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

"What about this one?"

Su Qinghe's eyebrows curved slightly.

She simply turned around and pointed to the old six-story residential building next door.

"Come up with me," Su Qinghe said.

Xie Wang was stunned for a moment.

He looked up at the moldy, dark, broken window on the top floor.

He has never returned since moving to the Genting Music Room.

He thought he would never set foot in this muddy place again in his life, but unexpectedly, on the night of his eighteenth birthday, Su Qinghe brought him back here.

"Teacher Su, this hallway is dark and dirty, what are you doing here?"

Although Xie Wang asked this question, his body betrayed him by stepping onto the steps first.

He habitually walked ahead, turned on his phone's flashlight to illuminate the uneven concrete stairs under her feet, and whispered his instructions:

Watch your step, don't step into puddles.

Su Qinghe stepped on his shadow, walking steadily, one step at a time.

"Didn't you say the surprise we prepared for you in the classroom was full of flaws?"

Su Qinghe's voice sounded exceptionally soft in the empty, echoing corridor.

"Then I'll show you a surprise you'll never guess."

The two walked all the way to the sixth floor, the top floor.

In front of Xie Wang's rusty security door, there were several broken cardboard boxes that no one knew who had thrown them away.

Su Qinghe stopped, turned around, and looked at the pile of broken cardboard boxes. His gaze suddenly became somewhat distant.

"Xie Wang, do you still remember this place?"

"How could I not remember?"

Xie Wang leaned against the wall covered in small penises, one hand in his pocket, a lazy smile playing on his lips.

"Six months ago, during the rainy season, a young lady was being chased by thugs and ended up huddled in this garbage dump like a drowned rat. She had the audacity to ask for 1,000 yuan to buy ten minutes of my charger."

"Back then, you looked so fierce, like you were going to eat someone alive."

Su Qinghe lowered his head and chuckled softly.

Then, she unzipped the backpack she always carried.

Under Xie Wang's questioning gaze, she took out a dark blue notebook with a velvet cover from her schoolbag.

Su Qinghe lowered his head and fiddled with the combination lock a few times.

A "click" sound.

The lock is open.

She handed the notebook to Xie Wang with both hands.

At this moment, the only light in the hallway was the faint glow of Xie Wang's phone flashlight.

The light shone on Su Qinghe's face, and her ears were flushed slightly. Her usually calm and rational eyes were now filled with a rare shyness and nervousness.

Happy 18th birthday, Xie Wang.

Su Qinghe's voice was soft, but every word struck Xie Wang's heart:

"This is a real birthday present for you."

Xie Wang lowered his eyes and looked at the dark blue notebook.

Of course he recognizes this thing.

During these past few months, after finishing his tests at night, Su Qinghe would always secretly doodle in this notebook.

As soon as he gets close, she'll quickly flip the notebook over like a cat whose tail has been stepped on, guarding against him as if he were a thief.

"This is……"

Xie Wang's Adam's apple bobbed slightly, and his heart skipped a beat.

"My diary."

Su Qinghe shoved the notebook into his hand.

"You..." Xie Wang held the notebook, feeling as if the light paper weighed a ton.

Are you sure you want to show this to me?

"Um."

Su Qinghe bit her lower lip, not daring to look into Xie Wang's burning gaze. She abruptly turned away, leaving behind a single sentence:

"It's too cold outside. Let's go back to the apartment so you can look at it yourself. I won't bother you. You can look at it yourself."

After saying that, she hurriedly went downstairs like a deserter.

Xie Wang watched her fleeing figure, then looked at the notebook in his hand.

This is insane!

This was even more exciting and nerve-wracking for him than hacking into the Pentagon!

"Hey! Ms. Su, slow down! It's dark in the hallway!"

Xie Wang quickly tucked the diary into his pocket, pressed it against his heart, and strode after him.

……

【22:30 · Genting Music Room 1602】

As soon as he returned to his apartment, Su Qinghe used the excuse that "I need to take a shower again" to escape back to the apartment across the hall.

Xie Wang sat on his sofa at home.

He even went to the bathroom and washed his hands twice with hand sanitizer, wiping them clean, as if afraid of getting the velvet cover dirty.

Carrying a glass of cool water back to the sofa, Xie Wang slowly turned to the first page of his diary.

The first few pages cover a long period of time, before their paths crossed.

June 12th, cloudy.

"The provincial math competition is over, and I won first place. Mom transferred some money to me on WeChat and sent me a message saying, 'Keep it up.'"

Everyone congratulated me, saying that Su Qinghe was really amazing, solving the problems effortlessly.

Actually, I was very tired. I worked on that last proof problem until 3 a.m. last night.

In this house, I cannot make mistakes, I cannot show fatigue, and I cannot even show liking for something insignificant.

Xie Wang gently stroked that page with his fingers and continued turning the page.

The timeline jumps to that early summer that changed our destinies.

June 3rd, torrential rain.

"Today is the most embarrassing day of my eighteen years. I huddled behind that cardboard box, listening to the footsteps downstairs, thinking I was doomed."

Then, he appeared.

The way he looked at me then was like he was looking at a piece of troublesome trash. He looked down at me and mocked me, saying I was a pampered princess in a greenhouse.

But... when the thugs downstairs kicked down the door, he still dragged me into that dark room.

The room smelled of braised beef noodles mixed with mint tobacco. To be honest, the environment was worse than I expected.

He tossed me a bucket of instant noodles. Although the seasoning packet made me cough, as I sat on that cardboard and ate that cheap bowl of noodles, I actually felt...

This place makes me feel safer than that magnificent Su family villa, where I was always all alone.

He's not actually that bad; he'll check before opening the door to see if it's someone collecting debts.

