After Being Scummed – Chapter 26
by Little PandaTeacher Zuo is the Best in the World!1
After getting her work assignment from Yin Bai, Xiang Qiu quickly wrote up three travel guides for European countries. Yin Bai picked and chose, finally selecting Austria.
Austria is renowned as a nation of music, and its capital, Vienna, boasts the reputation of being the “Music Capital of the World.” The atmosphere here, rich in classical music and opera, is ideal for nurturing the children’s character and developing their aesthetic sense. Additionally, Salzburg, the hometown of the musical genius Mozart2, is a very famous tourist destination for skiing and hot springs, perfectly aligning with the purpose of their trip.
Zuo Jingyou had no objections to this arrangement. With her approval, Yin Bai told the children. The children cheered and then happily began preparing for their trip.
Of course, being friends with Yin Bai meant it wasn’t going to be that easy for the children. Yin Bai used the trip as an opportunity to have the two little ones do their own research and gather information about Austria. For example, what is the capital of Austria, what delicious foods does it have, what famous people were born there, and so on…
Before the Spring Festival3 arrived, the two children, already on vacation, were mostly busy with these tasks.
Soon, the Spring Festival arrived. On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month4, Zuo Jingyou finally flew back to Haicheng.
After Zuo Jingyou returned, Tongtong and Wenwen both swarmed around her, no longer coming over to play with Yin Bai. The next day at noon, Yin Bai was sitting on a swing on the second-floor balcony reading a book when she happened to see Zuo Jingyou taking the children to the lawn to wash their toys, each carrying their playthings.
Even though it was winter, Haicheng was incredibly warm. The children, wearing knitted sweaters, chased each other on the lawn, holding toys and handkerchiefs, their laughter echoing continuously under the clear sky.
Yin Bai closed her book, looked up at the sky, then down at the lawn. Gazing at the two cheerful figures in the distance, she thought with a twinge of sourness, Sure enough, now that they have their mom, they’ve forgotten about me, their good friend who painstakingly kept them company!
Yin Bai hmphed, preparing to follow the principle of “out of sight, out of mind5,” and got up to go upstairs.
Just then, Zuo Jingyou, who was telling the children not to roughhouse, looked up and saw Yin Bai heading inside.
For some unknown reason, Zuo Jingyou stood on the lawn and waved enthusiastically at Yin Bai. “Hey!”
Hearing the voice, Yin Bai turned to look at Zuo Jingyou. In the distance, on the lawn, Zuo Jingyou and the two children were waving vigorously at Yin Bai. Yin Bai, leaning on her cane, stood her ground. When she saw the broad smile on Zuo Jingyou’s face, her anger suddenly dissipated.
Kids, huh… it’s perfectly normal for them to like playing with their mom.
Thinking this, Yin Bai smiled and waved back at Zuo Jingyou in the distance.
Zuo Jingyou in the distance smiled back, pointed to the plastic toys soaking in a basin of water, and asked loudly, “Want to come play with us?”
Yin Bai shrugged and waved her hand in refusal. “No, thanks!” She pointed indoors and explained loudly to Zuo Jingyou, “I’m going to read.”
Zuo Jingyou nodded. “Okay, bye!”
“Bye.”
Saying this, Yin Bai hugged her book and walked towards the study. She spent the whole afternoon in the study. Around three o’clock, Tongtong and Wenwen knocked on Yin Bai’s main door.
Yin Bai had actually registered their faces for facial recognition before, so the two could enter without ringing the doorbell. But out of politeness, Tongtong still rang it every time.
When the video call from the main door came through, Yin Bai answered without hesitation.
In a moment, Tongtong’s cute, rosy little face squeezed into the phone screen, her eyes crinkling as she asked, “Jiejie, Jiejie… where are you? We came to play with you.”
Yin Bai immediately brightened up and replied happily, “In the study, come on up yourselves.”
She hung up after speaking. After a little while, she heard the patter of the two children’s footsteps outside the study.
Hearing this sound, Yin Bai picked up her bookmark, placed it in her book, and looked up towards the door. Just then, Tongtong led Wenwen in, pushing the door open. Seeing Yin Bai, she called out happily, “Fairy Sister!”
Yin Bai sat properly behind the large desk. Seeing them, she crossed her legs, placed her hands on her lap, leaned back comfortably in her chair, and asked lazily, “My little Princesses, what can I do for you?”
Tongtong and Wenwen, calling out to her, rushed around the long desk from either side like a gust of wind, arriving at her side. “Let’s go, let’s go, we’ll treat you to snacks!”
Yin Bai was very surprised and looked at Wenwen by her leg. “How rare! Don’t you two usually mooch food and drinks off me at my place? You’re actually being so generous today, inviting me for cake?”
Wenwen pouted, saying with great dissatisfaction, “Aiya, you’re such a great fairy, don’t be so stingy. Didn’t I share a bite of the ice cream I brought last time with you?”
“This time, Auntie is back, and she made pudding! So we came to invite you for afternoon tea!”
Tongtong also nodded, tugging at the corner of Yin Bai’s clothes. “Yes, Mom’s pudding is delicious, you absolutely have to come.”
