A stranger from an exotic land writes down words you don’t understand which are said to be valuable. Do you trust him? (By the way, the words are in English.)

At around 8am on July 16, motorcycle cabbie Xiao Liu was in Zhonglou District of Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. That’s when he took a foreigner for a ride and charged him ten yuan.

The foreign man spoke poor Chinese, but described himself a foreign exchange student at a Xi’an university. He told Xiao Liu that he didn’t have any money despite asking for a ride, so he would do the next best thing: write a note, reports 163.

The note read:

If you want to go fast, go alone.
If you want to go far, go together.

The foreigner told Xiao Liu that he could exchange the note for a lot of money outside of China. As Xiao Liu doesn’t speak or read English, he didn’t know what to make of the note, but accepted it all the same.

Later, Xiao Liu went on Weibo to ask for help. Netizens helped Xiao Liu translate the note for him, and that’s when he discovered the saying is in fact an African proverb.

Xiao Liu chalked it up to life experience:

I’m going to treat it as though I purchased a lottery ticket that didn’t win anything. However, this laowai is too tricky. I will be more careful in the future.

Perhaps by being taken in by this charlatan but getting help from the vast online community, Xiao Liu may learn the lesson of community and togetherness.

Photo: 163