The bag containing 100,000 yuan in cash, which belongs to the passenger surnamed Shang, was left on the back seat of taxi driver Qi Jianfu's vehicle. Photo: Dahe.cn

A taxi driver in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province, has won praise after returning 100,000 yuan in cash to a passenger, delivering the man's forgotten phone the following day, and then making a third trip to return a 10,000 yuan reward the passenger had secretly left in his cab, Dahe.cn, a media outlet operated by Henan Daily, reported on Wednesday. 

The incident began on October 4, when a passenger surnamed Shang left a white bag containing 100,000 yuan in cash on the back seat after getting out of Qi Jianfu's taxi in a rush. Shang had neither kept the taxi receipt nor remembered the license plate number, and tried to reach the driver through a transport hotline and a message attached to his WeChat Pay transaction.

Qi, meanwhile, found the bag shortly after Shang left. After seeing the large amount of cash inside, he stopped taking passengers, secured the money and reported the discovery to his taxi company, the transport service hotline and police. After spotting Shang's message, Qi contacted him and returned the entire sum.

But the story did not end there. Shang later accidentally left his phone in the taxi, prompting Qi to make another trip on October 5 to return it. During that visit, Shang secretly left 10,000 yuan in the cab as a thank-you gift. When Qi discovered the money the next evening, he went back to Shang's home for a third time and returned that too.

Qi said that although he works hard to support two kids at home, he would never keep money that doesn't belong to him. Shang said he was deeply grateful and hoped to invite the driver to a meal. Qi was later publicly commended by his taxi company.

Global Times