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

The countdown number jumped to 003.

Old Li stood in front of the podium, the half-piece of chalk in his hand twirling between his fingers twice before finally not landing on the blackboard.

He put the chalk back in the chalk box, patted the chalk dust off his hands, and turned to face the forty-odd young faces below him.

The classroom was unusually quiet.

No one flipped through the papers, no one twirled their pens, and even Shen Hao, who was usually the most restless, placed his hands properly on the table.

Old Li cleared his throat, speaking more slowly than usual.

"Today is the last day on campus before the college entrance examination. We'll have a holiday tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow you'll be going to the battlefield."

He paused, his gaze sweeping from the first row to the last.

"I've said these things countless times this year: pay attention to the questions, start with the easy ones, and don't fill in the answer sheet in the wrong place. I'm sure you could recite them with your eyes closed."

Someone below chuckled softly.

Old Li laughed too, but after he finished laughing, his eyes turned red.

"So today, the teacher doesn't want to talk about these test-taking skills anymore."

He pulled a neatly folded A4 sheet of paper from the drawer of the podium and unfolded it.

"I wrote something at home last night. I originally wanted to print it out and stick it on the blackboard, but then I thought it would be more interesting to read it to you in person."

The classroom became even quieter.

Old Li held up the paper and began to read.

"To all the students of Class 1, Grade 12, you are the eleventh graduating class I have taught."

"But you are the class that gives me the most headaches."

Shen Hao muttered something under his breath, and Xu You quickly covered his mouth with her hand.

Old Li glared at Shen Hao and continued reading.

"Shen Hao, it took you a whole year to go from being ranked 200th in the grade to being ranked 100th. Although you probably got hit with chalk more times than you got multiple-choice questions right in that year."

Shen Hao felt a lump in his throat, and he lowered his head to rub his eyes.

"Xu You, you are the quietest and most resilient girl I have ever met. I never have to worry about your grades, but the fact that you have learned to be brave makes me prouder than any perfect score on a test."

Xu You's tears were already falling, and she tried to wipe them away with her school uniform sleeve, but the more she wiped, the more tears streamed down her face.

"Lin Lu, your math skills have made me turn a lot of gray hair."

Lin Lu let out a sound that was both aggrieved and wanting to laugh.

"But you improved by more than fifty points, which is faster than any student I've ever seen in my thirty years of teaching."

Lin Lu lay on the table and cried. Su Qinghe reached out and gently patted her back.

"Lu Yi, classmate."

Lu Yi sat by the window, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her school uniform.

"Your Chinese teacher told me that your essay was the best she had ever corrected, but to be honest, grading your paper was the most painful experience of my life."

Everyone laughed.

Old Li read aloud many of his classmates' names, then turned the paper over and looked at the contents on the back, his voice slowing down.

"Su Qinghe, classmate."

Su Qinghe sat upright in his seat, his hands folded on the table, his back straight.

"You are the most perfect student in the teacher's eyes. You always get the best grades and are always thorough in everything you do."

Old Li paused for two seconds.

"But what makes your teacher even happier is that this year I saw you finally learn to smile."

Su Qinghe's eyelashes trembled. She didn't lower her head, but there was a light welling up in her eyes.

"at last."

Old Li turned his gaze to the seat on the left side of the classroom by the window.

"Thank you, classmate Xie Wang."

Xie Wang leaned back in his chair, his hands in his school uniform pockets, his posture casual, but there was no smile in his eyes.

He was listening attentively.

"You are the most special student I have ever encountered in my 26 years of teaching, without exception."

Old Li folded the paper and stopped looking at it, because he had already memorized what was to come.

"You went from last place to fourth in the city, and you taught me a lesson."

"Talent is something that can never be buried in the mud."

Xie Wang lowered his eyes and looked at the table.

Old Li put the paper back in the drawer, quickly wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, and then straightened his back and resumed his strict homeroom teacher demeanor.

"Alright, alright, stop crying. It's bad luck to look so sad before a big exam. Cheer up!"

He patted the podium.

"The school held a mobilization meeting this morning, followed by graduation photos. After that, we'll have a holiday. Those who need to go home can go home, and those who need to rest can rest."

