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

The next day, in room 1602 of the Genting Music Room.

The heavy blackout curtains were drawn, and a few ambient lights were on in the living room.

On the coffee table were slices of chilled watermelon, a table full of snacks, and several sheets of scribbles.

There are five people in the living room.

Xie Wang, Su Qinghe, Shen Hao, Lu Wen, Lin Lu.

Xu You was the only one missing.

"She's not here yet? Are you sure she'll come?"

With half a watermelon in his mouth, Lu Wen asked Shen Hao indistinctly.

"I'm sure! I'll definitely come!"

Shen Hao nervously rubbed his hands together, sitting on a small stool with an expression as if he were about to be executed.

"She said something had come up at home and she'd be half an hour late. We...we still have half an hour to discuss tactics!"

Today's gathering was nominally a "first day of summer vacation party," but in reality, it was a "confession advisory conference" convened by Shen Hao.

"Alright, stop shaking."

Xie Wang leaned back on the sofa, twirling his phone in his hand, and glanced lazily at Shen Hao:

"Tell me, how are you planning to confess your feelings? Are you going to be direct?"

Shen Hao took a deep breath, pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket, and looked as serious as if he were reading an imperial edict:

"I...I wrote a love letter, and I want to read it to her in front of everyone when she arrives!"

"Pfft—cough cough cough!"

Lin Lu, who was drinking cola, choked and coughed violently.

Su Qinghe quickly handed her a tissue, glancing helplessly at Shen Hao:

Reading love letters? In front of us?

"Yeah, that's right!" Shen Hao said sincerely, "It makes it look more formal! I've already thought of the lines..."

He cleared his throat and recited with great emotion:

"Ah! Xu You! You are like an unsolvable solid geometry problem, deeply trapping my heart! I am that auxiliary line, only wanting to be perpendicular to your plane..."

"Stop! Stop! Stop!!!"

Lin Lu couldn't listen anymore and covered her ears, screaming in agony:

"Shen Hao, are you kidding me! That's so corny! So cheesy! If you dare say that, Xu You will be scared away and will buy a standing ticket to flee Jiangcheng overnight!"

Lu Wen laughed so hard he pounded the sofa.

"What the hell is this auxiliary line?! Why don't you just call it a parabola? Shen Hao, is this the ultimate romantic gesture for straight men?"

Shen Hao was utterly devastated and looked at Xie Wang with a pitiful expression:

"Brother Wang... is it really not going to work? I thought it was quite touching."

Xie Wang sighed and rubbed his forehead, then picked up a piece of watermelon from the coffee table and stuffed it into Shen Hao's mouth to shut him up.

"Shut up, if you want to be single forever, then keep reading."

"Xu You is so thin-skinned. For you to read this kind of thing in front of so many people is like public execution, not a confession."

"What should I do?" Shen Hao groaned incoherently as he chewed on watermelon. "Nothing works, nothing works. I can't just stand by and watch, can I? I'm so anxious!"

Su Qinghe adjusted his glasses and gave the only reliable advice:

"The environment is very important when it comes to confessing your feelings."

"Say it when you're relaxed, natural, and it's just the two of you. Don't put pressure on her or cause a scene."

"Relax...be natural..." Shen Hao muttered to himself, his brow furrowed. "When do we ever have a chance to be just the two of us together?"

Lu Wen finally swallowed the watermelon, his eyes darted around, and he snapped his fingers:

"Hey! The opportunity has come!"

"It's so hot, there's no point in staying indoors. How about... we go somewhere cooler?"

"Escaping the heat?" Everyone looked at him.

"Yes! My family owns a summer resort halfway up Qingyun Mountain!"

Lu Wen began to gesture excitedly:

"There's a swimming pool, a barbecue area, and fireflies everywhere at night! Most importantly—there are lots of rooms and the place is huge! Let's go for three days and two nights."

"Then, on a dark and windy night... oops, I mean, a night with a seductive moon, with fireflies flying around, we'll deliberately create some opportunities for you two to be alone. Shen Hao, you can put away your solid geometry theories a bit more. In other words, wouldn't that solve the problem?"

"firefly?!"

