After seven years of being helped from the shadows, college student Xie Yang (alias) finally discovered the identity of his long anonymous benefactor, Qianjiang Evening News reported.

Hailing from a village in Southwest China's Guizhou province, Xie Yang's family is hard-up. His dad was a migrant worker and his mom did some farm work.

In 2015, Xie, then a high school student, met a man called "Brother Bing" who was on a hike in the village. After knowing Xie's financial difficulties, the man decided to subsidize his schooling.

Xie's family didn't believe the man at first, because they barely knew anything about him — only that he was a pilot in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province.

"Brother Bing" gave Xie 1,000 yuan ($157) in cash. Since then, he remitted money to Xie's family regularly.

Four years ago, Xie was admitted to Southwest Minzu University. "Brother Bing" started to remit him money in January and July every year. He would also send Xie clothes and other items once in a while, but he never left any personal information.

On the first day of 2022, "Brother Bing" transferred 6,000 yuan to Xie and wrote a long message to him.

"Life is long. I don't expect any return to aid you for your schooling. When I saw you, I recalled myself at a young age. I couldn't bear to see our generation being stuck in rural areas. I'm glad you are about to graduate and step into society. I want you to remember the society outside campus is another world where no one may help you. You need to fight for yourself. You don't need to thank me and don't look for me. Take care. Happy New Year. Mission accomplished."

Later, "Brother Bing" deleted Xie from his WeChat contact list.

Xie said he had never seen "Brother Bing" again since they met in the village. He wanted to express his gratitude face-to-face.

So he contacted the Qianjiang Evening News in Zhejiang, seeking their help to find the pilot.

A reporter finally revealed the anonymous donor - Lin Zhenbing, a pilot with Zhejiang Loong Airlines. 

Lin was born in 1990 in a remote county in East China's Fujian province. His family was not well-off either, and he was also subsidized by a kind-hearted man during his school days. The man deleted Lin's contact after finishing his financial aid, telling Lin to help others when he can.

Lin's living conditions improved after he became a pilot. He has subsidized seven or eight students in total, with one admitted to the prestigious Tsinghua University.

Lin would transfer money to students in January and July so they wouldn't worry about travel expenses between home and university, and delete their contacts when they were ready to graduate. Xie was the first one to reconnect with him.