After Being Scummed – Chapter 102

Extra 3: Brilliance of Youth 7

Under the watchful gaze of Yin Bai’s vigilance, the young man quickly introduced himself. He smiled and extended his hand towards Zuo Jingyou, making a self-introduction: “Hello, Romeo, my name is He Zhiwen, a young director.”

“I really admire your performance, so I hope to have a chance to work with you.”

Zuo Jingyou scrutinized the young man standing across from her and asked with a smile, “What kind of collaboration?”

He Zhiwen replied, “A movie. I hope you can be the leading lady in my film.”

Yin Bai stood by, observing coldly, watching He Zhiwen hand over his business card and Zuo Jingyou give him her contact information. She felt a lump in her throat.

Even after He Zhiwen left, Yin Bai’s face remained gloomy.

After sending He Zhiwen away, Zuo Jingyou turned to look at Yin Bai, who was clearly unhappy, and asked with a smile, “What’s wrong with you? You look so unhappy.”

Yin Bai felt a sense of unease in her heart and looked at Zuo Jingyou, muttering, “Are you not afraid that he might be a fraud when you exchanged contact information so easily?”

Zuo Jingyou reached out and took Yin Bai’s hand, pulling her along as they walked out. “Do I look like someone who’s easily deceived? If someone can deceive me, it’s because I’m willing to be deceived.”

Yin Bai said sullenly, “You seem like an easy target.” Otherwise, how could that guy, He Zhiwen, say a few words and get you to give out your contact information so easily?

Zuo Jingyou looked at this Boss Yin Bai’s unhappy expression and smiled gently, saying, “Alright, I’m hungry. Let’s go grab some late-night snacks.”

Yin Bai snorted but still followed Zuo Jingyou and celebrated with the rest of the club members.

Everyone happily drank outside until past 2 o’clock in the morning. Yin Bai, who hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol, called the bodyguards to take the girls from the club back home.

She herself took Zuo Jingyou and returned to their upscale apartment.

Zuo Jingyou had too much to drink, so Yin Bai had the female bodyguard help her to bed. She took off Zuo Jingyou’s coat and wiped her face and hands, fussing over her for quite a while.

After Zuo Jingyou settled down, Yin Bai went to the bathroom to freshen up before returning to the bed.

The drunken girl was wearing a thin high-necked undershirt, her face flushed, and she frowned in discomfort.

Yin Bai sat at the bedside, looking at Zuo Jingyou curled up beside her, and furrowed her brow tightly.

She looked at the other person’s flushed face, recalling the happy scene of her and a group of people drinking earlier. A wave of frustration settled in her chest and seemed impossible to dissipate.

Yin Bai lowered her gaze and stared deeply at Zuo Jingyou for a while before reaching out to poke her face. “Hmph! Annoying ghost!”

She sighed, raised her hand to turn off the lights with a clap, and crawled into the bed.

Yin Bai had just laid down for a short while when the drunken and sleeping Zuo Jingyou, as if sensing her warmth, shifted her body and snuggled into Yin Bai’s embrace.

The strong scent of alcohol invaded Yin Bai’s senses, unpleasant but intoxicating. She felt the head resting on her arm and her heartbeat suddenly quickened.

After a moment of detachment from reason, Yin Bai, despite the smell of alcohol emanating from Zuo Jingyou, still reached out and pulled her closer.

When Zuo Jingyou curled up completely in her embrace, Yin Bai poked her face with her finger, speaking with a mix of indulgence and righteous indignation, “We’ll settle the score tomorrow.”

When the two woke up the next day, it was already noon.

Zuo Jingyou got up and went to the bathroom to freshen up, while Yin Bai made a phone call to have lunch delivered and changed the bed sheets.

As Zuo Jingyou, wrapped in a bathrobe, came out of the bathroom with wet hair, she saw Yin Bai removing the bed sheets.

Zuo Jingyou dried her hair and walked up to Yin Bai with a slightly apologetic expression. “Ah, I’m sorry. I drank too much last night. I’ll come and change the bed sheets in a moment.”

Yin Bai glanced at her and saw her wet hair cascading over her shoulders, water droplets trickling down her neck and seeping into the collar of her bathrobe, settling on the hollow of her collarbone. Her heart felt ticklish, as if scratched by a cat.

She snorted and avoided looking at Zuo Jingyou, saying in a somewhat sulky tone, “It should have been your job to change them in the first place!”

