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

Looking at her daughter's tear-filled eyes, Lin Wanyi felt a pang of heartache, as if someone had grabbed her hand hard.

She sat on the edge of the bed, reached out, and gently stroked Su Qinghe's hair:

"It's me, Mom's back."

The warmth of the palm is real.

Su Qinghe looked at his mother, and the strength he had been holding on to crumbled the moment he heard her say, "Mom's back."

She straightened up and buried her face in Lin Wanyi's arms.

He clung tightly to his mother, crying like a child who had finally found someone to rely on.

"Mom... if I hadn't gotten sick, would you still not have come back...?"

"I'm afraid that when I wake up... I'll be all alone here again..."

"And Xie Wang... so much blood... I dreamt he died..."

Lin Wanyi was jolted by her daughter's sudden movement, but she quickly regained her balance and tightly embraced her daughter's thin, trembling body.

Feeling the body in her arms trembling violently from lingering fear, and feeling the scalding tears instantly soak her shoulder, Lin Wanyi's eyes also reddened.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, Mom's back now, isn't she?"

She gently patted Su Qinghe's back, soothing her softly as she had when she was a child, just like when she was put to sleep.

"How are you feeling now? Does your head still hurt? Is there anything else that feels uncomfortable in your body?"

Su Qinghe sniffed, feeling the warmth of his mother's embrace, and the palpitations in his heart finally subsided a little.

She shook her head, her emotions calming down considerably.

"I'm feeling better... my head doesn't hurt as much anymore."

She paused, a flicker of fear crossing her eyes, and whispered:

"I just... had a nightmare."

The blood all over the ground in her dream was so real, so real, that she still hasn't fully recovered.

Su Qinghe subconsciously raised her head, her red and swollen eyes frantically searching the room:

"Where's Xie Wang? Where did he go?"

Lin Wanyi looked down at Su Qinghe in her arms, her eyes filled with resentment.

The feeling is like you've carefully nurtured a little cabbage for eighteen years, one you wouldn't even dare touch, only to find out in the blink of an eye that the cabbage has not only grown legs but is also searching the world for that pig that's trying to steal her away.

She raised her head irritably, as if she could glare through the door at the boy who was still "eavesdropping" outside.

Taking a deep breath, suppressing his competitive spirit, his tone carried a hint of helplessness:

"Don't worry, he's not dead."

"He's guarding the door, and we can't get rid of him."

The bedroom door was ajar, with a crack in it.

Xie Wang, who had been guarding the door the whole time, heard this question that sounded like he was about to cry.

He turned to the side, facing the crack in the door, his voice reassuring:

"Qinghe, I'm here."

These four simple words, seen through the crack in the door, clearly entered the bedroom.

"Don't be afraid, Auntie is inside with you, and I'll be watching over you outside. This is the safest place in the world."

Hearing the familiar voice and confirming that he was alright, Su Qinghe finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She turned her head and looked at Lin Wanyi in front of her. The longing she had suppressed since childhood suddenly surged up.

She reached out and grasped her mother's sleeve tightly:

"Mom... then please don't leave either, okay?"

"When I was sick before, you always had Auntie take care of me while you flew abroad... Can you please not leave this time?"

These questions and requests struck Lin Wanyi's heart like a knife.

She looked at her daughter's pale face and the cautious anticipation in her eyes.

"I'm not leaving."

Lin Wanyi sighed, about to say something.

"Buzz—Buzz—"

The phone, which was on the bedside table, rang at a very inopportune moment.

The words "Secretary Li" appeared on the screen.

A hint of disappointment flashed in Su Qinghe's eyes.

That kind of disappointment was all too familiar, so familiar that it broke my heart.

Su Qinghe slowly released her grip, buried her face in the blanket, and lowered her voice:

"Go ahead and answer it, Mom. Work matters are important."

Lin Wanyi held her phone, looking at her daughter's dimmed eyes, and hesitated for a moment.

In this awkward silence...

Xie Wang's voice came from outside the door again.

