how the boy's parents could let him travel alone on such a long journey, the considerate boy replied that they are busy working.

Chinese netizens applauded the man for his kindness and also appreciated the boy's politeness. Someone commented, "Thumbs up for both of them — that boy is well educated."

The next evening, a reporter succeeded in contacting the boy's father, surnamed Li, who said the child had arrived safely. "He knows how to take trains. His grandparents in Nanyang prepared the ticket to Hangzhou for him and told him which train he should take."

They also taught him to buy a ticket at the ticket office, he said, and then to borrow a phone from "an auntie or uncle", a polite term often used by children to address strangers in China. The father said that he wasn't surprised his son bought the man a snack since it's something he should do as a thank-you.

"His mother and I divorced in 2015 and he came to spend Spring Festival with me," the father added.