Payment is entirely voluntary! "The Lost Tomb" "Xiaomi" opens a free restaurant in Zhengzhou—how long can this kindness last?

Recently, a special restaurant on the streets of Zhengzhou has gone viral. This self-service restaurant called Wujia Vegetarian has no cashier, no minimum spend requirement. Whether you pay or not, how much you pay, is entirely up to your own discretion. Even if you pay nothing, you can sit down peacefully and enjoy a good meal.

Speaking of which, many people remember the founder of this restaurant—he is the same person as the beggar “Xiaomi” who was always hanging around the gate of Tongfu Inn in “My Own Swordsman,” shouting “Take a break on the 1st and 15th.” In real life, his name is Zhang Qing. No one expected that the character relying on begging in the show would become a hero who warms countless hearts in real life, using a hot meal to bring the martial arts camaraderie of “sharing blessings and facing difficulties together” from the TV drama into reality.

This restaurant is not small, covering over 4,000 square meters. Every day from 11:30 am to 1 pm, it serves 19 homemade vegetarian dishes, with unlimited rice and steamed buns. The diners include sanitation workers, delivery riders, elderly people living alone, and ordinary citizens. Everyone sits together, with no hierarchy or embarrassment—just enjoy your meal peacefully.

Zhang Qing didn’t start this initiative on a whim. As early as 2020, he and friends opened a charity porridge house, providing hot porridge daily regardless of cold or heat. Over five years, they have served more than 400,000 people.

By the end of 2025, Wujia Vegetarian Self-Service Restaurant officially opened. Initially, they tried charging 1 yuan per person, but after the Spring Festival in 2026, Zhang Qing decided to make it completely free. He only posted a “pay as you wish” donation QR code on the wall, without actively encouraging donations or asking about anyone’s difficulties.

He has only one request: no leftover food. To encourage everyone to cherish their food, Zhang Qing even picks up leftover rice thrown into the trash by diners and eats it himself. His sincerity has deeply touched many people.

Now, the restaurant can serve 400 to 500 people daily, with peak times exceeding 700 diners. Some even come from Shandong, Sichuan, and other places just to visit. Warmth is always mutual—many caring citizens actively donate rice, flour, and cooking oil. Someone once donated 1,000 steamed buns at once, and many volunteers come to help wash vegetables, serve food, and clear tables without pay.

What’s even more touching is that many people, after finishing their meal, voluntarily stay to help out, transforming from recipients of help into helpers themselves. Zhang Qing says the daily donations vary—sometimes a few thousand yuan, sometimes only a few dozen. All ingredients are donated by the community; he has never actively solicited funds.

Everyone is moved by this, but doubts also arise: with a model entirely based on voluntary donations and love, without a fixed income, how long can it last?

Undeniably, Zhang Qing’s restaurant is like an experiment in kindness and trust. It doesn’t have the traditional charity’s “almsgiving” feel, allowing those in need to maintain dignity and encouraging many to pass on warmth. But it also has obvious shortcomings—no stable income source, relying solely on external donations.

Once public interest wanes, donations decrease, or if food prices rise or the number of diners suddenly increases, the operation could face serious difficulties. Zhang Qing has said that if it becomes unsustainable, he will decisively close the restaurant—“I started this myself, I can’t morally force others.”

In fact, similar voluntary pay-what-you-want restaurants have existed before. In Fuzhou, a designer opened a “pay-what-you-want” restaurant, maintained by investors’ support. Although well-reviewed, it eventually couldn’t withstand rent and utility costs. In Chongqing, there was a free noodle shop helping those in need, but it faced malicious freeloaders and had to admit, “Even the best shop can be overwhelmed.”

These examples show that human nature is complex. Some may have a “freebie” mentality or waste food, which can disrupt this voluntary balance. Currently, Zhang Qing’s restaurant operates smoothly partly because of his five years of charitable reputation and partly due to public support. But public interest will eventually fade, and how to sustain it afterward remains a big challenge.

However, this doesn’t mean the restaurant is doomed to fail. Free vegetarian restaurants in Haiyan, Zhejiang, and the “One Yuan Canteen” in Leshan, Sichuan, all operate well through multi-party cooperation. For Zhang Qing’s restaurant, as long as they can find a stable food supply, manage volunteers properly, guide capable people to help without harming diners’ dignity, prevent waste, and periodically disclose accounts to donors, they might break free from reliance on individuals and fleeting popularity. From a personal act of kindness to a collective public welfare effort.

(Writer / Human Observer)