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

The next morning.

Su Qinghe was awakened by the enticing aroma of bone broth.

She opened her eyes groggily. The light filtering through the curtains was mixed with tiny dust particles. On the bedside table, the bunch of white lisianthus that had been placed there the night before was blooming quietly, with artificial dewdrops still clinging to the petals.

"woke up?"

The bedroom door was pushed open halfway.

Xie Wang leaned against the doorway, a somewhat comical Shiba Inu apron tied around his waist, a spatula in his hand, backlit, making him appear both homely and upright.

"Shouxing, get up and eat longevity noodles."

Su Qinghe, wearing pink bunny slippers, slowly moved to the dining table.

The morning light shone through the gauze curtains, bathing her in a soft, golden glow. She didn't sit down immediately, but instead stood by the chair, lazily raising her arms and stretching out in a wide, yawning motion.

As she stretched out her arms, the hem of her wide white T-shirt rose slightly, instantly outlining the girl's slender and supple waistline, like a white magnolia stretching its branches and leaves in the morning dew. She squinted her phoenix eyes, her long neck arched back in a graceful curve, exuding a rare, unguarded charm and allure.

Xie Wang's throat tightened slightly at the sight, but he quickly concealed the undercurrent in his eyes and pulled out a chair for her.

Su Qinghe sat down and had just picked up his chopsticks to start eating when Xie Wang grabbed his wrist.

"Wait a minute."

Xie Wang's expression was serious:

"Teacher Su, there are rules for eating this bowl of noodles. There is only one strand of noodle in the whole bowl, and you have to suck it in in one go. You absolutely, absolutely cannot bite it in the middle."

Su Qinghe raised an eyebrow, looking at the noodle dish in the bowl that was coiled up like a maze, and questioned the meaning of life:

"Come on, show me. I'll time you."

Su Qinghe glared at him, took a deep breath, picked up one end of the noodles, and put it into her mouth with a death-defying spirit.

"Slurp—"

"Hahahaha!"

Xie Wang finally couldn't hold back any longer, and he lay on the table laughing so hard his shoulders were shaking; he was utterly gloating.

Su Qinghe swallowed the noodles with difficulty, grabbed a tissue to wipe the soup stains from the tip of her nose, and was so angry that she wanted to hit him on the head with her chopsticks:

"Xie Wang! You're clearly messing with me! You don't have that much face!"

"That's unfair to me."

Xie Wang finished laughing, reached out and tidied her messy bangs, his eyes full of doting smiles:

"Although the process was a bit bumpy, the meaning is very real. You see, it didn't break."

"This means that our Teacher Su will definitely have a long and blessed life ahead of her, and she won't be able to shake him off no matter what."

Looking at his shameless yet sincere appearance, Su Qinghe's anger instantly vanished.

She picked up the poached egg from the bowl, took a big bite, and mumbled indistinctly:

"...I'll trust you this once. If it's still this long next year, I'll let you eat it all by yourself."

After finishing the noodles, Xie Wang took a tissue and wiped her mouth, then mysteriously pushed the dark wooden box in front of her.

"Open."

Su Qinghe's heart skipped a beat.

The box was opened, and the Czech meteorite, which had been polished for three whole days, lay quietly on the black velvet. Its deep olive green color and irregular edges were smoothed and polished, and it was strung on a black leather cord.

Xie Wang walked around the dining table to her from behind, picked up the necklace, and gently ran his warm fingertips across the back of her neck before putting it on for her.

"This is a Moldavite. It wandered through space for fifteen million years, burning up as it passed through the atmosphere before finally falling to Earth."

A cool meteorite rests against my collarbone.

Su Qinghe looked down at the deep green, his eyes slightly warm.

She turned around, tilted her head back, and kissed his chin:

"Thank you. I like it very much."

"If you like it, that's good."

Xie Wang glanced at the time and pulled her up:

"Come on, let's change. Today's schedule is pretty full, and this is just the beginning."

……

[10:00 AM · Jiangcheng Happy Valley]

This was probably the first time in eighteen years that Su Qinghe had appeared in such a bustling, screaming, and sweaty place on his birthday.

Under the blazing sun, the amusement park was filled with students and couples on summer vacation.

The air was filled with the sweet aroma of popcorn and the scent of sunscreen.

Are you afraid of heights?

Xie Wang pointed to the "Peerless Might" roller coaster in the distance, which soared straight into the sky and whose track was almost perpendicular to the ground, and raised an eyebrow at her.

Su Qinghe pushed up his sunglasses, watching the figure hurtling down. His legs twitched slightly, but he refused to admit defeat.

"This facility has the highest safety rating. I'm not afraid."

Ten minutes later.

The roller coaster climbed to its highest point and then stopped.

Tens of meters above the ground, the wind whistling into my ears.

Su Qinghe's fingers gripped the safety lever tightly, his knuckles turning white, and he held his breath.

A warm, large hand suddenly covered the back of her hand.

Xie Wang turned his head and shouted loudly a second before diving down:

"Su Qinghe! If you're scared, just shout it out! Don't hold it in!"

"ah--!!!"

