Taxi-driver Chen Shun Zhong (陈顺忠) shared a story of him picking up a construction worker who looked slightly distressed.

His story, written entirely in Chinese was shared on his Facebook page. It paints a picture of warmth and humanity and we hope our rough English translation gives justice to it.

Here goes (written from Chen's perspective):

"A respectable guest worker - Zheng Zhi Shan (郑治山)"

It's past midnight Sunday night and I've been missing this Yong Tau Foo that I've not eaten in a month. Just then, a young man flagged my taxi along Jurong East Avenue 1.

Feeling like I hit the Jackpot, I stopped for him. He asked to go to Kranji and from his accent I could tell that he is a foreign worker from China.

I asked him why was he hailing a cab in the middle of the night (I always have the utmost respect for foreign workers. Who cares if they bring mud into the taxi? I can always clean the interior after they have alighted).

As he grumbled under his breath, he replied that he was out so late because he was making a police report and missed the last train.

That aroused my curiosity. What police case could this possibly be about? He sounded a little jumpy, so I calmed him down for him to recount his story.

His name is Zheng Zhi Shan (郑治山), a 37 years-old construction worker who hails from Puyang county in Henan, China.

He said that while changing trains at Jurong East, he picked up a wallet. In it, he found close to $300 and a work permit belonging to someone who looked South Asian.

His first reaction was to stay where he was in hopes that the person who lost his wallet would return for it. He thought the person would be anxious after losing his money and identification documents. He stayed at the station for over 20 minutes but to no avail.

Dejectedly, he left the MRT station and headed to the bus interchange. He had planned to hand the wallet over to the help desk at the interchange but the personnel there told him that they could not help and suggested he hand the wallet to the police. They instructed him to take a bus and told him how to get to the nearest police station.

However, he was not familiar with the area and eventually got lost. Luckily, he stopped a woman and explained his plight and asked for directions. The kind samaritan praised Zheng for his actions and led him to the police station. Zheng felt touched at her praise but he was pre-occupied about missing the last train back to Kranji.

At the police station, Zheng gave his testimonial and by the time he was done, it was almost midnight and Zheng thought that he had no hope of making the last train.

Just then, two dark-skinned gentlemen arrived at the police station and claimed to have lost a wallet. The police officers double checked against the work permit in the wallet and it did belong to one of them.

This coincidence felt like the movies. When the person who lost his wallet found out that Zheng had picked it up and handed it to the police, he held on to Zheng's hand tightly and thanked Zheng profusely.

When the police said that Zheng could now leave after having his testimonial taken, he walked out of the station a little dazed and he was still lost and had no idea where he was.

This was when he flagged down my taxi.

After hearing this touching story, as my taxi was going down the KJE, I could not help but say this to Zheng, "This ride is on the house because I want to show appreciation and admiration for your honourable actions."

To which Zheng replied to say that he could not accept because driving a taxi was hard work. I told him that he need not worry, and I could take care of myself.

When we reached Kranji, I requested to take a photograph with him. He was uncomfortable at first. Moreover, he saw that the final fare was $23.95 and again insisted to pay and that I was making a huge loss. I told him not to worry about it and that I was proud of him.

His expression was a bit stiff when I was taking his photograph, so using my experience as an ex-Zaobao photographer, I got him to relax and told him that he did a good and honourable thing. We finally took a picture together, I also took a photograph of the taxi receipt to show that I did a good thing!

After the photograph, Zheng thanked me, wished me Happy Lunar New Year. He stood by the roadside and said he wanted to see me off. We waved goodbye and I drove off.

It was 1am and I drove off feeling fulfilled, and headed to my much missed Yong Tau Foo, happy that I did a good thing!

We salute Mr Chen and Mr Zheng! Here's his Facebook post in Chinese: