Redemption from the Abyss: The School Beauty Insists on Pulling Me Out of the Mire

[10:30 AM · 10,000 meters above the ground]

The plane flew smoothly through the clouds on its route back to Jiangcheng.

The cabin was quiet, with only the occasional announcement.

After several days of running around and last night's "all-night sea-watching," Xie Wang was truly exhausted.

Not long after boarding the plane, he tilted his head and fell asleep on Su Qinghe's shoulder.

Su Qinghe adjusted his sitting position to make himself more comfortable, turned his head slightly, and looked at the face so close to his.

Asleep, Xie Wang shed his usual roguishness and sharpness. His long eyelashes trembled gently with his breathing, and his mouth was slightly open, even looking a bit...憨憨 (simple and honest).

As Su Qinghe watched, he felt a strong urge to try it.

She stretched out a finger and mischievously poked the tip of his upturned nose.

He's not awake.

So I poked her cheek again; it was soft and felt really good.

"Mom, look at that older sister."

Beside the aisle, a little boy being held in his mother's arms suddenly pointed at Su Qinghe in a loud, childish voice:

"She's bullying that older brother; she's poking his pig nose."

Su Qinghe's fingers froze in mid-air, and his face instantly turned bright red.

Several passengers around him gave him good-natured laughter.

Su Qinghe quickly withdrew his hand, pretending to fix his hair, so embarrassed that he felt like he could dig a manor out of the sole of his shoe.

She breathed a sigh of relief after the child turned away.

She looked at Xie Wang, who was still sleeping like a log, and couldn't help but grind her teeth.

This person is sleeping soundly, making her lose face.

Su Qinghe quietly took out his phone, opened the camera, and took a very tricky "death angle" shot at Xie Wang's defenseless sleeping face—from below, emphasizing his nostrils and slightly open mouth.

"Click."

The image freezes.

Xie Wang in the photo is anything but handsome; he looks utterly foolish.

Su Qinghe looked at the photo, covered her mouth and chuckled, then silently captioned it in her mind: [The fall of the school bully of Jiangcheng No.1 High School.jpg].

She carefully stored this "handle," then gently rested her head on his head and closed her eyes.

……

[14:00 PM · Wuhan ·]

Returning to the familiar Cloud Top Piano Room, I pushed open the door and was immediately greeted by its cool and refreshing atmosphere.

Xie Wang threw his suitcase into the entryway, too lazy to even change his shoes, and collapsed onto the sofa. In less than three seconds, his breathing became even and long again.

He was truly out of power.

Su Qinghe shook his head helplessly, took off his shoes, and covered him with a thin blanket.

After quickly packing his luggage, Su Qinghe poured himself a glass of ice water, sat down at his desk, and opened the laptop covered in cartoon stickers.

She wouldn't let Xie Wang fight alone.

She skillfully logged into several foreign business databases and alumni websites.

Enter keywords: Tianlong Group, Gu Nan, list of senior executives.

A dense array of data appeared on the screen.

Su Qinghe pushed up his glasses, his gaze becoming focused and calm.

She began to create an Excel spreadsheet, cross-referencing the resumes, family backgrounds, and even the subtle clues on social media accounts of Tianlong Group's core executives.

CFO: Liu X, a gambler, has been frequently traveling to Macau recently…

Engineering Department Manager: Zhang XX, his mistress purchased property overseas...

……

Xie Wang was awakened by hunger.

He sat up groggily and smelled the aroma of rice porridge coming from the kitchen.

"Awake?" Su Qinghe came out carrying two bowls of porridge. "I was just about to call you."

Xie Wang scratched his messy hair, glanced at the darkening sky outside the window, and suddenly remembered something:

"Oh no, I forgot something."

"What?"

"That kid Lu Yi," Xie Wang said, standing up and stretching his limbs, "he still has that photo of me saving someone in the water."

"Then hurry up and go. The rice isn't fully cooked yet. I'll go cook a couple of dishes and call him up to eat with us." Su Qinghe tied her apron.

"OK."

……

[Downstairs, Room 302]

Lu Yi lived downstairs from Xie Wang.

Xie Wang walked up to the burglar's door and knocked three times forcefully.

"Knock knock knock!"

"Master Lu! Open the door! We've brought you warmth!"

After quite some time, the sound of slippers dragging on the floor came from under the door.

"Click".

The door opened a crack.

A pale hand gripped the door frame, and then Lu Yi's head, with its messy hair and pale face, peeked out.

He was wearing a faded T-shirt, his hands were stained with some unknown black paint, and his eyes were glazed over.

"...Xie Wang? You're back?"

"Of course, I came to visit you as soon as I got off the plane."

Xie Wang didn't stand on ceremony with him and pushed the door open, squeezing in: "Hurry up, change your clothes, come upstairs for dinner, your Teacher Su will cook for you."

"Huh? I don't..."

Lu Yi instinctively wanted to avoid social interaction, but Xie Wang had already walked into his living room on his own.

The curtains were drawn tightly shut, not letting in a single ray of light.

Books were scattered all over the floor.

From "The Art of Cinema" to "The Complete Works of Borges," and various rare comics, they were piled up like a small mountain, leaving only a narrow path for one person to pass through.

The walls were covered with posters: Wong Kar-wai's "Fallen Angels", Shunji Iwai's "Love Letter", and many black and white photographs.

That was a photo of Jiangcheng taken by Lu Yi.

The old man playing mahjong in the alley, the sunset over the abandoned factory, the stray dog ​​running in the rainstorm... every photo has a decadent yet wildly growing vitality.

"Sure, Master Lu."

Xie Wang casually picked up a photography book, flipped through it, and exclaimed in amazement:

"Your place may be a bit messy, but it has a lot of artistic talent."

"No, it's not chaos... it's 'the beauty of disorder'!"

Lu Yi suddenly raised his head, with a nervous excitement.

He pulled a yellowed poster from the pile of books and shoved it in front of Xie Wang:

"This is Antonioni's 'Blow-Up,' which tells the story of a photographer who inadvertently captures the truth of a murder case... Although everyone thinks it's an illusion, only the photographer knows that it is the truth."

Xie Wang was almost shoved in the face by the poster. He leaned back slightly and nodded perfunctorily, "Ah...yes, the truth is profound."

"And this too!"

Lu Yi completely missed Xie Wang's perfunctory attitude. He turned around and pulled out a book from the bottom shelf that was as thick as a brick, with a cover entirely in foreign languages:

"This is Henri Cartier-Bresson's 'The Decisive Moment'! The bible of photography! Xie Wang, do you know that in this fast-paced era, only film can preserve the corpse of time... Look at this snapshot, the cutting of light and shadow, that sense of loneliness..."

"Look at this set on the wall, it's a series of photos I took this week called 'Stray Dogs on the Edge of the City.' Most people only see the filth, but I saw freedom! That wildness born of abandonment!"

Xie Wang leaned against the door frame, still holding the photo in his hand.

He listened to a lecture on "existentialist composition" for a minute, when his stomach growled at an inopportune moment.

"Gurgle—"

Xie Wang sighed, interrupting Lu Yi's long-winded discourse:

"Master Traveler, I know you're trying to express the 'freedom of stray dogs.' But right now—if I don't eat soon, I'll turn into a corpse too."

When Lu Yi was interrupted, the fervor in his eyes subsided slightly, and he reverted to his usual awkward demeanor. "Um... I'm not hungry, I still need to develop the photos..."

"Why wash? People are made of iron, and food is made of steel."

Seeing that the still-dazed Wen Qing was looking at him, Xie Wang walked over without saying a word, put his arm around Lu Yi's waist, and hoisted him up.

"Ah! Xie Wang! Put me down! I have legs!"

Lu Yi, perched on his shoulder, was like a cat caught by the scruff of its neck, flailing its limbs wildly, its glasses nearly flying off.

"If you have legs, why don't you walk? You're forcing me to use my hands."

Xie Wang carried him out, and casually patted his butt: "You have to eat this meal today, try Teacher Su's cooking."

Just as Xie Wang was carrying Lu Yi and turned around to leave.

His gaze inadvertently swept over a wall in the corner of the room.

Xie Wang suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"etc."

He put Lu Yi down, his movements no longer as casual as before, his brows furrowed, and he strode towards the wall.

"What's wrong?" Lu Yi had just landed, still frantically adjusting her glasses and straightening her disheveled clothes, looking completely bewildered. "Aren't you hungry?"

Xie Wang did not answer.

He stared intently at the black and white photograph in the corner.