Retired Teacher Funds and Works to Turn a Muddy Path into a "Comfortable Road"

On the early morning of December 27th, children at Fuyuan Primary School in Yingshan County, Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, walked along a newly constructed cement road, filled with laughter and joy.

"Previously, to send the children to school or go to the market, if we followed the highway, it would be about a 1-kilometer detour," said villager Yifa Bi with a smile, looking at the newly built cement road.

The one who funded the road construction is retired teacher Liao Qiongying from Fuyuan Primary School. She is a representative of the 15th and 16th People's Congress of Yingshan County and a volunteer for literary and art propaganda in the Fuyuan community.

Liao Qiongying's husband is a rural doctor who has helped many people. In March 2013, after Liao Qiongying retired, she assisted her husband in serving the community.

The road next to Fuyuan Primary School was a convenient path for children from four villages in the former Fuyuan Township to go to school, for people to go to the market, and for villagers to work. Due to its slope and narrow foundation, the road was difficult to traverse, and vehicles could not pass. During rainy days, pedestrians often fell.

"What affected me the most was when a child came to bandage a wound, and his face was all blood," said Liao Qiongying. As a teacher, seeing the children get hurt left a bad taste in her heart, so she decided to repair the road.

Thus, the path beside the main gate of Fuyuan Primary School saw her working on the road. Initially, she used hoes and shovels to level the ground, then laid stones, often sweating profusely. However, since it was a dirt road, it was manageable on sunny days but became muddy and impassable during rain.

"Constantly filling in the holes didn't solve the fundamental problem," Liao Qiongying discussed with her husband, and the couple decided to turn this path into a cement staircase road. They acted immediately; in August 2024, Liao Qiongying used her pension of over 6,000 yuan to buy cement, gravel, river sand, and other building materials. Local villagers, deeply moved by her righteous act, voluntarily joined the road construction team. Leveling the roadbed, supporting forms, mixing concrete, paving, and finishing... a brand-new cement staircase road was thus constructed.

"Now this section of the road has 53 steps, 100 meters long, with each step measuring 1.2 meters long and 0.6 meters wide," said He Xingzhong, the executive director of the Guanwei Committee in Qingshui Township. Thanks to Teacher Liao Qiongying for funding the road repair, everyone's travel has become safer and more convenient.

Liao Qiongying's good deed has significantly improved the environment for children going to school and villagers traveling. Under her influence, more and more enthusiastic people have emerged in the community, including individual businesses donating to education, retired comrades volunteering to protect students and advocating against drowning, making good deeds a conscious action among the community's residents.

Author: Zou Gang