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

Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m.

After Jiang Yue dropped out of school, even the wind seemed exceptionally light and free.

The abandoned reading room, located on the top floor of the teaching building, is bathed in the afternoon sunlight streaming through its huge floor-to-ceiling windows, filling the air with the musty smell of old books.

There are five people in the room.

No one spoke; only the scratching of pens on paper and the occasional crisp sound of pages turning.

But if you listen carefully, you'll find that in this quiet air, there's a restless energy that makes you blush—a restlessness called "youth."

Shen Hao and Xu You were sitting at the old-fashioned oak table on the far left of the reading room.

Xu You mustered up the courage to offer to tutor this "science gorilla" in basic physics in order to repay Shen Hao for helping her out of a predicament and for helping her move heavy objects these past few days.

At this moment, she was wearing a neat school uniform, with thick black-rimmed glasses perched on her nose, and her head was bowed so low it was almost buried in her chest.

She gripped a red pen tightly in her hand, her knuckles turning slightly white from the force.

"Um... Shen Hao," Xu You's voice was barely audible, as if afraid of disturbing the dust in the air, "the decomposition of forces cannot be drawn like this... You need to find the point of force application first, and then establish a coordinate system."

She reached out, wanting to point to the force diagram in Shen Hao's workbook.

But because she was too nervous, her fingertips stopped two centimeters away from the paper, trembling slightly, and she didn't dare to actually touch it.

Sitting across from her, Shen Hao was in an even worse situation.

This burly man, who stands 1.85 meters tall and is known for his willingness to go toe-to-toe with others on the basketball court until he's bleeding, is now huddled awkwardly in that chair that's too small for him, his whole body stiff.

He held his breath, deliberately suppressing the rise and fall of his chest to a minimum.

"Oh...oh! Okay! The point of force! I'll find it! I'll find it right away!"

Shen Hao frantically grabbed an eraser, trying to erase the arrow he had drawn incorrectly.

As a result, the movement was too large, and her elbow hit the corner of the table with a "bang", which also knocked over Xu You's pencil case that was placed on the side of the table.

"Splash—"

Two pens rolled down.

They both reached out to pick it up at the same time.

"sorry!"

"I'll do it! I'll do it!"

The two hands collided in mid-air.

Shen Hao's palms were large and rough, with thin calluses from years of playing ball; Xu You's hands were small, delicate, and cool.

The millisecond that skin touches.

It felt like an electric current instantly coursing through my entire body from my fingertips.

Xu You recoiled as if electrocuted, her face instantly turning bright red to the roots of her neck, even her earlobes blushing as if they were bleeding: "I-I'm sorry!"

Shen Hao was so startled he almost jumped off his chair. His face turned bright red, and he stammered incoherently, "No, no, no! It's my fault! I'm so clumsy! I... I'll pick it up right now!"

He hurriedly picked up the pen and handed it to Xu You with both hands, his eyes darting around, not daring to look Xu You in the eye at all.

"Buzz—"

Shen Hao's phone, which was in his desk pocket, vibrated.

He grasped at a straw, quickly looking down at his phone to hide his panic.

A WeChat message popped up on the screen.

Sender: Wang Ge.

Content: [Stop shaking, Haozi, the table is shaking! Are you giving a lecture or do you have Parkinson's? If you keep shaking, the girl will run away.]

Shen Hao's face turned even redder. He suddenly raised his head and looked resentfully at the culprit sitting not far away by the window.

At the other end of the reading room, the scene was completely different.

There was no awkward, tentative approach here, only a natural and tacit understanding that made one blush and their heart race.

Xie Wang's right hand, which had sustained a minor injury in the fight the night before, was still wrapped in white gauze. The wound had actually scabbed over long ago and didn't hurt anymore, but he resolutely refused to remove it in order to enjoy some special treatment.

He leaned back lazily in his chair, his long legs stretched out casually, so long that he even had to turn to the side.

Xie Wang seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood today.

He wasn't doing practice problems; instead, he rested his chin on his hand and looked at Su Qinghe, who was intently reading an original physics journal.

Sunlight fell on Su Qinghe's profile, gilding her cool features with a soft golden edge, making even the fine downy hairs on her face clearly visible.

Xie Wang looked at it for a while, then suddenly reached under the table and magically pulled out a paper bag.

"Teacher Su."

He called out, his voice languid.

Su Qinghe looked up from the complex physics formulas, adjusted her glasses, and swept her gaze across him with a cool expression: "Finished?"

"I'm not finished yet, my hands hurt, I need to rest for a bit."

Xie Wang confidently pushed the paper bag in front of her, "Here, this is for you."

Su Qinghe was stunned for a moment: "What?"

"Tuition fees." Xie Wang raised an eyebrow. "Didn't we agree that tutoring requires tuition fees?"

