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

The elevator ascended smoothly.

The atmosphere inside the cramped sedan chair was particularly subtle because of Lu Yi's presence.

As the red light on the number keys flickered, the elevator stopped with a "ding" when the number on the display screen changed to "3".

"arrive."

Lu Yi, carrying the bag of discounted noodles, slowly moved out.

The elevator doors slowly closed.

……

Back in their rooftop apartment, the two quickly switched to study mode.

For senior high school students, exam papers are the only necessities on nights.

Two desks were placed together, covered with newly distributed math practice papers and English cloze tests.

The room was quiet, with only the scratching of pens on paper and the occasional turning of pages.

"The equation of the tangent line in this derivative problem is incorrect."

Su Qinghe circled Xie Wang's paper in red pen, his voice clear and focused:

"Although the result is correct, the steps are too disjointed. If the examiner is in a bad mood, they may deduct two points from your process score."

Xie Wang leaned closer for a glance, his nose brushing against her hair, catching a faint scent of shampoo. He lazily twirled his pen:

"Let them deduct the points, as long as the final answer is correct. Teacher Su, you need to work on this obsessive-compulsive disorder."

"No." Su Qinghe pushed the test paper back without looking up. "Rewrite the whole process. You can't lose a single point."

Xie Wang looked at her serious profile, sighed helplessly, but his eyes were full of doting affection:

"Alright, alright, I'll listen to you. After all, you're the top scholar."

Time slips away quietly amidst a sea of ​​practice problems.

When the clock struck 11:30, Su Qinghe put down his pen and rubbed his slightly sore neck.

"That's enough for today." She packed her schoolbag. "I have to do early reading tomorrow morning."

"I'll take you there."

Xie Wang got up and escorted her to the opposite door.

At the doorway, he took her hand and gently kissed the back of it, his eyes shining with tenderness in the lamplight.

Goodnight, Teacher Su. Sweet dreams.

"Good night." Su Qinghe's cheeks flushed slightly as she gently withdrew her hand, turned, and went inside.

As the door opposite clicked shut, Xie Wang returned to the living room.

He plans to tackle the last cloze test question.

However, before they could even get comfortable sitting down—

"Bang bang bang!!"

Someone pounded on my security door like a drum.

The commotion and the rhythm of it all could only be attributed to that rich, idiot.

Xie Wang frowned and got up to open the door.

As soon as the door opened, a faint smell of alcohol wafted out.

Lu Wen stood at the door, carrying two cans of beer, his hair a mess, his tie hanging crookedly around his neck, looking utterly dejected.

Upon seeing Xie Wang, Lu Wen curled his lip and let out a wail:

"You fool... my heart is filled with bitterness!!"

Xie Wang stood expressionless, blocking the doorway.

"It's the middle of the night, Su Qinghe just fell asleep, what are you howling about?"

"I'm heartbroken... no, I'm heartbroken before I even started dating!"

Lu Wen pushed his way into the room without a care, familiarly plopped himself into the sofa, and slammed his beer on the table.

"Have a drink with me! I have something important to ask you!"

Xie Wang closed the door, walked over helplessly, and kicked his shin:

"Speak up, what happened? Lin Lu blocked you?"

"It's more complicated than that one."

Lu Wen sat up abruptly, opened a can of beer, took a gulp, and looked deeply confused.

"Brother Wang, can you help me analyze this? What's going on with Xiao Lu?"

Xie Wang raised an eyebrow, sat down opposite him, picked up another can of beer and twirled it in his hand: "Tell me more."

Lu Wen took a deep breath and began to review today's "accident scene":

"When you were dismissed from PE class today, the atmosphere was so good, and the sunshine was so beautiful... I thought, since everyone's tacitly agreeing, shouldn't we make some real progress?"

I tentatively tried to hold her hand.

"Pfft—cough cough!"

Xie Wang, who was drinking beer, suddenly choked and almost sprayed a mouthful of beer in Lu Wen's face.

He wiped his mouth with a tissue, looking at Lu Wen with disbelief:

"Wait, stop."