Seeing Yin Bai’s displeased expression, Zuo Jingyou felt a bit anxious. She walked to the edge of the bed and bent down, looking directly at Yin Bai. “Are you angry?”

Yin Bai glanced at her and muttered, “What do you think? You know very well how much of a clean freak I am…”

“You got drunk last night, didn’t take a shower, and ended up lying on my bed. Of course, I would be angry!”

Zuo Jingyou paused in drying her hair and sat down on the bed. She looked at Yin Bai, who was currently removing the pillowcase, and rarely showed a shy expression. “Okay, it’s my fault… I shouldn’t have drunk so much and laid on your bed.”

Zuo Jingyou furrowed her brows and looked at Yin Bai with a gentle smile. “Yin Bai, actually, you could have left me on the sofa last night. It’s warm in the house, and I wouldn’t catch a cold…”

Yin Bai raised her gaze and gave her a sidelong glance, as if saying, “Are you joking with me?”

Zuo Jingyou couldn’t help but laugh. She reached out and placed her hand on the back of Yin Bai’s hand, smiling playfully. “I got drunk, and yet you let me sleep on your bed, Xiaobai, you really do love me!”

Perhaps it was upon hearing the word “love” that Yin Bai’s face turned as red as a boiled shrimp. It was as if a switch had been flicked, instantly transforming her into a bright red crustacean.

Blushing, she stared at Zuo Jingyou and stammered, “Wh-who… who said I love you!?”

Nonsense! She didn’t love Zuo Jingyou!

Zuo Jingyou tilted her head and looked at her. “Oh? So you don’t love me?” She sighed and said, “Well, I’m really sad then. I love you a lot, and how can you not love me?”

Yin Bai looked at Zuo Jingyou’s affected appearance, blushing, and mumbled, “You’re talking nonsense, Zuo Jingyou. You should be an actress. What love or not love, you think too much!”

She didn’t want to continue getting entangled with Zuo Jingyou on this issue, so she patted the bed and told her, “The bed is filled with your alcohol smell. Quickly change the bed sheets before we have lunch. I still want to take a nap in the afternoon!”

Zuo Jingyou sighed softly and said while biting her lip, “Fine, I’ll listen to you.”

After drying her hair, Zuo Jingyou placed the towel on the sofa and asked Yin Bai to get off the bed and dutifully make it.

Finally, after tidying up the room, the food that Yin Bai ordered arrived, and the two of them sat in the living room and enjoyed Zuo Jingyou’s favorite spicy hot pot together.

Yin Bai used the hot broth to cook the meat, eating as she cooked. As they ate, she noticed that Zuo Jingyou was holding her phone and looking at something absentmindedly, with a distracted expression.

Yin Bai frowned when she saw this and looked at Zuo Jingyou displeasedly. “What are you looking at?”

Zuo Jingyou glanced at her and bit her chopsticks. “Oh… I’m reading a script.”

“A script? What script?” Yin Bai furrowed her brows, and a thought flashed through her mind. “Is it the script that man mentioned last night?”

Zuo Jingyou nodded. “Yes.” After speaking, she handed her phone to Yin Bai and looked at her. “I think this Senior He is quite talented. The script is very interesting, so I want to give it a try.”

Yin Bai took Zuo Jingyou’s phone but didn’t look at the script. Instead, she fixed her gaze on her and asked, “Do you want to act?”

Zuo Jingyou pursed her lips and thought for a moment before saying, “I never thought about it before. I simply love theater, acting, and stories… But if I have talent and ability, I want to give it a try…”

As she said this, Zuo Jingyou smiled, her eyes brimming with radiance. “Life is short, why not give it a try?”

Yin Bai looked at the light in her eyes and was momentarily stunned. She poked at the rice in her bowl and said thoughtfully, “Is this what people call a dream?”

Yin Bai grumbled and then looked up at Zuo Jingyou, speaking earnestly, “If you want to do it, then give it a try.”

“Okay.”

The next day, Yin Bai agreed to He Zhiwen’s invitation and accompanied Zuo Jingyou to the audition.

After the audition, He Zhiwen’s team was all satisfied with Zuo Jingyou, unanimously believing that she was the female lead for this script.

With Yin Bai’s company, Zuo Jingyou signed a contract with He Zhiwen. After the winter break, Zuo Jingyou officially joined the film crew with an assistant under Yin Bai’s arrangements.

As a newcomer in the entertainment industry, Zuo Jingyou knew nothing about film production. However, she had abundant acting talent and quickly gained a sense of the camera under He Zhiwen’s guidance, gradually excelling in her performance.

