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A 60-year-old farmer in Sichuan province saw a small fortune eaten up when 20,000 yuan ($3,069) he had buried in his bedroom was destroyed by white ants.
据报道，四川省一位60岁的农民藏在卧室里的一小笔财富--2万元现金（约3069美金）被白蚁啃成了渣渣。
But then his fortunes changed, when a young artist in Beijing offered him that exact amount for the ruined banknotes. The artist said he would turn them into a work of art as a wake-up call to alert senior citizens in rural areas about the dangers of storing large sums of money.
但后来事情有了转机，北京的一位年轻艺术家愿意出2万元钱来兑换这些钱渣渣。这位艺术家表示，他将用这些钱渣渣完成一个作品，作为警钟去警告农村那些自行保管大量现金的老人们。
Qi Shengli mailed the banknotes on Tuesday together with a brick used to cover the hole where they were buried to Hu Disheng, a 33-year-old artist in Beijing.
2月16日，齐胜利老人把这些钱渣渣连同用来盖洞口的那块砖头一起，寄给了北京33岁的艺术家胡迪生。
Qi, who lives in Goujiao town, Yuechi county, could not remember exactly how long ago he had buried the money in a corner of his bedroom. "It might be one or two years," he said. He was not comfortable with the formalities needed to deposit money in a bank. "In addition, I might forget the password or number code when I decided to make a withdrawal," he said.
住在岳池县苟角镇的齐胜利自己都不记得是什么时候将钱埋于地下。他说，“应该至少有一两年了”。老人觉得去银行存钱有一堆手续很麻烦，他说，“另外当我去银行取钱时，又可能忘记了密码。”
He placed the money, 200 notes with a value of 100 yuan each, in two plastic bags then dug a hole about 15 centimeters deep in his bedroom, placed the bags into it and covered it with a brick. "When I took away the brick on Feb 10, I found white ants had eaten away most of the banknotes," Qi said.
他把200张百元钞票分装在两个塑料袋里，在卧室里挖了个15CM深的洞，把袋子埋进去，并用块砖头盖了起来。老人说，“2月10号，当我移开砖头后，我发现大部分钱都被白蚁吃成了渣渣。”
Four days later, when banks resumed operations after the seven-day Spring Festival, Qi was accompanied by his two sons to an outlet of the People's Bank of China where employees found only parts of 12 banknotes that could be half-pieced together. The bank gave him 600 yuan after it accepted the 12 half-banknotes.
2月14日，7天的春节假期后，银行恢复营业，齐胜利和两个儿子一起，捧着钱渣渣到中国人民银行去咨询，工作人员仅仅找出了12张可以半额兑换的钞票。银行最终给他们兑换了600元。
Huang Jianjun, an information officer with the Yuechi county government, helped arrange for the artist to contact Qi. "While many may laugh at the old man online, an artist from Beijing learned about the story and decided to help," Huang said.
岳池县政府的信息管理人员黄建军帮助北京的艺术家联系上了齐胜利老人。他说，“网上有很多人嘲笑这位老人，但北京的一位艺术家知道了此事后决定帮助他。”
Hu managed to find Qi on Monday and offered to exchange 20,000 yuan for the two bags of ruined banknotes. Qi initially refused, as his sense of honor meant he did not want a stranger to pay for his mistake. But Hu persuaded Qi that the banknotes were useless in their present state but could be transformed into a work of art that could benefit elderly people by alerting them to the dangers of keeping large sums of money at home.
胡迪生在2月15日联系上了这位老人，并出2万元兑换掉这些钱渣渣。最初遭到了老人的拒绝，因为在他看来，不能由一位陌生人来为他的错误买单。但是胡迪生劝说老人，这些破碎的钞票现在放在他手上已经一文不值了，却可以变成艺术品来教育、警醒老年人不要在家里私自保管大量的现金。
Hu said he would even fly to Sichuan to clinch the deal if Qi continued to turn down his offer. Moved by Hu's sincerity, Qi promised to send him the banknotes and the brick.
胡迪生还说，如果老人坚持不接受他的兑换请求，他甚至要坐飞机到四川来说服他们。最终老人被胡迪生的诚意所打动，同意兑换，并寄出了钱渣渣和砖头。
