Later, he also served as a vegetable company car driver, often both driving, but also as a buyer, loader and unloader, known as the "three-in-one" driver. He cared for the vehicle, careful maintenance, repair, special attention to safety in the car, saving fuel. As a result, he was named an advanced worker for three consecutive years, and in 1979, he attended the Baoji City Commercial System Advanced Worker Representative Meeting and was honored with a commendation.
Xu Liang has always respected the elders, willing to help others, often to the same hospital two old people send fresh vegetables, ask for warmth. When his coworkers asked him for something, he never refused.
August 21, 1981, Fengxian County flood disaster, the Jialing River water surged, in the Jialing River vegetable companies face a serious threat. In the morning, Xu Liang braved the rain with other workers to grab food and mechanical equipment. Twelve o'clock at noon, the peak of the flood came, the riverbank collapsed, the vegetable company yard has been into the flood. The party branch of the company decided: the personnel immediately withdrew to the south side of the hill. But Xu Liang did not withdraw, and did not go to take care of their own families, but to help other comrades and families to evacuate. He first put a woman with a child on her back, from the mudslide to the safety zone, and then to a building to meet the other three workers. When he climbed up the building, looking around, but did not find any sign of people (three workers have been released from the other end of the building), they rushed downstairs ready to return to the south bank, but the water has been surrounded by the building, can not be crossed. He climbed up from the first floor to the third floor, ready to think of another countermeasure, but one end of the building has begun to collapse, the situation is very dangerous. The company's leaders sent people to rescue him, but they could not get close enough. When the building was about to collapse, he jumped into the water from the third floor with a bedpan in his arms, intending to get out of danger. However, the water was too strong and he was finally killed by the flood at the age of 37. The People's Government of Shaanxi Province awarded Xu Liang the title of revolutionary martyr.