Photo:Screenshot from Sina Weibo

 

An old lady in Southwest China's Sichuan Province probably never thought she would become a hot topic of discussion on the internet, just as most people would not expect to find a check for 150 million yuan ($23.6 million) lying in the street.

Local media reports in Sichuan said on Friday that police in Miyi county received a report from the woman after she found the check and was stunned by the huge amount. 

"I found a check, stamped, for 150 million yuan," the women told police with excitement on the phone, according to the video clip from Red Star News. 

After receiving the report, the police rushed to the scene and went to the bank to check the information. 

"The check was expired. It was only valid for ten days," a bank employee told the police. 

After a thorough check by bank staff, the check was found to be authentic. "Maybe they (the owners) threw it away after it was expired and useless," the bank employee said. 

According to the information on the expired check, it belonged to a company. Eventually, bank staff destroyed the check in a shredder.

As of press time, the topic of the 150 million yuan check became the top trending item on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo with over 100 million views. Many netizens said they had never seen a check with such a large face value, and even though it was no longer valid, it could still be a conversation piece for the old lady among her friends.

Some net users pointed out that the numbers on the check did not seem properly written, meaning it would be difficult to withdraw cash from the bank even if it had not expired.  

Nevertheless, many Weibo users praised the old lady for telling police about her find.