This time, he spoke to Lin Wanyi, his tone sincere:

"Auntie, please answer the call. There are some things that need to be explained clearly."

"However..." Xie Wang paused, then, through the door, said what Su Qinghe dared not say:

"The company can function without you, but Qinghe can't do without you now. She had a terrible dream just now, it scared her."

"If you leave now, no amount of medicine can compare to you talking to her for a while."

These words both offered a way out and acted as a push.

Yes.

If she wasn't there for her daughter when she was at her most vulnerable, then who is all the money she earns going to?

Lin Wanyi took a deep breath.

In front of Su Qinghe, she slid the answer button and pressed speakerphone.

"President Lin!"

The anxious voice of Secretary Li came from the other end of the phone, "The quarterly report meeting is about to begin, all the department managers are waiting for you, and the CEO of that 100 million project is already in the conference room..."

"It's cancelled."

Lin Wanyi coldly uttered two words.

"Huh?" Secretary Li was stunned. "But Mr. Lin, this..."

"I said I declined."

Lin Wanyi's tone on the phone was decisive and ruthless:

"I'm taking a few days off for personal reasons, and I won't be working."

"That project..."

"Send Su Chengyun!"

Lin Wanyi unhesitatingly shifted the huge blame onto her husband:

"Call him and tell him to stop fishing. Tell him that his daughter is sick and needs her mother's company, and that he should clean up the mess at his company himself."

"If that project doesn't go through, he can forget about coming home!"

After saying that, Lin Wanyi hung up the phone neatly, turned it off, and tossed it onto the sofa some distance away.

The world is finally quiet.

She turned her head, looked at the dumbfounded Su Qinghe, and gave him a doting smile:

"Alright, now even if the Heavenly King himself came, he couldn't make me leave."

"Mom will stay here with you for the next few days."

Seeing his mother turn down a contract worth hundreds of millions for his sake and even scold his father, Su Qinghe was stunned for a few seconds before bursting into laughter through his tears.

That smile, though still tinged with tears, was a genuine, radiant expression of relief.

"Um!"

She nodded emphatically, snuggled back into her mother's arms, hugged her tightly, and was as happy as a little girl who had won the whole world.

Outside.

Xie Wang listened to the conversation coming from inside:

"It has to be the mother-in-law, so domineering."

Inside the bedroom, Su Qinghe leaned against his mother's chest, his emotions completely calmed down.

"Okay, stop crying."

Lin Wanyi took a hot towel and wiped her face, her tone carrying a rare sense of ease:

"This semester, I've heard from Teacher Li about your progress. Your grades have consistently been first in the grade... Qinghe, you've done very well, even better than your mother did back then."

When the topic of studying came up, Su Qinghe sniffed:

"Not bad, Xie Wang... he's pretty good too."

"Fine, fine, you can't stop talking about Xie Wang." Lin Wanyi tapped her forehead in annoyance, but she wasn't really angry.

"I know he's smart; his notes are even more detailed than yours. You can tell he's put in a lot of effort."

She paused, looking at her daughter's somewhat thin face, and suddenly had a thought:

"You've worked so hard these past few days. Mom's on vacation for a couple of days, and I don't have much else to do... I'll cook you a nice, nourishing meal later!"

"what?"

Su Qinghe looked up abruptly, the emotion in his eyes instantly turning into terror.

Although she was delirious from the fever, she hadn't lost her memory.

As far as I can remember, the last time my mother cooked was when I was in the third grade of elementary school. She almost blew up the kitchen, and even our golden retriever wouldn't eat the porridge she made.

"Um... Mom, actually, Wang Ma's cooking is pretty good, or you could order takeout..."

"Takeout isn't healthy, and you're tired of Wang Ma's cooking."

Lin Wanyi waved her hand:

"It's settled then. Cooking is no problem for me, is it? Don't worry, Mom has practiced a lot over the past year."

Su Qinghe opened her mouth, but seeing her mother's enthusiastic expression, she ultimately didn't dare to dampen her spirits and could only silently pray for a safe kitchen.