Su Qinghe opened the paper bag.

Inside was a cup of steaming milk tea, and... a flower.

It wasn't one of those beautifully packaged roses from a florist, but a white lisianthus, its petals as white as jade, with very faint curls at the edges, and a little dew still clinging to them, casually wrapped in a simple piece of kraft paper.

Su Qinghe was stunned.

She looked at the flower, then at the cup of milk tea.

That milk tea was from the shop she frequented; the label read: Cheese Matcha, Less Ice, 30% Sugar, with Pudding.

This was her favorite flavor; she had only tasted it once in front of him, and she never expected him to remember it.

I saw it on the way here.

Xie Wang fiddled with the pen in his hand, his gaze fixed on the view outside the window, and seemingly casually explained:

"These flowers look quite clean, and they resemble you a lot, so I just bought them. As for the milk tea... consider it a bribe. Next time I get a word wrong, could you reduce the number of times I have to copy it?"

He didn't mention that he had searched three blocks to find the flower, nor did he mention that he had queued for twenty minutes to buy the milk tea.

Su Qinghe remained silent.

She lowered her eyes, her long eyelashes concealing the emotions within. She reached out a finger and gently touched the delicate white petal.

Then, she picked up the cup of milk tea, inserted the straw, and took a sip.

The warm liquid rolled down my throat, its sweetness just right, not cloying, yet it warmed my heart.

"The punishment of copying lines cannot be waived."

Su Qinghe put down the milk tea, her voice still cold, but a barely perceptible smile appeared on her lips:

"However, for the sake of the flowers, you can rest for ten minutes."

Xie Wang laughed.

"Understood."

He pushed over a densely written code logic diagram, saying, "Since you're taking a break, could you help me polish this comment? My hand hurts, and I type slowly."

Su Qinghe glanced helplessly at his "crippled" hand. He had been spinning the pen very fast just now, but it hurt now.

But she didn't expose him; instead, she picked up a pen and started making corrections for him.

There was a plate of washed green grapes on the table.

As Su Qinghe wrote, he casually peeled a fruit.

Xie Wang naturally leaned closer, slightly opened his mouth, and stared at her with eyes like a large wolfhound waiting to be fed.

Su Qinghe paused, and subconsciously glanced around.

Shen Hao and Xu You were engrossed in their homework, while Lin Lu was lost in thought by the window.

Nobody's looking this way.

She quickly stuffed the green grapes into his mouth.

Her fingertips inevitably brushed against the boy's warm lips.

Xie Wang smiled, and his tongue lightly flicked her fingertip, a hint of mischievous teasing in his eyes.

Su Qinghe withdrew her hand as if burned, glared at him, a faint blush rising to the tips of her ears, and warned in a low voice:

"Xie Wang, tone it down."

Xie Wang chewed on the green grapes, his eyes squinting from the sweetness.

And in the very center of the room.

Lin Lu felt like she was suffocating.

Holding a bag of cucumber-flavored Lay's potato chips, she felt like a salted fish, superfluous and heartbreaking.

She glanced to her left at Shen Hao and Xu You's "pure and innocent bowing" over there. Although they weren't together yet, the ambiguous tension between them was driving her crazy.

Looking to the right at Xie Wangsu and Qinghe's "old married couple," the unyielding atmosphere was even more overwhelming.

"Click."

Lin Lu took a big bite of a potato chip and felt that it tasted like lemon.

"Ugh, I'm so angry!"

Unable to bear the pink bubble in the room any longer, she stood up angrily, walked to the French windows, and wanted to see the scenery, get some fresh air, and purify her soul.

However, fate had no intention of letting her go.

Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, she could see the lawn of the playground below.

The sun is shining brightly.

Song Yi and Lin Lan were sitting on the grass.

The two shared a pair of headphones. Song lay on Lin Lan's lap, basking in the sun with his eyes closed. Lin Lan was smiling as she fed him water, and occasionally she would lean down and kiss his forehead.

This kind of open and honest sweetness under the sun could dazzle Lin Lu even from three floors away.

"..."

Lin Lu completely broke down.

There are wolves in front, tigers behind, and dancing outside the window.

Everyone on Earth is in love, but she's eating potato chips!

Can this world ever get any better?!

Just as Lin Lu lay on the glass, his face pressed and deformed against it, preparing to end this miserable day by banging his head against the wall.

"Knock knock knock".

Suddenly, someone knocked on the glass in front of me from the outside.

The sound was crisp and rhythmic, like the prelude to some kind of musical movement.

Lin Lu was startled and looked up abruptly.

There was another person on the terrace outside the reading room.

He wore an extremely flashy shirt, ripped jeans, and white sneakers.

A silver necklace glittered in the sunlight around her neck, and an obsidian earring on her left ear exuded a wild and untamed spirit.

