During the Chinese Civil War fought between the communist and nationalist forces, troops of the former’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) borrowed grain from villagers and issued grain loan certificates promising to pay them later.

Farmer Ding Wanmin advanced more than 850 kilos of rice to starving PLA fighters in the Dabie Mountains in 1947 and he received a certificate. He kept the IOU, but it was forgotten until his family found it while their house was being demolished in the 1990s, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports.

His relatives stumbled upon the piece of paper that was inside a yellowed packet wedged between bricks.

Last year, Ding’s grandson Guanyi donated the 80-year-old IOU to the local government for its historical artifacts collection. Officials noticed that the payment was long overdue, so the government recently awarded Ding’s family 70,000 yuan, of which he donated 20,000 yuan to a foundation supporting military veterans.

Meanwhile, a California bookstore received a package on 3 August containing a book and a $100 bill.

Booklegger owner Jennifer McFadden shared a photo of the items on Facebook, describing them as touching.

The book was a first edition 1953 copy of “The Unstrung Harp” by Edward Gorey, an American author and a Tony Award-winning costume designer, yahoo!life reports.

The letter sender, an ex-chef of the Waterfront Oyster Bar and former student at HSU, apologized for stealing the book from the store 40 years ago when he had a horrible drug and alcohol problem and desperately needed money, according to yahoo!life, citing the Lost Coast Outpost.

The sender, who did not identify himself, said he found the shoplifted book that he had forgotten about while cleaning out his garage and was “making up for a past wrong, no matter how belatedly.”