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

Let's set the timeline to one week later.

The tattered signboard of the "Get Rich Barber Shop" in the old town has been removed overnight and replaced with a brand new, understated bronze plaque: Xinghuo Network Technology Co., Ltd.

Young Master Lu demonstrated astonishing execution ability this week.

He not only completed the business registration process and moved top-of-the-line servers and computers into the hair salon, but he even went to the job market and tricked two recent college graduates into becoming low-level programmers.

When the two new employees pushed open the door and saw that their company's CTO and core technology expert was actually a high school senior wearing a school uniform and reciting classical Chinese texts, their expressions were more interesting than if they had seen a ghost.

But none of that matters.

Importantly, today, Xinghuo Networks has secured its first-ever business deal.

After school, Lu Wen excitedly dragged Xie Wang and Su Qinghe to the company.

"You idiot! Sister-in-law! Come quick! The client specifically requested the CTO to come in person!"

Xie Wang raised an eyebrow, assuming that some large company had been blackmailed by hackers.

He threw his schoolbag on the table, exuding an aura of dominance.

Then, Mr. Wang, the owner of the copy shop across the street, walked in, carrying a typewriter and copier, sweating profusely.

Boss Wang slammed the machine onto Xie Wang's table: "Young man, I heard you guys work in high-tech computers? My machine's been jammed all day. Fifty yuan, can you fix it?"

The entire headquarters of Spark Networks fell into a deathly silence.

The two newly recruited college students silently lowered their heads.

Su Qinghe opened the financial ledger and picked up a pen.

Xie Wang looked at the broken machine in front of him, and then at Lu Wen, who was standing next to him with a blank expression.

He remained silent for a full three seconds.

Then, expressionless, he pulled a Phillips screwdriver from the drawer.

Remove the outer casing, take out the cardboard, clean the waste ink, and reassemble the outer casing.

It took three minutes.

"It's fixed, here's your money." Xie Wang pushed the machine back.

Boss Wang readily pulled out a crumpled fifty-yuan note, stuffed it into Lu Wen's hand, and happily carried the machine away.

Lu Wen stood there, clutching the fifty-yuan bill that still smelled of ink, feeling as if his dream of a business empire, which he had dreamed of ringing the bell on NASDAQ, had shattered into pieces.

"You fool..." Lu Wen wanted to cry but had no tears.

"This is our first revenue?! My four million investment would take me a lifetime to recover by repairing printers..."

Xie Wang stood up, patted Lu Wen's stiff shoulder, and said earnestly:

"Starting a business, Mr. Lu."

"The road ahead is long and arduous. Let's give this fifty yuan to Director Su for his account."

Su Qinghe suppressed a laugh, took the fifty yuan note, and wrote it on the first page of the company's ledger.

……

The next day, during the afternoon break.

With the New Year's Eve party at No. 1 Middle School drawing ever closer, we had already decided on our class's performance—a group sing-along of "The Wind Rises."

At this moment, in the back row of the classroom, Su Qinghe, Lin Lu, and Xu You, three girls, were huddled together, whispering to each other.

On the surface, what was laid out in front of them was the piano accompaniment score for "The Wind Rises".

But in reality, Lin Lu secretly took out her phone, pointed to a birthday cake on the screen, and whispered something to Su Qinghe.

Xie Wang had just returned from fetching water in the corridor when he witnessed this bizarre scene.

He walked over, placed one hand on Su Qinghe's desk, leaned forward slightly, and tried to look at his phone.

"Teacher Su, it's just rehearsing a New Year's Day choir piece, do you three need to discuss it like it's a secret meeting?"

With a "whoosh".

Su Qinghe quickly covered Lin Lu's phone with the track list.

She looked up, and although the movement was quick, Xie Wang still caught a fleeting blush at the base of her ears.

"We are discussing the style of the female performers' costumes for the party."

Su Qinghe lied without batting an eye.

"Xie, this is a secret between girls. Boys shouldn't pry into it."

Lin Lu and Xu You, who were standing nearby looking guilty, nodded repeatedly, as if pounding garlic:

"Right, right, right! It's a girl's secret! Xie Wang, you'd better go memorize your vocabulary!"

Xie Wang raised an eyebrow, his gaze lingering on Su Qinghe's feigned composure for two seconds.

"Okay, girls' secrets." Xie Wang chuckled, not bothering to expose her further, but simply ruffled Su Qinghe's hair.

"Don't discuss it too late, get ready for evening self-study."

……

10:30 PM, Genting Music Room 1602.

At opposite ends of the long table, the two were engaged in their daily tug-of-war over solving practice problems.

"Buzz—" The screen of Su Qinghe's phone on the table lit up for less than half a second.

As soon as Xie Wang turned his head, Su Qinghe, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, slammed his phone face down on the table.

This is the seventh time this week.

Not only did he engage in underhanded activities under the guise of "New Year's Day rehearsal" at school, but he also acted suspiciously at home.

Su Qinghe pretended not to see Xie Wang's probing gaze.

She pushed the test paper forward.

"Thank you, Wang." She stood up, stretched slightly, and spoke in a tone that seemed deliberately indifferent.

"I'm a little sleepy today, I'm going back to 1601 to sleep."

Xie Wang glanced at the clock on the wall:

It's only 10:30 now.

The usually meticulous test-taker, who never stops working until he finishes the last question, is leaving early today?

"Yeah, I'll go back and wash my hair today." Su Qinghe didn't even dare to meet his eyes, grabbed her coat and hurriedly walked out.

"You just showered last night," Xie Wang said calmly, exposing her lie.

"I didn't wash it clean enough last night."

His retreating figure betrayed a complete lack of conscience.

Xie Wang leaned back in his chair and let out a short, soft laugh.

He stood up and walked to the spot where Su Qinghe had just been.

On the table, besides a half-finished exam paper, there was also a piece of draft paper that had accidentally fallen out of the pages of the physics book.

Xie Wang picked up the paper, which looked like some kind of to-do list:

【1. The words on the chocolate label (can't be too cheesy)】

[2. A reminder to Little Deer and Little You: Do not buy red and blue confetti!]

3. Shen Hao must spend at least one hour on the basketball court tomorrow afternoon.

Xie Wang's gaze followed the desk and landed on the calendar next to it.

11 month 18 day.

That is, tomorrow.

"Idiot." Xie Wang tucked the half-finished draft paper back into Su Qinghe's exercise book, pretending he hadn't seen anything.

For him, his birthday was just an ordinary number on the calendar from childhood to adulthood.

But now, he suddenly starts looking forward to tomorrow.