Tellers at the Jingyang District Branch of the Agricultural Bank of China count Mr. Li's cash. (Photo/Western China Metropolis Daily)

On the afternoon of Dec. 3, Mr. Li, who lives in the city of Deyang in southwest China's Sichuan province, took eight bags of cash to the Jingyang Distric Branch of the Agricultural Bank of China. Much to the surprise of the tellers, he claimed that the total amount was 5 million yuan.

A teller told the reporter that, because of improper storage, most of the cash was damp and moldy, and some had been damaged. "It usually takes about three hours to count this much cash; however, the bad condition of Mr. Li's cash produced many difficulties for us," the teller said. 

Tellers had to untie the bundled cash and dry it with a hair dryer until they could count each note normally. 

The counting work lasted for seven hours, and a currency counting machine broke because of the heavy work. The total amount of the cash was confirmed to be 5 million yuan.