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

Sunday, cloudy.

[5:00 PM · Su Family Old Villa]

The Su family villa, located halfway up the mountain, is luxuriously decorated, exuding a cold and sophisticated feel.

Inside the restaurant, crystal chandeliers refracted dazzling light.

Su Qinghe sat on one side of the long table, with an exquisite French dinner laid out in front of her, but she had little appetite.

Sitting in the main seat was Su's mother, Lin Wanyi, who had just returned home.

Lin Wanyi is a typical strong woman. Even at home, she stands up straight and has a sharp look in her eyes.

"Uncle Chung said you haven't been staying here much lately, and have been staying in the apartment at the Genting Music Room?"

Lin Wanyi cut her steak elegantly, her tone nonchalant.

Su Qinghe put down his knife and fork, his expression calm:

"Yeah, it's closer to school there, and I'm more used to studying alone."

"Review?"

Lin Wanyi chuckled softly, put down her knife and fork, and wiped her mouth with a napkin:

"Qinghe, the college entrance exam is just one year away. Although you won a gold medal, the summer study abroad program in Cambridge, England that I arranged for you will be very helpful for your application to universities abroad. I've already booked your plane tickets; you'll be leaving next Wednesday."

Su Qinghe's fingers tightened slightly.

In the past, she would obey her mother's arrangements without question.

Because it doesn't matter, because wherever you go is the same as being on an isolated island.

But it's different now.

The newly furnished 1602 apartment, and the boy in an apron cooking noodles for her, were the reasons she didn't want to leave.

"I'm not going."

Su Qinghe raised her head, looked directly into her mother's eyes, and spoke softly, yet with unusual firmness:

"This summer, I'm staying in Jiangcheng to prepare for my senior year of high school. I don't plan to apply to universities abroad; my goal is Tsinghua or Peking University."

Lin Wanyi narrowed her eyes slightly, her gaze sweeping across her daughter's face:

"Is it because of preparing for senior year? Or is it because of... someone else?"

Su Qinghe's heart skipped a beat, but he showed no sign of it on his face:

"It's because I want to be the top scorer in the province. If I were to study in China, Tsinghua or Peking University would be the best choices. Going abroad would disrupt my study schedule."

This reason is irrefutable. Su's mother admires people who are ambitious, and as long as the reason is "ambitious" enough, she will not interfere too much.

After a moment of silence, Lin Wanyi picked up her knife and fork again:

"Alright, since you have this ambition, then so be it. But let me make this clear from the start: if your score drops in the first mock exam of your senior year, you'll have to follow my instructions."

"it is good."

Su Qinghe secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

For that summer, for him.

……

【6:30 PM · Genting Music Room 1602】

Meanwhile, in an apartment by the river.

Without Su Qinghe present, the house, though filled with furniture, felt unusually quiet.

Xie Wang sat alone on the carpet in the living room.

On the coffee table was a bucket of freshly made braised beef noodles—Su Qinghe wasn't there, and he was too lazy to cook, so he had reverted to his old habit of just eating whatever was available.

The TV was on, showing an unknown variety show, but he wasn't watching it.

His gaze fell on the pair of pink bunny slippers placed in the entryway.

Just a day earlier, she was wearing these shoes, directing him to straighten the crooked painting.

"Please come back soon..."

Xie Wang muttered something under his breath and picked up his fork to stir the noodles.

"Ring ring ring—"

Just then, the old cell phone that was lying in the corner of the sofa suddenly rang.

Xie Wang suddenly stopped moving.

He put down his fork, walked over, and picked up his phone.

An unfamiliar landline number was flashing on the screen.

Xie Wang frowned and pressed the answer button:

"Feed?"

A noisy background sound came through the receiver, like from a public phone booth on the side of the road.

Immediately following was a series of heavy, raspy breaths.

"...Little rascal?"

Upon hearing this voice, Xie Wang's pupils suddenly contracted.

It was a physiological aversion and vigilance ingrained in one's bones.

He was that drunken demon wielding a belt.

"Xie Zhengyang."

Xie Wang's voice instantly turned cold, as if it had frozen:

"You're out of prison?"

"Hey... I've only been out for two days."

Xie Zhengyang on the other end of the phone seemed to chuckle, his voice sounding somewhat aged, carrying a sense of despondency that came from a life long deprived of sunlight.