See you in the exam hall the day after tomorrow.

At 10:00 a.m., all senior students gathered on the main playground.

The mobilization meeting was even larger than the day of the 100-day countdown rally, with red banners hanging on both sides of the stage.

Principal Zhang stood in front of the microphone and delivered his final words.

"Students, in three days you will walk out of this school gate and go to different cities and different lives, but no matter where you go, Jiangcheng No.1 High School will always be your home."

"I wish you great success and a place on the honor roll."

The playground resounded with prolonged applause and shouts. Some people shouted out the names of their ideal schools in the queue, while others unscrewed the caps of their mineral water bottles and sprinkled water into the air. The security guard next to them was so anxious that he kept stamping his feet.

After the event, all the senior high school students gathered in the square in front of the teaching building to take graduation photos.

The school prepared a box of graduation caps and a box of dark blue academic gowns for each class, and the ceremony had arrived ahead of schedule even though they had not actually graduated yet.

Xie Wang took a graduation cap from the box, shook off the dust, and casually put it on his head.

His hat brim was pulled low, covering half of his eyebrows, making him look nonchalant.

Su Qinghe walked over and reached out to help him push the brim of his hat up.

"Dai Zheng."

"Teacher Su, this hat is square, so it always looks crooked no matter how I wear it."

"Your head is tilted."

After Su Qinghe finished speaking, she laughed first. She took another hat from Xie Wang and put it on her head. The wind in the square blew the tassel of the hat to her cheek.

Lu Yi had already set up his tripod, and his DSLR camera was pointed at the main entrance of the teaching building.

"All of you in Class 1, Grade 12, stand up on the steps. Those in the front row, squat down; those in the back, stand properly."

Lu Yi, who is usually the laziest person, was unusually serious today.

Shen Hao put on his academic robe, only to find that it was too tight for his physique, and he couldn't button it up at all.

Xu You helped him pull hard a couple of times, and the button was finally closed with difficulty, but it looked like it was in danger of popping off at any moment.

"Shen Hao, don't breathe too hard. This bullet could kill someone," Lu Yi shouted from behind the tripod.

Lin Lu, wearing an academic gown, squeezed through the crowd. She was not tall, and her hat was too big and kept slipping down, so she held the top of the hat down with one hand.

Lu Wen had somehow sneaked back into the school. He stood behind a flower bed on the edge of the square and secretly waved to Lin Lu.

Lin Lu was both annoyed and amused when she saw him, and made a face at him.

"Attention everyone, I've set a ten-second delay. I need to run over there after I press the shutter."

After shouting those words, Lu Yi pressed the shutter button on his camera and then ran towards the steps.

He took three steps and almost tripped over the hem of his academic gown. He stumbled and barely managed to squeeze to the edge of the line, getting stuck between Shen Hao and a boy.

Everyone took off their graduation caps and held them in their hands. Shen Hao stood in the very center of the highest step, his voice deafening.

"I'll count to three, then we'll throw them all into the sky!"

"one!"

"two!"

"three!"

More than forty dark blue graduation caps were simultaneously thrown into the June sky, spinning in the sunlight as they rose to their highest point.

The moment the hat scattered in the air, a clear blue sky lay behind it.

Xie Wang did not look at the hat in the sky.

He turned his head to look at Su Qinghe beside him.

Su Qinghe was looking up, the sleeve of her academic robe slipping down from her wrist, revealing a section of her fair and slender forearm, sunlight falling on the corners of her slightly upturned eyes.

She was smiling happily.

Xie Wang also smiled.

He reached out and, before all the hats fell, grasped Su Qinghe's fingers hanging by his side.

Their fingers are intertwined.

The foreground features graduation caps fluttering in the air and jubilant teenagers, while the background shows dappled sunlight filtering through the sycamore leaves.

On the far left of the image, Xie Wang is looking at Su Qinghe with his head tilted to the side, while Su Qinghe is smiling and looking up at the sky.

Their hands were clasped tightly together, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Lu Yi later gave this photo a name.

The boys and summer.