Xie Wang put down his beer can and looked his childhood friend, who usually prided himself on being a "master of romance," up and down with a shocked expression:

"How long have you two been together? Bringing each other milk tea, sneaking over walls to accompany each other during school, you're practically inseparable... and you two haven't even held hands yet??"

"..." Lu Wen blushed, stubbornly defending himself, "What we did was...it was about spiritual connection! It was Platonic love! It was about taking things step by step, you know?!"

Lu Wen stretched out his right hand and made that famous gesture in the air, a hint of helplessness in his eyes:

"My heart was pounding the moment my fingertips touched the back of her hand, and guess what happened?"

Xie Wang: "She dumped you?"

"no."

Lu Wen scratched his messy hair, his tone somewhat annoyed:

"She reacted incredibly quickly! She slapped him with a 'smack'—"

"She gave me a high five!"

"And it was a really crisp, really bro high-five! He even patted me on the shoulder and said, 'Thanks, bro! See you tomorrow!' and then ran off!"

"..."

A brief silence fell over the living room.

Three seconds later.

Xie Wang lowered his head, his shoulders trembling slightly, and finally couldn't help but let out a low laugh.

"Oh……"

"You're still laughing!" Lu Wen grabbed the Shiba Inu pillow next to him and threw it at him.

Xie Wang caught the pillow, casually placed it aside, and stopped laughing, but there was still a hint of mockery in his eyes.

"Lu Wen, you're usually pretty sharp-witted, so why do you suddenly go blank when you're around Lin Lu?"

Xie Wang leaned back on the sofa, his tone resolute: "If she really considered you a brother, she would have kicked you out long ago."

"I remember that time I went to your resort, we played Truth or Dare, and I saw her pinned WeChat post—wasn't that you?"

"Haven't you noticed yet? Lately, whenever she looks at you, the tips of her ears turn red."

"Red?" Lu Wen was taken aback. After carefully recalling the events of this afternoon, he suddenly slapped his thigh. "Holy crap! It really is!"

"That settles it then."

"Blushing means your heart is fluttering, don't you understand? She likes you, but she's not ready yet, that's why she's acting like this."

Lu Wen slapped his thigh suddenly, and his previous half-dead look vanished.

He was so excited that he jumped up from the sofa, grabbed the half-finished can of beer on the table, downed it in one gulp, and then casually tossed the empty can into the trash can.

"Thanks, Wangzi! Get some sleep! I'll treat you to dinner another day!"

With a "bang".

The security door was slammed shut.

Xie Wang looked at the closed door, shook his head helplessly, and got up to tidy up the mess on the table.

It seems this bickering couple is not far from getting married.

……

Meanwhile, across the street

The bathroom door was pushed open, and a wisp of steam, mixed with the pleasant scent of freesia shower gel, slowly drifted into the air.

Su Qinghe had just finished taking a shower.

She was wearing a soft, light blue silk nightgown, and because she had just been exposed to the heat, her originally cool and delicate skin now had a faint blush.

A few stray strands of hair obediently fell onto her slender neck and delicate collarbone, winding across her fair skin with a touch of languidness and charm rarely seen in ordinary times.

She walked to the bedside, took off her glasses, and placed them on the bedside table.

I lifted the covers, slipped into the soft blankets, and turned on only a small bedside nightlight.

She carefully took out the photo.

The photographic paper felt cool to the touch, but the image on it was burning hot.

Under the lamplight, Su Qinghe quietly looked at the photograph.

In the picture, the boy is unrestrained under the sunlight. His posture when he throws the ball is proud and passionate. Even through the thin photographic paper, you can feel the vigorous vitality in him.

As Su Qinghe looked at the photo, her fingertips unconsciously traced the boy's face in the picture.

My heartbeat, which had been calm, suddenly became irregular just because I was looking at his photo.

The feeling was like drinking a glass of slightly sweet sparkling water, with a joyful feeling rising in your heart.

"The collapse of reason...?"

She murmured something softly.

Lu Yi, that artsy guy, really has a good eye for people.

She seemed utterly defeated in front of this boy.

Su Qinghe gently tucked the photo under her pillow.

She turned off the light, closed her eyes, and the smile on her lips lingered for a long time.