Throughout the winter break, Zuo Jingyou was busy filming on set, and she could only have video calls with Yin Bai when they finished work in the evenings.

During each call, Zuo Jingyou would talk to Yin Bai about the things happening during the shoot. She talked about the cameramen, the actors she had scenes with, the weather, and many other fun things…

But every time, she would mention He Zhiwen.

Every time Zuo Jingyou mentioned He Zhiwen, it felt like a knife stabbing Yin Bai’s heart, itching and hurting. He Zhiwen… it was He Zhiwen again… Was there no one else in the film crew except the director?

Yin Bai was consumed with jealousy, but she couldn’t resist the temptation of video chatting with Zuo Jingyou. So, every day, she continued to call Zuo Jingyou as usual.

It went on like this until one night, when Zuo Jingyou was having a video call with Yin Bai after work, He Zhiwen patted her shoulder from behind and smiled, saying, “Jingyou, today is my birthday. We’re going to have a barbecue later, don’t be absent!”

Zuo Jingyou turned her head and smiled, arching her eyebrows at him. “Okay, Brother He!”

After saying that, Zuo Jingyou turned her gaze to Yin Bai in the video and coaxed her with a smile. “Alright, Xiaobai, I’ll go pack up now. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye-bye.”

After Zuo Jingyou said her goodbyes, she promptly ended the video call. On the other side of the screen, Yin Bai stared at the abruptly ended video call, her eyes wide open.

Is she a child?

And who does He Zhiwen think he is, being called “Brother”! It’s late at night, and she’s a girl. What kind of barbecue is she going to!

No way, she can’t go!

Yin Bai gritted her teeth and dialed Zuo Jingyou’s number again. When she heard a “Hello” on the other end, she sternly said, “Zuo Jingyou, come back to the hotel right now! Immediately, right away!”

Zuo Jingyou arched her eyebrows, holding her phone and biting her lip to hold back her laughter. “What’s wrong? Do you need something? Why do you want me to go back to the hotel now?”

Yin Bai took a deep breath and said to Zuo Jingyou, “It’s already nine o’clock. It’s not safe for you, a girl, to be outside. Hurry back and don’t attend the gathering!”

But at this moment, Zuo Jingyou pretended not to understand Yin Bai’s words and said with a hint of dissatisfaction, “It’s only nine o’clock, and Sister Xiaoxia is with me. Nothing will happen. Didn’t you arrange a bodyguard for me? I’m safe…”

“Today is Brother He’s birthday, and I have to attend the gathering.”

Yin Bai was infuriated. Is attending the gathering the issue here? It’s about you staying with He Zhiwen in the middle of the night.

She couldn’t bring herself to say it, so she resentfully said, “In any case, I said you can’t go, so you can’t go!”

“You hurry back to the hotel. We had an agreement. You have to be in the hotel by ten o’clock every day and not go anywhere.”

Zuo Jingyou sighed and helplessly said, “Xiaobai, you’re really worried about me…”

“Sigh, it’s just having a meal with everyone. I’ve gone out for dinner with everyone before, so why are you so concerned this time? Ah, Xiaobai, are you jealous?”

Zuo Jingyou continued on, and Yin Bai listened in silence for a while, feeling a thorn stuck in her throat, her face turning red.

After a while, she took a deep breath and, in a resigned tone, said, “Yes, I’m jealous! I’m even angry!”

“If you don’t go back to the hotel today, I won’t talk to you for a month!”

Ah, she said it, she really said it!

Zuo Jingyou chuckled upon hearing Yin Bai’s words. “Okay, if you don’t want me to go, then I won’t go. Why are you threatening me like this…”

“Not talking to me for a month, that would be so miserable for me. How could you treat me like this? Clearly, every day, I really want to see you.”

In the quiet room, Zuo Jingyou’s sigh echoed softly. Yin Bai sat on the bed, and upon hearing the words “want to see you,” all her anger and jealousy subsided.

She remained silent for a while and asked, “Really?”

Zuo Jingyou nodded firmly. “Really.” She looked up, gazing at the dim lights in the distance, exhaled a breath of cold air, and with a hoarse voice, said, “Xiaobai, if I don’t attend He Zhiwen’s birthday gathering today, can you come see me?”

---

LP: Let’s go!!! Xiaobai’s childishness is so funny to read!

And, don’t even think about Xiaobai’s wife, He Zhiwen ◉_◉🗡

---

---