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

Life returned to normal, and a week passed in the blink of an eye.

Xie Wang and Su Qinghe's lives returned to the routine of studying for exams.

Wednesday's lunch break.

Xie Wangzheng idly twirled his pen, staring blankly out the window.

Shen Hao was lying on the table, looking on with a gossipy expression as he approached Lin Lu's table in the front row:

"Hey Lin Lu, I haven't seen Lu Wen climbing over the wall this week. What's going on?"

Shen Hao grinned mischievously.

"That guy used to be there rain or shine, practically climbing over the wall three times a day. He's been gone for almost two weeks now. Did some rich woman take a liking to him and drag him into a marriage alliance?"

Su Qinghe, who was doing practice problems, also stopped writing and looked at Lin Lu with some curiosity.

Lin Lu blushed slightly, held up her English book to cover her face, and whispered in defense:

"Don't talk nonsense... He's busy with important matters."

"Serious business?" Shen Hao exclaimed dramatically, "What serious business could Young Master Lu possibly have? Besides playing games, he's either... cough cough, looking for you."

"It's true." Lin Lu was a little anxious, but there was a hint of pride in her eyes. "But I don't know exactly what he's been doing lately."

"Yo yo yo—" Shen Hao started to cheer, "So, you're already hoping your husband will become a dragon?"

Xu You rolled up the book and hit Shen Hao on the head.

"Shen Hao, don't talk nonsense ( ⩌ - ⩌ )"

Just as everyone was joking and laughing, a series of hurried footsteps came from the classroom door.

"Xie Wang, Su Qinghe, come out for a moment."

Xie Wang and Su Qinghe exchanged a glance, both seeing doubt in each other's eyes.

The two got up and left the classroom.

Old Li lowered his voice, pointed to the administration building at the end of the corridor, and said in a serious tone:

"Director Yan is waiting for you in the small conference room; there's a special situation."

"What's wrong, Lao Li?" Xie Wang asked, hands in his pockets. "Director Yan is going to crack down on puppy love again? We've been keeping a low profile lately, even holding hands is done in blind spots of the surveillance cameras."

Old Li glared at him, then wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"There are foreign guests. There was an international education exchange week recently, and several exchange students from American high schools came."

"The majority of the team had gone to Beijing, but two students... after seeing the list of winners in the national competition, specifically requested to come to No. 1 High School."

Old Li paused, then lowered his voice and said:

"These two are quite influential; they're top students from St. Philip High School in the United States. Director Yan is with them right now, but those two kids... are incredibly arrogant, and the atmosphere isn't quite right. Be careful when you go there, don't embarrass the school, but also don't... don't be too impulsive."

Push open the heavy wooden door of the small conference room.

In the spacious conference room, Director Yan sat next to the head of the table, a slightly stiff smile plastered on his face.

Opposite him sat two boys with foreign features.

They wore impeccably tailored dark blue suits with elegant gold school badges pinned to their chests—the symbol of St. Philip's High School, a renowned elite private high school.

The one on the left is blond and blue-eyed, with his legs crossed, idly fiddling with a Newton pendulum model on the table. His name is Austin, and his gaze is flippant, even somewhat rude.

The one on the right has brown curly hair, wears frameless glasses, and has an ultra-thin silver laptop in front of him. His expression is indifferent. His name is Justin.

Upon seeing the two enter, Director Yan, as if seeing saviors, quickly stood up to introduce them:

"Oh, here they come! These two are the pride of our school! Su Qinghe, gold medalist in physics; Xie Wang, gold medalist in informatics."

Austin was idly playing with Newton's pendulum, looking utterly bored.

It wasn't until Xie Wang pulled out a chair and let Su Qinghe sit down behind him that this happened.

Austin's hand stopped.

Su Qinghe wasn't wearing makeup today; she was simply wearing her faded blue and white school uniform, with her hair tied in a simple ponytail, revealing a clean yet delicate face.

She sat there quietly, holding a black pen, exuding a cool and aloof aura that seemed out of place in the noisy surroundings.

This subtle, restrained yet somewhat aloof Eastern beauty instantly captivated the American young master, who was used to seeing hot and sexy styles.

"Wow..."

Austin whistled lightly, and his body, which had been slumped lazily in the chair, instantly sat up straight.

He straightened his suit collar, his azure eyes darting unabashedly over Su Qinghe, completely ignoring Xie Wang sitting opposite him. Leaning forward, he reached across the table, revealing what he thought was a charming smile:

"Hey, beautiful."

Austin switched to fluent Chinese, his tone carrying a sense of superiority:

"Director Yan just mentioned that you are a physics gold medalist, but he forgot to mention the most important thing—you are the most beautiful scenery here."

Su Qinghe frowned slightly, but did not look up, still staring at the pen in his hand.

Seeing that she didn't react, Austin wasn't discouraged; instead, he found it even more interesting. He pulled out a brand-new phone and waved the QR code on the screen:

"In America, a pretty girl like you would usually be cheering in a cheerleading squad, not toiling away at formulas in this run-down lab."

"Since we're both in the physics field, how about we exchange ideas? Add each other on WeChat?"

He raised an eyebrow, his tone ambiguous:

"I can show you around our top-notch labs in Silicon Valley. Or... I can privately teach you some 'physics basics' that you can't learn from books. Trust me, it'll be much more interesting than what you learn in China."

The air was silent for three seconds.

Director Yan, standing nearby, was so embarrassed he wanted to disappear into the ground. This wasn't a conversation; it was blatant harassment of a female student!

Su Qinghe finally reacted.

She slowly raised her head, her clear eyes looking at Austin. Her voice was calm, yet carried a chilling aura that kept people at a distance.

"Excuse me."

"My contacts have an automatic filtering function."

Austin was taken aback: "What function?"

Su Qinghe looked at him calmly and said in a clear and articulate voice:

"It automatically filters out...signals of low intelligence and high narcissism."

Austin's smile froze on his face instantly.

Low intelligence? High narcissism?

This seemingly quiet Chinese girl can swear without using any profanity?!

Before he could react, a lazy yet extremely authoritative male voice rang out from beside Su Qinghe.

"Don't you understand?"

Xie Wang had moved closer without anyone noticing, and placed one hand naturally on the back of Su Qinghe's chair, forming a protective posture full of possessiveness.

He slightly raised his chin, his gaze like a sharp knife, precisely slicing through Austin's mask of hypocrisy:

"If you don't understand, I'll translate it for you."

"She means—you're not worthy?"

Xie Wang sneered, looking Austin up and down with obvious disdain:

"Want to add her on WeChat? With your IQ, you can't even answer her verification question. Don't use your outdated pickup lines. Here, that kind of behavior isn't gentlemanly, it's harassment."

"you--!"

Austin's face instantly turned a deep purplish-red. Having been pampered since childhood, when had he ever suffered such humiliation?

"Good. Very good."

Austin laughed in anger. He stood up abruptly, and his height of over 1.8 meters made him look very imposing.

He stared at Su Qinghe, the initial amazement in his eyes now replaced by anger and embarrassment at being rejected.

"It seems that China's 'geniuses' are not only arrogant, but also very ignorant."

"You think I'm not good enough? You think I'm not smart enough?"

"Since you look down on my invitation and are not convinced of our abilities, let's communicate in a different way."

Austin pointed to Justin, the bespectacled man next to him, and then to himself:

"Let's play a game, a two-round duel."