Colorful years

The winding mountain path resembled a giant python, meandering and coiling through the mountains. The road was narrow and rugged, making it extremely difficult to walk on.

Along the way, the group needs to pass through seven communes in succession: Xinglong, Jiaoziya, Yuxi, Guanping, Yinjiaxi, Sanping, and Bailongquan.

Upon reaching Yuxi, a steep and precipitous Maoxi Slope suddenly appeared before them, waiting for them to conquer it.

Finally, after overcoming numerous hardships, the group reached the summit of Maoxi Slope. By then, the sun was already beginning to set in the west. It was nearly noon, and they had traversed over forty miles of long and rugged mountain path.

The long trek left everyone feeling extremely exhausted; sweat had soaked through their clothes and streamed down their faces.

At this moment, Teacher Hu decisively gave Congcong an instruction: "Congcong, you are in charge of counting the number of people. Then we will take a short break, have lunch, and then continue on our way."

Upon receiving the task, Congcong immediately took action. He counted the number of people one by one by taking attendance, and silently noted the number of people corresponding to each name he called out.

With each loud response, when he called out the fifty-first name—"Qin Yueying"—a clear and melodious "Here!" rang in his ears. At this point, including Congcong himself, there were exactly fifty-two people present, not one missing.

So Congcong quickly ran up to Teacher Hu and solemnly reported, "Teacher Hu, all fifty-two students have arrived!" Upon hearing this, Teacher Hu nodded in satisfaction and said, "Very good. Now that everyone has arrived, let's enjoy the lunch that we have prepared."

The students were so hungry that their stomachs were growling and their chests were sticking to their backs. They looked like a pack of starving wolves, their eyes fixed on their backpacks, as if they wanted to rush up and devour all the food inside.

Finally, unable to contain their desire any longer, they eagerly opened their backpacks, quickly took out the food they had prepared, and began to wolf it down.

Congcong deftly untied his schoolbag and carefully took out several corn cakes from a bag.

He first walked up to Teacher Hu, smiling broadly as he handed her two corn cakes, saying, "Teacher Hu, please try these. My mom made these corn cakes especially for me, they're so delicious!"

Then, he turned to Teacher Chen and offered her two fragrant corn cakes, saying warmly, "Teacher Chen, please have a taste!"

Teacher Hu and Teacher Chen were delighted to see how well-behaved and sensible Congcong was, so they didn't stand on ceremony and each took a corn cake and took a small bite.

Instantly, a rich aroma of corn filled my mouth, and the sweet and soft texture left me wanting more.

As Teacher Hu savored the taste, she nodded in satisfaction and praised, "Hmm, it tastes really good! If there's any left, you can share it with the other students."

Upon hearing this, Congcong quickly replied, "Okay, Teacher Hu!" After saying that, he looked at the remaining corn cakes in his hand and began to secretly plan how to distribute them.

Finally, Congcong kept two corn cakes for himself, and then took the rest of the cakes and went to San San, Gui Gui, Li Hua, Lü Sanmao, Lü Simao and others.

He handed out these delicious corn cakes to his friends one by one. Everyone was overjoyed to receive them and thanked Congcong profusely.

This wasn't the first time Congcong had walked from his home to the county town.

Although this journey was exceptionally arduous, when he recalled the experience of accompanying his father to his aunt's house in the county town to borrow rice for the New Year when he was nine years old, he felt that the current difficulties were nothing.

At that time, the father and son were penniless and starving, and they walked all the way to their relatives' house in the county town.

Thinking of this, the memories from three years ago flooded my mind like a tide, instantly becoming incredibly clear.