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

Xie Zhengyang was leaning against the car waiting when he saw a young man with a camera next to his son. He nodded politely.

Lu Yi walked to the open space outside the building and took a deep breath of the morning air.

Spring sunshine spread across the lawn of the community, and the ginkgo trees sprouted a layer of tender, shiny new leaves.

The wind was gentle, the sky was blue, and it was a beautiful spring day.

Lu Yi removed the lens cap from the Polaroid camera, adjusted the aperture, and then looked up at Xie Wang with a quiet seriousness in his eyes.

"Paper ashes fly like white butterflies, tears and blood stain the azaleas red."

Xie Wang looked at him, but didn't tease him as usual.

Su Qinghe stood quietly to the side, the sunlight falling on her profile, casting a soft, warm glow.

Lu Yi raised his camera and held it up to the light at a certain angle.

"Let's take pictures of the three of you first."

Xie Wang pulled Xie Zhengyang over.

The three people stood on the lawn downstairs, with a row of magnolia trees that had just sprouted buds behind them.

Xie Zhengyang stood on the left, his posture very straight. Although the deep lines left by the years were still visible at the corners of his eyes, his overall spirit and energy were completely different from a few months ago.

Xie Wang stood in the middle, his head slightly turned to the side.

Su Qinghe stood on the right, and Xie Wang naturally put his arm around her shoulder.

Lu Yi squatted down and found an angle to shoot from below, allowing the sunlight to shine into the lens from behind the three people.

The shutter clicked.

The white photographic paper slowly emerged from the film output nozzle. Lu Yi carefully pinched the edge and pulled it out, dangling it in the air.

As the image gradually develops, the silhouettes of the three people become clearer in the warm-toned light.

"Take another picture of you and Su Qinghe alone," Lu Yi said.

Xie Wang released Xie Zhengyang and turned to face Su Qinghe.

Su Qinghe looked up at him, and the spring breeze blew a few strands of hair from her ear, which fell onto her cheek.

Xie Wang didn't make any deliberate gestures; he simply lowered his head naturally, his forehead gently touching Su Qinghe's forehead.

Su Qinghe's eyelashes trembled, and a very faint smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

Lu Yi pressed the shutter.

The third photo is a picture of Xie Wang and Xie Zhengyang together.

The father and son stood side by side, Xie Zhengyang's hands hanging stiffly at his sides, unsure of where to put them.

Xie Wang glanced at him and patted his shoulder.

Xie Zhengyang was stunned for a moment, then reached out and patted Xie Wang on the back.

The shutter clicked again.

Three Polaroid photos were neatly laid out in Xie Wang's palm, each one clearer than the last.

Lu hung the camera back around his neck and was about to turn around and go upstairs.

Xie Wang suddenly took out his phone, turned on the front camera, stepped to the side of the road, stretched out his long arm and put his arm around Xie Wang's narrow shoulder, holding the phone above their heads.

"Lu Yi, let's take a picture together, haha."

Lu Yi was pulled to the side by the hug, and before she could react, two faces appeared on her phone screen.

Click.

In the photo, Xie Wang is smiling happily, while Lu Yi looks dazed and adorable.

Xie Wang glanced at the photo, put his phone away with satisfaction, and patted Lu Yi on the shoulder.

"Thanks, Master Lu."

Lu Yi stood there for two seconds, his lips twitched, but in the end he just waved his hand.

"Go."

Xie Wang and the other two got into the car and left.

Lu Yi stood at the entrance of the apartment building with her camera in her arms, watching the black SUV slowly drive out of the community gate, the sunlight casting a flowing white streak on the car.

He raised his Polaroid camera and pressed the shutter one last time, pointing it at the direction that was gradually receding into the distance.

He kept this one for himself.

Yulanshan Cemetery experiences its busiest time of the year on Qingming Festival.

The mountain road was lined with all kinds of vehicles, and people were constantly walking up the stone steps. People carrying flowers and offerings walked in twos and threes along the path leading to the cemetery.

Xie Wang parked the car in the parking lot at the foot of the mountain. He and Su Qinghe each carried a bag, while Xie Zhengyang held a bunch of white chrysanthemums. The three of them walked up the steps to Xie Wan's tombstone.