"What? You're not calling me Dad anymore? I heard you moved? Why is the old house locked?"

"It's none of your business."

Xie Wang's fingers gripped the phone so tightly they turned white, his tone filled with disgust:

"If you want money, I can give you some as a buyout fee. Take the money and get lost, and don't come looking for me again."

He has enough money now to get rid of this scoundrel.

However, the anticipated greed and demands did not materialize.

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone, then Xie Zhengyang's voice suddenly became anxious, even carrying a hint of barely perceptible fear:

"Money? I don't want your filthy money!"

"Xie Wang, I'm asking you, is that you in the newspaper who won the gold medal? Did you go to participate in that damn national competition?"

Xie Wang was stunned for a moment, then sneered:

"So what if I am? What, are you afraid that if I become famous, it will embarrass you, a former convict?"

"You idiot!!"

Xie Zhengyang suddenly roared on the other end of the phone, his voice hoarse and hysterical:

"Who gave you the right to show off! Who gave you the right to come all the way to the capital with your surname Xie?!"

"Do you even know whose territory that is? Huh?!"

Xie Wang's gaze turned completely serious:

"What do you mean?"

"The Gu family... that's the Gu family's territory!"

Xie Zhengyang's voice began to tremble, as if he had recalled something extremely terrifying:

"Back then, your mother was too high-profile, that's why...that's why..."

He seemed to have been grabbed by the throat, and his tone shifted abruptly to a menacing warning:

"Xie Wang, let me tell you! If you want to live, you'd better behave yourself and be a maggot in the mud! Don't try to be number one, don't try to win any awards!"

"That Gu Tianlong... he's a man-eater! If he targets you, I'm doomed too!"

Xie Wang stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the bustling night view of Jiangcheng outside, but his heart was ice-cold.

He had always thought his father was just a hopeless gambler and a coward.

But now it seems that this coward harbors a secret from back then.

"so what?"

Xie Wang spoke into the phone, enunciating each word clearly:

"So I'm just supposed to be like you, hiding in the gutter for the rest of my life, a useless piece of trash?"

"What's wrong with being a piece of trash! At least you can live!" Xie Zhengyang roared.

That's your way of life, not mine.

Xie Wang stared at the sharp silhouette of the young man reflected in the windowpane, his eyes burning with two cold, eerie flames.

"Xie Zhengyang, I'm not afraid of them."

"I will collect every single debt you owed my mother back then."

"You...you're a madman! You'll get us all killed!"

Xie Zhengyang seemed to smash something in a fit of rage on the other end of the phone.

"Beep...beep...beep..."

Xie Wang hung up the phone immediately.

The room fell silent once more.

Only the pot of braised beef noodles, which had already become mushy, was still steaming.

Xie Wang threw his phone on the sofa, leaned back, and sank into the soft cushions.

He raised the back of his hand to cover his eyes.

Gu Tianlong, Gu family.

It turns out that my father wasn't really rotten to the core; he was just... terrified.

That massive Tianlong Group was like a mountain.

Now, this mountain is pressing down on him.

"Click".

Just then, the sound of the fingerprint lock unlocking came from the doorway.

The door opened.

Su Qinghe walked in carrying his schoolbag.

She immediately noticed the unlit living room and the boy lying on the sofa, exuding an aura of loneliness.

"Xie Wang?"

Su Qinghe changed his shoes, walked over, and turned on the floor lamp.

The warm yellow light instantly dispelled the darkness.

Xie Wang removed his hand from his eyes and looked at Su Qinghe standing in front of him.

She hadn't had time to change her clothes yet, still covered in the dust of the outside world, but her eyes were as warm as a lamp.

"Why aren't the lights on?"

Su Qinghe glanced at the untouched instant noodles on the table and frowned.

"This is all we're eating? Didn't we agree that I'd take you out for a late-night snack when I got back?"

Xie Wang looked at her, his Adam's apple bobbing.

The hostility and chill he had just exuded vanished miraculously the moment he saw her.

He suddenly reached out, hugged her waist, and buried his face in her lower abdomen.

Su Qinghe froze for a moment, but didn't push him away. Instead, she raised her hand and gently touched his hair.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

Xie Wang's voice was muffled, tinged with a hint of longing:

"I just think...the lighting is pretty good."

"I'm so glad you're back."