84-year-old man finds secret recipe for happiness

If there is a secret of happiness, what is it? Qin Yanzhang, an elderly man who is 84 years old, has developed a special way of living since he retired 24 years ago: he has taken on the concept of "addition and subtraction" in his life. Qin now earns 3,480 yuan of pension a month. Except for several hundreds of yuan for living costs every month, he uses the rest of the pension for doing good deeds. Since Qin retired 24 years ago, he has donated more than 270,000 yuan.

84-year-old man has found the secret recipe for happiness

Qin will be happy if he does good deeds everyday 　

Qin lives in Yongkang City, Zhejiang Province. He learnt the technique to make hardware when he was young, but later became an assistant managing property and grain. 　　

After Qin retired, he failed to adjust himself to a life where he had nothing to do. He searched everywhere to find the equipments for making hardware in order to help others do something. Whenever there was a bazaar in nearby villages and towns, Qin would carry the equipments and set up a stall to repair pots, kettles and other necessities of daily life, free of charge. 　

Qin is best at repairing garden sprayers, and because of that, he has gone to all of the nearby villages to repair sprayers. One day, Qin went to Zhongshanhou Village in Yongkang city to repair sprayers for villagers there free of charge. Because there were so many sprayers that needed repair, Qin stayed in the village for 15 days, and repaired over 500 sprayers. He repaired as many as 50 sprayers one day. 　　

At present, some people still bring their sprayers for Qin to repair, and Qin repairs these free of charge. By now, Qin has repaired more than 1,300 sprayers, and has thus become a famous expert in repairing sprayers and is known by people near and far. 　

Qin once did a surprising deed, and even now, people still remember it. Five years ago, Qin bought the 137 arbors in Yongkang city 137 brooms at his own expense. He drove a bicycle for two weeks to send the brooms to the arbors, and he drove almost 40 kilometers the farthest. 　　

Qin feels uncomfortable if he stays at home and does nothing. He cannot stay at home, and even just walking outside will satisfy him. If Qin has something to do, he will become happier and will sleep better. During the 24 years, Qin has made a habit of doing things, and this has become his way of living. 　　

In the past, Qin earned a far smaller pension than he does now, and had to do more manual labor when he lived with his wife. Now his pension increased by times, but his wife passed away several years ago, leaving him alone. Qin is growing old, and as a result, is not strong enough to do heavy labor. Now Qin spends more, because he works less. 　

However, one thing remains unchanged: he enjoys the process of finding something to do, learning about the value of doing that and that many people will benefit from it, and then doing it. Every time Qin does this, he feels a sense of achievement, something that makes him much happier than donating money.