The tombstone had been cleaned very well by Xie Zhengyang when he last visited, and the name engraved on the tombstone was particularly clear in the sunlight.

Su Qinghe placed the white daisies in front of the monument, then took out the thick stack of report cards from the bag.

Xie Wang squatted down and took out a lighter from his pocket.

He first set fire to the copy of the death sentence bearing the red seal of the Supreme People's Court.

The flames began to spread from one corner of the paper, the red official seal twisted and deformed in the firelight, and finally turned into swirling ashes, which were swept up by the spring mountain wind and carried high into the sky.

Xie Wang watched the ashes drifting in the air in front of the monument, his voice very soft.

"Mom, Gu Tianlong has been sentenced to death and will be executed immediately. He can't escape now."

He threw the report cards into the fire one by one.

Starting with the one that ranked last in the entire school, Su Qinghe's annotations circled in red pen flashed by in the firelight.

"This is my entire report card, from the bottom to fourth in the city. Ms. Su kept it for me, and she made annotations on every single one."

Xie Zhengyang squatted down beside the tombstone, his eyes red and swollen. He gently placed the bouquet of white chrysanthemums against the base of the tombstone.

Su Qinghe took the three Polaroid photos from Xie Wang and unfolded them in front of the tombstone, so that the images on the photos faced the tombstone.

"Auntie, this is a photo of me, Xie Wang, and Uncle. Today is Qingming Festival, and we've come to visit you."

She placed the photos one by one at the edge of the fire.

The photographic paper curled up when it came into contact with the fire, and the outlines of the three people in the picture lingered for a brief moment in the orange flames before completely melting away.

The ashes of the paper were lifted by the wind, swirling above the tombstone like a few thin-winged white butterflies, swaying and drifting away.

Xie Wang stood up and watched the ashes dissipate into the clear sky above Yulan Mountain. The heavy feeling that had been pressing on his chest for twelve years finally began to ease little by little.

He stepped back and bowed towards the tombstone.

Xie Zhengyang also bowed deeply.

Su Qinghe stood beside Xie Wang, her head bowed quietly. The wind blew up the ends of her hair and brushed against the back of Xie Wang's hand.

The three people stood in front of the tombstone for a long time.

People came and went in the surrounding cemetery. Some elderly people were bending over to wipe the photos on the tombstones, some young people were squatting on the ground burning paper money, and some children were running around among the tombstones and being pulled back by adults.

Yulan Mountain was noisy during the Qingming Festival, but the three people in this small corner were so quiet that only the sound of the wind passing through the treetops could be heard.

On the way back, Xie Wang drove down the mountain.

Xie Zhengyang sat in the back row, looking at the mountain scenery outside the window, and didn't say a word the whole way.

When the car reached the intersection at the foot of the mountain, Xie Wang stopped for a moment and dropped Xie Zhengyang off next to the bus stop.

"Go back and get some rest. You can go to work as usual tomorrow."

Xie Zhengyang nodded and bent down to look at Su Qinghe in the passenger seat through the car window.

"Xiao Su, thank you."

Su Qinghe smiled slightly at him: "Goodbye, Uncle."

Xie Zhengyang closed the car door and walked to the bus stop. Xie Wang looked at his father's back in the rearview mirror and stood up straight. As the crowd passed by him, he stood there quietly waiting for the bus.

The G-Class rejoined the traffic.

Su Qinghe took out a neatly folded piece of paper from his bag, unfolded it, and handed it to Xie Wang within his line of sight.

"When you get home, do these three Chinese reading passages first. Teacher Zheng said you must practice two passages every day during the Qingming Festival holiday."

Xie Wang's fingers gripping the steering wheel twitched slightly.

"Teacher Su, I just flew back from Beijing today and then went to the cemetery. Can't you give me a break?"

Su Qinghe stuffed the paper into the pocket of his coat.

"It's okay to breathe, but you can't stop reading Chinese. You only got 115 on the third mock exam, and you still have the nerve to say you're breathing."

Xie Wang chuckled helplessly, turned the steering wheel with one hand, and entered the underground parking garage of the Cloud Top Piano Room.

"Okay, okay, whatever Teacher Su says is right."