A simple act of lending a hand during family renovations led to an incredible discovery for Thornton — founder of Asian Sweet Hearts — and his wife, Mei. Hidden behind an old wall in Mei’s family home in northern China were several bottles of aged baijiu and a wooden box filled with antique coins, untouched for decades.
Thornton, originally from the UK, met Mei while travelling across Asia after his divorce. What began as a journey of personal renewal turned into an unexpected love story — one that later inspired him to create Asian Sweet Hearts, an Asian dating platform dedicated to building genuine cross-cultural relationships.
Years later, when the couple returned to Mei’s hometown to visit her family, Thornton found himself once again putting his hands to work. Mei’s father was in the middle of renovating part of their house, and with Thornton’s background in building and renovation, he eagerly offered to help.
As they carefully took down an aging partition wall, something unusual caught their attention — a dull clink of glass and a hollow gap within the wall. Inside, wrapped in old cloth and sealed away, were several dust-covered bottles of baijiu and a small box containing an assortment of antique Chinese coins.
The discovery sparked instant curiosity. Who had hidden them, and why? Wanting to do the right thing, Mei’s family began to ask around the village. With the help of local elders, they traced the previous owners of the house — a family who, to everyone’s surprise, still lived nearby.
When the families met, the older members of the original household were deeply moved. The items, they explained, had belonged to their late grandfather, who had often spoken about his missing coins and special baijiu bottles. He had been convinced they were stolen long ago. In reality, he had hidden them himself for safekeeping during home repairs many decades earlier — and forgotten about them entirely.
After hearing the story, Mei’s family insisted on returning everything — the coins and the baijiu — to their rightful owners. The gesture left both families touched. To mark the moment, they gathered together, opened one of the old bottles, and shared a toast to the memory of the grandfather and the story that had unexpectedly linked their lives.
“The whole experience was surreal,” Thornton said afterward. “Helping with the renovation was something small — but discovering that history hidden behind the wall reminded us how moments of honesty and kindness can connect people in the most unexpected ways.”
The remaining bottles and coins were handed back to the original family, who now cherish them as a precious link to their past. Both families have stayed close since, promising to meet each year to share a meal and raise a glass — a tradition born from an act of goodwill, a stroke of luck, and a wall that kept one man’s memories safe for generations.
