From collapsing rooftop to poverty alleviation village chief

Dodo~

At the foot of Qiongyu Village, in a rocky gully.

A tractor wobbled along the muddy, broken road.

Mr. Zhang, the tractor driver, turned around with a smile as he drove and said:

"Teacher Su, if my Yingzi knew you were back, she'd definitely be begging to go to school in Qiongyu Village tomorrow!"

A young woman sat in the cargo box behind the tractor, surrounded by piles of fertilizer, chickens, ducks, and wild vegetables. The ground was covered in mud, grime, and chicken and duck droppings, making it filthy and disgusting.

But the woman showed no disgust; her bright, clean eyes gazed at the mountains ahead, and an involuntary smile graced her face.

Similarly, Mr. Zhang was warm and respectful towards women, a stark contrast to his taciturn demeanor when he dropped off the newly arrived Village Chief Lin a few days earlier.

Mr. Zhang lives in Luoshan Village. There is no school in the village, so his daughter attends Qiongyu Village Primary School.

He had the utmost respect for this teacher, Ms. Su.

During her three years in Qiongyu Village, in addition to teaching, she took great care of every child. If any child's family had any difficulties, she would do her best to help.

Once, their daughter Yingzi had a fever. They were uneducated and poor, and the county was far away, so they thought she would get better in a few days. Unexpectedly, the fever got worse and worse, and they were terrified.

When Teacher Su found out, she braved the rain to visit the child that night, took the child's temperature, which was 41 degrees Celsius, and immediately took the child to the county hospital with them.

The doctor later said that it was fortunate that the child was brought in in time, otherwise it could have easily damaged brain cells, and the child could have been left mentally disabled.

And this is not an isolated incident; there are many children and families who have received help from Teacher Su.

Some people think that since Teacher Su is so beautiful and comes from a big city, she must be like the previous volunteer teachers, staying for a few months and then leaving.

Unexpectedly, Teacher Su stayed for three years, treating the students as her own children and the villagers as her own family.

Similarly, the villagers of Qiongyu Village, Luoshan Village, and Mohua Village all treated her as one of their own.

When Teacher Su asked for leave to go back, many people thought she was leaving Zhanghua County, so they brought eggs and vegetables to the station to see her off. Master Zhang also went there, and the scene moved him to tears.

Today, when I went to the market in the county, I was overjoyed to see that Teacher Su had returned. I was even happier than if I had seen my own daughter. I immediately pulled Teacher Su onto my tractor and took her all the way to Luanshigou.

At this moment, Su Yun was carrying a large backpack, her long hair simply tied into a high ponytail. When Master Zhang mentioned Yingzi, her plain face was full of tenderness, and she took out a bag of White Rabbit milk candy from her backpack.

"Brother Zhang, this is for Yingzi."

When Mr. Zhang turned around, he quickly refused, saying, "How could I accept something from you, Teacher Su?"

Su Yun laughed and said, "Yingzi loves White Rabbit milk candy the most. Besides, this kind of candy is very cheap where we are. Brother Zhang, if you don't accept it, I won't dare to ride in your car again next time."

Mr. Zhang had no choice but to accept the money. "Your sister-in-law has been thinking about you. Come over for dinner tomorrow."

Su Yun said apologetically, "I can't do it lately, Brother Zhang. I've been away for too long, and the children's classes have fallen behind. I need to prepare lessons properly. Also, the village school's classroom collapsed, and I need to find a way to repair it."

Mr. Zhang exclaimed in surprise, "The village school classroom collapsed?"

At this point, the tractor had reached the end of the dead-end road. Beyond the rocky gully was the mountain road leading to Qiongyu Village, and the tractor could not go any further.

Su Yun jumped off the tractor with a nimble step and said with a smile, "It's alright, Brother Zhang, we can have the classes at the village committee for now. You can have Yingzi come over tomorrow."

"Okay! Teacher Su, be sure to come over for dinner when you're done, otherwise your sister-in-law will start nagging me!"

"Okay, Brother Zhang, I'm off."

Master Zhang watched her walk briskly onto the narrow path amidst the scattered rocks, her high ponytail swaying from side to side, both delicate and charming, yet full of heroic spirit.

Even the dilapidated mountain path, riddled with rocks and thorns, seemed to be illuminated.

Mr. Zhang couldn't help but sigh, "What a lovely girl!"

The entrance to Qiongyu Village.

Under the old locust tree, a group of village women were chatting.

Zhao Chunyan, a burly woman, sat on a large rock and said in a high-pitched voice:

"Zhao Di, you should talk to your sister. Look at Xiao Shan. Village Chief Lin already has two widows to take care of him. How will she, a young woman, ever get married if she follows him?"

Liu Zhaodi's face was not good. No matter what, Zhang Xiaoshan was her niece. She actually went into the mountains with Lin Ye along with two widows. It was really embarrassing for her!

It was Zheng Daniu's wife, Li Li, who spoke up, "Village Chief Lin went up the mountain to pick mushrooms for the good of the village. Guifen, Xiuying, and Xiaoshan were just helping out."

Zhao Chunyan laughed heartily, "What valuable mushrooms could we possibly have on this mountain? Widow Qin's husband died from exhaustion picking mushrooms, doesn't she know that? She just wants to go into the mountains for 'that kind of thing'! And she even brought Widow Sun and Zhang Xiaoshan along, tsk tsk, they really know how to have fun!"

As Zhao Chunyan's words became increasingly outrageous, the surrounding village women laughed knowingly.

"Zhao Chunyan! Don't talk nonsense!"

At this moment, Liu Ying came over. She was worried about her daughter and came to the village entrance to check on her. When she heard Zhao Chunyan's words, she was so angry that her face turned ashen.

Zhao Chunyan felt a little guilty, then retorted stiffly, "What nonsense am I talking about? Didn't the previous village chief also go up the mountain to pick mushrooms, and end up not finding anything?"

Liu Ying pointed at Zhao Chunyan, "I'm the village's top women's leader. I can handle your behavior of spreading rumors about women!"

Zhao Chunyan's eyes widened. "What do you mean, 'the top woman'? Our village is so poor, and I've never seen you doing anything with a man!"

The others, not wanting to offend Liu Ying, tried to dissuade her.

"Alright, Chunyan, we're just chatting, let's not ruin our friendship."

"Sister Liu, Chunyan means well, but going up the mountain to pick mushrooms is really unreliable. You should try to persuade Xiaoshan."

"They're back!" Li Li said, holding her daughter Zheng Shanhua's hand with one hand and pointing ahead with the other.

On the path leading to Eagle Rock, a little boy ran down the path with boundless joy.

Following behind were a man and three women, each carrying a bamboo basket on their back, which appeared to be full of things.

It was Lin Ye and his group.

"It's only been half a day, why are you back already?"

The village women were all surprised.

In the past, villagers would usually stay overnight when they went into the mountains. How come Lin Ye returned so quickly with three women and a child?

Did they fail to find any mushrooms and slink down the mountain in disappointment?

Liu Yongxing had already run up to the crowd, holding an orange-brown mushroom in his hand, his dirty face full of excitement.

"We found it! We found a treasure!"

Li Li stepped forward curiously, took a closer look, and exclaimed, "It really is a mushroom! What kind of mushroom is it?"

Liu Yongxing shouted, "Village Chief Lin said this is called pine mushroom, and it can sell for 350 yuan per jin!"

Zhao Chunyan's eyes widened. "How much?"