He stood by the railing of the terrace, the golden sunset behind him, his handsome, dashing, and aggressive face beaming with a smile.

It was Lu Wen.

He was an outsider and couldn't get into the teaching building, but somehow he managed to get a ladder from somewhere and climbed directly onto the rooftop terrace of the library.

"Surprise!"

Lu Wen waved through the glass to Lin Lu, who was staring blankly inside, while holding an excessively exquisite pink cake box in his other hand.

Hearing the noise, Xie Wang walked over, unlocked the French window, pushed open the door, and frowned as he looked at him:

"How did you get up here? Didn't the security guards arrest you as a thief?"

"Pshaw, with my skills, a mere two-meter-high wall can't stop me!"

Lu Wen swaggered in, completely oblivious to the fact that he was "trespassing on campus".

He placed the enormous dessert box on the table, and the rich aroma of premium animal cream and fresh strawberries instantly overwhelmed the scholarly air.

"Come on, come on set! I heard you guys are working hard in class, so I specially went to that dessert shop in the city center where you have to be a VIP to queue up to buy some."

As Lu Wen unpacked the box, he glanced around the room.

Shen Hao and Xu You were so frightened that they quickly separated, as if they had been caught in a puppy love affair; Su Qinghe calmly pushed up his glasses and continued reading.

Finally, his gaze landed precisely on Lin Lu, who still had potato chip crumbs on her lips and hadn't quite come to her senses yet.

Lu Wen's lips curled up, and his peach blossom eyes instantly curved.

"Hey, isn't this our Lin Lu?"

He ignored Xie Wang, carried the largest strawberry cream tart to Lin Lu, pulled out a chair, and sat down opposite her with a swagger, his long legs crossed, his posture lazy yet domineering.

"Why are you here?"

Lin Lu's heart skipped a beat when she saw this guy who had fallen from the sky, but she still didn't hold back and tried to hide her panic.

"I've come to see if my savior... oh no, I mean the little rabbit I saved is crying."

Lu Wen rested his chin on his hand, his affectionate eyes fixed on her with a smile, as if he could melt her heart:

"I just saw you outside, pressed against the glass with a 'I don't want to live anymore' look on your face. What's wrong? Did those couples in love torture you?"

Lin Lu blushed, her thoughts exposed, and turned her head away with a snort: "What's it to you? I was... contemplating life."

"Thinking about life is too tiring, might as well eat something sweet."

Lu Wensian's long, slender fingers untied the ribbon from the dessert box, revealing an exquisitely crafted cake tower piled high with large red strawberries and white cream.

This is definitely the signature dish of a top-notch dessert shop; just looking at it can lift your spirits.

"Want to try some?"

Lu Wen picked up the small silver fork, but instead of giving it to Lin Lu, he forked the largest strawberry covered in cream and held it to Lin Lu's lips.

Open your mouth.

Lin Lu was stunned: "You..."

Four pairs of eyes turned to look.

Xie Wang raised an eyebrow, Su Qinghe chuckled, and Shen Hao and Xu You stared wide-eyed, as if watching an idol drama unfold.

"Hurry up, my hands are getting tired."

Lu Wen moved closer, his cologne scent mixed with the aroma of cream enveloping Lin Lu.

He lowered his voice, speaking in a tone only the two of them could hear, his voice ambiguous and doting, like coaxing a child, or flirting:

"Stop looking at them, what's there to envy? What they have, I can give you too."

"Moreover, this was specially bought for you by Brother Lu. The biggest one is just for you."

Lin Lu looked at the bright red strawberry, and then at the handsome face so close to her.

The image of him shielding her from the beating that night overlaps with the image of him now comforting her with a fork.

My heart was pounding violently in my chest, as if it were about to jump out.

As if possessed, she opened her mouth and bit into the strawberry.

The sweet and sour juice bursts in your mouth, mixed with the creamy smoothness, so sweet it makes you want to cry.

"Is it good?" Lu Wen smiled.

Lin Lu chewed on a strawberry, her face as red as a ripe tomato, and nodded indistinctly, "Mmm..."

"As long as it tastes good, this whole cake is yours." Lu Wen pushed the cake towards her. "If you get fat, it's on me."

next to.

Xie Wang watched this scene, clicked his tongue, and shook his head.

He whispered in Su Qinghe's ear:

"See? That's Lu Wen's trick. That silly kid Lin Lu probably won't last three rounds."

Su Qinghe looked at Lin Lu, whose face was flushed and who dared not look up, and then at Lu Wen, who was clearly in love and whose eyes were full of smiles.

She rarely showed a gentle smile:

"fine."

"At least, no one is alone this summer."

As the sun sets, golden rays bathe the entire reading room.

The room was filled with the aroma of cream and lisianthus.