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

Graduation caps fell from the sky and hit the steps with a sound.

Some people laughed as they went to pick up their hats, while others chased after the hat that had been blown away by the wind, running several steps in the process.

The noise in the square gradually subsided.

The crowd that had been huddled together taking photos gradually dispersed, walking in twos and threes in different directions.

Parents stood at the school gate waiting to pick up their children, while students dragged their suitcases out of the dormitory building, the sound of wheels rolling on the cement ground particularly clear in the June air.

Xie Wang bent down and picked up the two graduation caps at his feet, handing one of them to Su Qinghe.

When Su Qinghe took it, her fingers touched his fingertips, and she didn't pull them back.

Shen Hao jumped down the steps, and one of the buttons on his academic robe popped open, flying off and almost hitting a girl passing by.

Xu You quickly ran over to help him take off his robe and fold it neatly.

"Shen Hao, be careful, what if you hit someone?"

Shen Hao scratched the back of his head and chuckled twice, then his smile slowly faded a little.

He stood at the bottom of the steps, turned around and looked at the gray-white teaching building behind him.

The sunlight shone on the school motto stone tablet on the rooftop, making the gilded characters shine brightly.

Shen Hao stared at it for several seconds.

"Damn, why do I suddenly feel a little reluctant to part with it?"

Lin Lu squeezed through the crowd, her academic gown already off, draped over her arm, her hat askew on her head.

She paused for a moment after hearing Shen Hao's words, then turned to look at Su Qinghe.

Su Qinghe didn't speak, but her gaze slowly moved from the window of the teaching building to the huge sycamore tree in the center of the square.

The leaves are very dense, and they rustle when the wind blows.

She had stood under this tree countless times, waited through countless breaks between classes, and watched Xie Wang walk out of the teaching building and head towards her countless times.

Lu Yi packed up the tripod, put the lens cap on the SLR camera, and hung the camera back around his neck.

He walked over much slower than usual.

"Let's go back to the classroom," Lu Yi said.

"Let's go back and take another look."

The six of them walked along the corridor they had walked countless times toward Class 1 of Senior Three.

There were hardly any people left in the corridor. Most of the students had already left, and only a few classroom doors were still open, with scattered voices coming from inside.

Pushing open the front door of Class 1, Grade 12, the classroom was empty.

The last line of chalk writing that Lao Li wrote was still on the blackboard. The handwriting was a bit messy, and it said the exam room layout and precautions.

A large red number was pasted on the countdown board in the upper right corner of the blackboard.

003.

The exam papers and draft papers that hadn't been collected were still spread out on the desks, and some of the materials stuffed full in the drawers were showing a corner.

Shen Hao plopped down in his chair:

"Do you think we can still sit in the same classroom like this in the future?"

Xu You sat next to him, her fingers unconsciously flipping through a notebook full of wrong answers on the table.

"It's probably going to be very difficult, since everyone is applying to different schools."

Lin Lu pulled a crumpled notebook out of the drawer and flipped through it.

"This is the notebook I took on the first day of my senior year of high school. My handwriting is so bad that I can't even recognize it myself."

Shen Hao sat diagonally behind her, with his feet propped up on the empty chair in front of him and his hands behind his head.

Xu You lowered her head, her voice muffled.

"No one will secretly pass me notes asking math questions during evening self-study anymore, and no one will save me a seat in the cafeteria."

Shen Hao put his feet off the chair and sat up straight.

"No one will be handing me water on the playground anymore."

Xie Wang sat by the window, looking out.

He recalled his first day transferring to this class.

That day, he stood at the classroom door carrying a tattered schoolbag, and the whole class looked at him with curiosity and scrutiny.

When he sat down in the empty seat in front of Su Qinghe, he smelled the scent wafting past him.

That was the first time he felt that sitting in the classroom wasn't so unbearable.

Su Qinghe's voice came from behind:

"What are you thinking about?"

Xie Wang turned around and looked at her.

"Thinking back to the first day I sat here."

Su Qinghe's lips curved slightly.

"I thought you were just here to coast along that day."

"I later found out you were trying to seduce me."

The classroom was quiet for a few seconds.

Lu Yi sat in the corner by the window the whole time.

He didn't join the conversation; he just sat quietly, looking at every desk, chair, and window in the classroom.

After a long time, he finally spoke.

"If life were only as beautiful as our first meeting, why would the autumn wind bring sorrow to the painted fan?"

Lu Yi leaned against the window frame with his head tilted to the side. Sunlight streamed in from behind him, illuminating half of his face while the other half remained in shadow.

"What I mean is, how wonderful it would be if all encounters could forever remain in that beautiful feeling of the first meeting."

He paused for a moment.

"People will drift apart, seasons will change, and painted fans will be put away in autumn."

Lu Yi's melancholic temperament is fully revealed:

"But I think he wrote it wrong."

Lu Yi stretched out his finger and drew a circle in the air.

"He only saw that autumn would come, but he didn't see that after autumn was over, there would be another spring."

"We will graduate, leave this classroom, and go to different cities."

"But that's not called scattering."

He pointed to the camera on the table.

"Because I took pictures of everything."

"As long as the film remains, youth will last forever."

Shen Hao took a deep sniff, wiped the corner of his eye with the back of his hand, and spoke in a rough voice.

"Can you fucking stop reciting poetry? I can't take it anymore."

Xu You's tears fell again, and she buried her face in Shen Hao's school uniform sleeve.

Su Qinghe sat behind Xie Wang. She didn't cry, but she reached out and gently placed her hand on the back of Xie Wang's chair.

Xie Wang placed his hand over hers and grasped her fingertips.

The noise of other students moving their belongings away could be heard from the hallway outside the classroom.

Sunlight streamed in through the window, falling on the number 003 on the blackboard, blurring the edges of the chalk writing.

After a long time, Xie Wang stood up.

He turned around to face everyone:

"Let's go."

His words also revealed an overwhelming sadness:

See you in the exam hall the day after tomorrow.

"I'll treat you to dinner after the exams; you can choose any place you like."

Shen Hao stood up and patted Xie Wang's shoulder hard.

"It's a deal, no backing out."

Lin Lu raised her head, her nose red, but she still smiled and nodded.

Xu You whispered "Okay".

Lu Wen patted his pants, stood up, and reached out to ruffle Lin Lu's hair.

Lu Yi was the last to stand up.

He picked up the camera on the table, took two steps back, and pointed the lens at the people in front of him.

Xie Wang stood by the window, sunlight falling on one of his shoulders, while Su Qinghe stood beside him, still holding the graduation cap in her hand.

Shen Hao put his arm around Xu You's shoulder, while Lin Lu leaned against Lu Wen, her nose red but smiling.

Lu Yi pressed the shutter.

This is the last photo taken of him in Class 1 of Senior Three.

Then he put down his camera and walked towards the door.

He stopped at the door and glanced back at the classroom.

Sunlight fell on the empty desks.