As the car plummeted wildly, the feeling of weightlessness instantly gripped my heart.

The usually calm and composed eldest daughter of the Su family finally let out a scream in the wind, completely losing her composure.

Fear, excitement, and a vibrant feeling I'd never experienced before, a feeling that made my heart pound out of my chest.

After one lap, Su Qinghe's legs were a little weak, but his face was flushed and his eyes were surprisingly bright.

"Does it feel good?" Xie Wang helped her up and handed her a bottle of ice water.

"Awesome." Su Qinghe panted, tucking his disheveled hair behind his ear, and surprisingly pointed to the giant pendulum swing next to him:

"Um, I want to sit too."

That day, they were like two wild horses that had gone mad.

After riding the roller coaster and then the log flume, I was soaked to the bone and then dried off in the sun.

Xie Wang hit the bullseye every time at the shooting booth, winning Su Qinghe a half-person-sized Miffy doll;

The two shared a giant rainbow cotton candy, and sticky sugar strands got on their faces. Xie Wang laughed and licked them off for her.

Only the unbridled joy and revelry that eighteen-year-olds should have.

……

[19:30 PM · Riverside "Yunshang" Terrace Restaurant]

As night falls, the lights are on.

After a day of fun, the two changed into clean clothes and went to the riverside restaurant that Lu Wen had booked out.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, that familiar, bustling noise hit me.

"Bang! Bang!"

Fireworks exploded, and colorful ribbons flew everywhere.

"Happy birthday--!!!"

The huge terrace was decorated with a starry sky theme, with warm yellow light bulbs and flowers everywhere.

Around the long table, a group of familiar faces were smiling at her.

"Qinghe! Come quick!"

Lin Lu rushed over, placed a sparkling crown on her head, and pulled her towards the center:

"I'm starving! If you don't come soon, Lu Wen is going to steal some cake!"

Lu Wen, dressed in a flashy white suit, was secretly dipping his fingers in cream. When caught, he acted as if it were perfectly justified.

"I was just tasting it for the birthday person to see if it was sweet!"

Everyone burst into laughter.

Su Qinghe sat in the main seat, looking at the people surrounding him.

Shen Hao and Xu You, dressed in matching outfits, sat shyly together; Song Yizhi was tuning his guitar, while Lin Lan helped him organize the music stand.

"Come on, let's get to the gift-giving!"

Lu Wen waved his hand and took out an exquisite box:

"Sister-in-law, this is a gift from me. It's the latest model of astronomical telescope, set up over there! Brother Wang said you're a star, so you should use this to look at the stars, it's a perfect match!"

Lin Lu gave him a thick notebook filled with photos that everyone had secretly taken of him over the past year and the messages they had written:

"This is our memoir; we'll be posting more later!"

Shen Hao and Xu You gave him a limited edition set of original physics books and a fountain pen:

"Susu, we've been choosing this pen for a long time. We hope you can use it to solve many more difficult problems in the future!"

Song Yiju and Lin Lan then gave away two tickets to the inner field of the upcoming rock music festival:

"Senior year of high school is stressful, I'll go out and belt out a few lines then!"

Su Qinghe looked at the gifts piled up in front of him.

Each one contains the sincerity of these friends.

In the past, she would receive expensive jewelry and designer bags for her birthdays; that was social etiquette, a cold exchange of equivalent value.

Now, these gifts carry warmth and a touch of everyday life.

"Thanks……"

Su Qinghe stood up, raised his glass, and his voice was choked with emotion:

"Really, thank you everyone."

"No need to thank me!" Lu Wen led the way by raising his glass. "We're all family! Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

The glasses clinked together, making a crisp sound.

Song then plucked the strings of his zither and began to sing the song "Cheers".

Will there ever be a day when time can really go backward?

Let's go back to those bygone years, those days that can never be relived...

Everyone sang along, some off-key, some rushing the beat, but it sounded surprisingly good.

Xie Wang sat down next to Su Qinghe and held her hand tightly under the table.

He looked at the girl's radiant smile and the tears glistening in her eyes.

Those were tears of happiness.

"Qinghe." He leaned close to her ear.

"Um?"

"This is nothing." Xie Wang looked at the array of drones slowly rising from the river in the distance, a smile playing on his lips.

"Look outside."

Everyone turned to look at the river.

Hundreds of drones hovered in the night sky, changing formations.

First, they formed a giant cake pattern.

Then it became the "Möbius strip" in physics.

Finally, they coalesced into several enormous characters, illuminating the entire city of Jiangcheng—

Happy 18th birthday, Su Qinghe!

May all your wishes come true.

Su Qinghe covered her mouth, and tears finally broke free.

Almost simultaneously, countless bursts of light soared into the sky with a deafening roar. A magnificent fireworks display exploded above the city, transforming into a dazzling shower of meteors. Golden, crimson, and violet lights intertwined, turning the already illuminated night sky as bright as day. The fiery spectacle continued unabated, and the entire city seemed immersed in a radiant dream created just for you.

She turned around and hugged Xie Wang tightly.

On this noisy, passionate, and loving night.

That once lonely little girl finally found her own archipelago when she turned eighteen.