He lived like a hedgehog, just to protect his soft belly.

Upon seeing this, Xie Wang couldn't help but chuckle.

"What hedgehog... Teacher Su, you have quite the imagination."

He gently stroked the words with his fingertips, his heart softening.

The way she stubbornly negotiated the price with him while coughing until her face turned red was actually... quite cute.

Xie Wang turned to the next page.

June 5th, cloudy.

Today, I saw him at his most pathetic.

When he chased away thugs in the alley, he was like a fierce wolf.

But in the blink of an eye, in the noodle shop, when faced with his alcoholic father's slaps, he didn't even flinch.

I asked Uncle Zhong to park the car by the river. I watched him sit in the abandoned pile of rubble, his head buried in his knees.

His shoulders were shaking; he was crying.

Xie Wang, who fought recklessly, was crying like a homeless child in this deserted corner.

I don't want to see him cry.

I suddenly had an extremely impulsive thought—

If I could, I'd be the one to hold an umbrella for him.

Xie Wang's breathing suddenly stopped.

My eyes welled up with tears.

"Damn it...who can stand this?"

He continued turning the pages, but at a slower pace, afraid of missing even a single word.

June 6th, sunny.

"The abandoned attic on the top floor of the library was my usual quiet place to escape Jiang Yue, but he took it over."

He covered his book, *Introduction to Algorithms*, entirely in English with the cover of a magazine called *Comic Party*, thinking I wouldn't notice. Actually, I'd already seen it.

I gave him Lin Lu's basic notes, saying it was to repay a favor, but I was actually lying to him.

I just... simply don't want to see him really rot in the mud.

He actually refused, and even brazenly said he would "surprise" me.

Watching his tall, straight back as he turned to leave, I felt a surge of anticipation; I wondered how he was going to surprise me.

"Tsk, what a hypocrite."

Xie Wang leaned back on the sofa, recalling the way she expressionlessly pushed a pink notebook towards him in the attic that day.

This woman is a master at feigning aloofness.

翻到下一页。

"June 12"

When Lao Li announced Jiang Yue's 68th place in the grade from the podium, Jiang Yue's face turned green.

I was standing in front with my head down, but I was actually smiling the whole time.

Xie Wang, you really did it.

You are a star covered by dust, and now, you are finally beginning to shine.

And I'm so glad I was the first person to see your brilliance.

June 16th, basketball game.

Shen Hao dragged him to play basketball. He was wearing a black T-shirt, running, jumping, and shooting on the court, radiating a vitality that was hard to look away from.

Seeing so many girls around me holding water and eager to try it out, I suddenly felt very annoyed.

I'm very unhappy.

I don't know where I got the courage, but I took the pink sea salt soda bottle and walked up to him in front of the whole school.

I deliberately kept a straight face and made him finish drinking it.

When he leaned closer to me and said, "Thank you, Teacher Su," his smiling, almond-shaped eyes were absolutely captivating.

The bottle he drank from... I secretly took it home later, washed it clean, and put it on the bookshelf. Lin Lu asked me why I left an empty bottle, and I said I wanted to use it for flower arrangements.

Actually, it's because his scent lingers on it.

Su Qinghe, it seems you've really fallen for her.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Upon seeing this, Xie Wang burst out laughing on the sofa.

That empty bottle?!

Taking empty bottles home to collect?!

No wonder he couldn't find the bottle after playing ball that day; he thought the cleaning lady had taken it!

"Teacher Su, Teacher Su, how many more surprises do you have in store for me?"

Xie Wang laughed so hard his shoulders shook, the sweetness in his heart bubbling out like soda, so sweet it almost made his teeth fall out.

As I turned a third of the page in the diary, the handwriting began to become more vivid, no longer the stiff regular script of the beginning, and occasionally a small smiley face would be drawn.

The next article is about them in the capital.

June 24th, Beijing, Shichahai.

In front of the admissions offices of Tsinghua and Peking Universities, and in front of all the cameras, he refused to be admitted through the guaranteed admission program.

He said, "I want to spend the summer in Wuhan with her."

In that instant, I heard the sound of my own sanity snapping.

To hell with social status and aloofness.

At the terrace restaurant, he was so nervous that his hands were shaking as he cut the steak.

He took out the two Möbius strip rings.

He said he wanted to trap me in this vicious cycle, so that I would never find a way out.

He didn't know that my palms were actually sweaty the moment I reached out my hand.

I told him, "I approve this bug."

The moment I put the ring on, seeing the ecstatic yet cautious light in his eyes, I silently said to myself:

Su Qinghe, you're finished.

But strangely enough, I don't regret it at all.

Because my boy is the best person in the world.

Xie Wang's breathing became completely disordered.

He looked at the words "You're finished" and "My boy is the best person in the world".

This is the tremor of a soul being struck.

This is heavier than any vow of eternal love, yet sweet enough to make one willingly accept it.

August 1st is my 8th birthday.

This page is quite long, and the handwriting is so clear it seems to see through the paper.

Today, I turn eighteen.

I used to think that eighteen years old was just a number in a legal sense.

It means I can sign my own name, it means I will start to take on more of the Su family's responsibilities, it means... I will learn to survive at a more solitary height.

That evening, he lit fireworks on the terrace, and drones spelled out "May all your wishes come true" in the sky.

Looking at his profile illuminated by the firelight, I suddenly lost all desire to be the perfect heir of the Su family.

I don't want to be an isolated island anymore.

I want to be with him. I want this noisy, bright, and unrestrained summer to never end.

Xie Wang's fingers trembled slightly as he carefully continued flipping through the pages.

What follows are all the little things they did behind the scenes in the Genting Music Room.