Shen Hao's eyes lit up instantly. "This is great! Xu You will definitely like this!"

Lin Lu also raised her hand in agreement: "Agreed! I want to go swimming! I'm melting from the heat!"

Xie Wang glanced at Su Qinghe, who was quietly watching the show, and asked in a low voice:

"Want to go?"

Su Qinghe nodded: "That sounds good. I was just looking for a quiet place to read."

"Then it's settled!"

Xie Wang made the final decision:

"Go to Qingyun Mountain, codename: 'Operation Firefly Catching'."

The words had barely left his mouth—

"Ding-dong—"

Doorbell rang.

The people inside the room instantly jumped back as if they had been electrocuted.

"Here she comes! Xu You is here!" Shen Hao exclaimed in a low voice, frantically trying to stuff the paper covered with "solid geometry love words" into the sofa cushions.

"Quickly! Put the draft paper away!" Lin Lu hurriedly crumpled up the messy tactical diagrams on the table.

"Calm down." Xie Wang kicked Shen Hao. "Don't look like you've done something wrong."

Shen Hao took a deep breath, forced a stiff smile, and ran to open the door.

The door opened.

Xu You stood at the door, wearing a simple floral dress and carrying a bag of milk tea.

She was running a little too fast; fine beads of sweat appeared on the tip of her nose, and her cheeks were flushed.

"I'm sorry... I'm late."

Xu You looked timidly at the large group of people in the room and handed them the milk tea:

"There was a bit of traffic on the way. This is milk tea I bought for everyone."

Shen Hao took the milk tea, his hands trembling slightly. He had completely forgotten the cool lines he had just rehearsed, and could only manage to stammer out:

"Ah...it's okay! It's not too late! Um...come in and enjoy the air conditioning, don't get too hot."

Xu You changed her shoes and walked in, sensing that the atmosphere was a little strange.

Everyone was looking at her and laughing, especially Lin Lu and Lu Wen, who were smiling like doting aunts.

"W-What's wrong?" Xu You touched her face. "Is there something on my face?"

"No, no!" Lin Lu quickly rushed over, grabbed her arm, and pulled her to sit down on the sofa.

"We were just discussing something important!"

"Something big?" Xu You asked blankly.

"Yeah, right!" Lu Wen waved his hand. "To celebrate that we all did well on our exams (even though he got in by cheating), and also to escape this awful weather, we've decided—to go to the Qingyun Mountain Summer Resort tomorrow! Three days and two nights!"

"The Summer Palace?" Xu You blinked.

"There's a swimming pool! And fireflies!" Lin Lu tempted her wildly from the side.

Upon hearing the word "firefly," Xu You's eyes lit up, but then she hesitated.

"But...wouldn't that be too much trouble? And I haven't told my family..."

"No trouble at all! I've already arranged the car!" Lu Wen patted his chest confidently.

"Tell your mom it's for studying too, let's bring our homework!" Shen Hao came up with this idea in a moment of inspiration.

Xie Wang added insult to injury from the side:

"Yeah, let's go to the mountains for a closed training camp, for the senior year of high school."

Su Qinghe couldn't help but smile as she watched Xie Wang lie with such a straight face. Then she said gently to Xu You:

"Go ahead, Youyou, everyone go. It'll be a good time to relax. I'll keep an eye on them and make sure they don't cause any trouble."

Now that even the academic genius Su Qinghe had spoken, most of Xu You's concerns dissipated.

She glanced at everyone's expectant eyes, and finally her gaze fell on Shen Hao, who had been staring at her nervously.

At that moment, she seemed to sense something, her face flushed slightly, and she nodded:

"Well... okay. I'll go too."

"yeah!!!"

Lu Wen and Lin Lu cheered and high-fived.

Shen Hao was so excited that he almost crushed the milk tea in his hand, and turned his back to clench his fist tightly.

Xie Wang looked at this group of lively characters and a lazy smile appeared on his lips.

He picked up a slice of watermelon and handed it to Su Qinghe:

"It seems this summer vacation is destined to be anything but quiet."

Su Qinghe took the watermelon, took a bite, and savored its sweet taste.

"fine."

"Summer is supposed to be lively."