Yin Bai thought for a moment, looked at Tongtong, and asked very seriously, “Tell me honestly, was it your mom who invited me, or did you two want to invite me yourselves?” She felt that, given the greedy and ungrateful nature of these two little rascals, Zuo Jingyou probably had to remind them to come find her.
However, Tongtong didn’t fall for her act at all. Blinking her eyes like a little imp, she smiled sweetly. “Fairy Sister, of course we invited you. We asked Mom if we could invite you for afternoon tea, and she agreed.”
Wenwen, beside her, also hmphed. “Exactly! Didn’t you say before that you wouldn’t visit our house because there were no adults you knew there? So this time, since Auntie is here, we came to get you.”
Wenwen patted her chest and said with great loyalty, “I always think of you whenever I have something good!”
“Alright then.” Yin Bai picked up the cane hanging beside her chair, stood up, and said to the two children, “Since you’ve invited me so sincerely, it would be too impolite of me not to go.”
Holding Tongtong’s hand with one hand and leaning on her cane with the other, she looked down at the little tyke beside her and asked, “How much pudding did your mom make?”
Wenwen, holding onto the trailing belt of her coat, put her hand to her mouth and whispered, “A super lot, but Auntie only lets us eat one.”
Yin Bai understood and said mysteriously, “Then, do you want me to help you so you can eat one more?”
Did they even need to ask? The two children exchanged a glance and said without hesitation, “Yes!”
And so, Yin Bai followed the two children to the house next door.
More than half a year had passed since she last set foot in this house. This time, as a visitor, Yin Bai, holding the children’s hands, carefully observed the layout of the house.
Their villas here were Western-style, but perhaps because of Professor Sun, the interior decoration of Zuo Jingyou’s home leaned towards a Chinese style. Although it couldn’t compare to the antique charm of traditional Chinese decor, it possessed its own unique elegance and refinement.
Yin Bai, whose aesthetic preferences leaned towards Western styles, found that she could still appreciate this kind of decoration.
The two children led her through the entryway, around the living room corridor, and straight towards the back of the villa. It was a warm winter day, and sunlight slanted through the wind-shielding glass onto the floor. Yin Bai, leaning on her cane, followed the children through the hallway paved with hardwood floors and, from a distance, saw the small, all-glass, open-air tea pavilion at the end of the corridor.
Zuo Jingyou was sitting on the tatami6 in the center of the tea pavilion, currently brewing tea with her head lowered. Outside this glass room, several clumps of green bamboo and a few white plum trees were planted. Although it was winter, the south was warm; the green bamboos7 were still lush, and the white plum blossoms were already blooming on the branches.
Yin Bai stopped, her gaze falling on Zuo Jingyou at the end of the long corridor. The woman, with her elegant makeup, wore a white qipao8 embroidered with ink plum blossoms. Her long black hair was tied up with an ebony hairpin, revealing a slender, fair neck. Her figure was slender and captivating.
Perhaps hearing footsteps, the woman brewing tea slowly looked up towards them. The moment their eyes met, a smile slowly blossomed on the woman’s lips.
She called out, her voice like a gentle breeze sighing, “Ah… Teacher Yin Bai… you’re here.”
Yin Bai gripped her cane. In that moment, she seemed to hear the bamboo leaves outside the glass rustling with the wind, or perhaps the plum blossoms on the branches opening to greet the breeze.
She looked at Zuo Jingyou quietly and suddenly, quite inappropriately, thought of a poem: “The grass is forming its seeds, the wind is swaying its leaves, we stand, saying nothing, and it is perfectly beautiful.”9
After a long moment of silence, Yin Bai finally spoke, smiling a little. “Yes, that’s right, I’m here.”
“To mooch your pudding,” Yin Bai said, then, leaning on her cane again, took a step forward, leading the two children towards Zuo Jingyou.
Zuo Jingyou chuckled and continued to brew tea with her eyes lowered. Only when they had approached did Zuo Jingyou look up at Yin Bai and ask, “Can you drink black tea? You probably don’t dislike black tea, right?”
Black tea tends to be sweeter. Previously, Zhang Yu had said Yin Bai liked sweets, so Zuo Jingyou thought she would probably like black tea.
Yin Bai nodded. “Mm-hmm, I can drink it.”
She found a spot, stepped up onto the platform, and sat opposite Zuo Jingyou. Seeing this, the children cheered, kicked off their shoes, and climbed onto the tatami on the platform, settling down in the middle of the cushion-filled area.
Once seated, the children chattered away, praising Zuo Jingyou, then praising Yin Bai. The two women were busy humoring the children, with almost no separate conversation.
The children quickly finished their first serving of pudding. Seeing this, Yin Bai immediately ate hers too, then, biting her spoon, looked at Zuo Jingyou, blinked, and said, “Your pudding is delicious. Can I have another one, friend?”
Zuo Jingyou paused for a moment, looked at Yin Bai, then at her daughter who was also biting her spoon and looking at her expectantly. She sighed helplessly and said, “If you like it, I can send some over to you later.” If she gave Yin Bai another serving now, the children would definitely want one too. And she couldn’t possibly let the children be sad; she would definitely satisfy their request.
But it was better for children to eat fewer sweets.
Yin Bai, feeling she had promised her little companions, and also thinking that one more pudding wasn’t a big deal, quickly said, “That’s not ideal. I think being able to savor the deliciousness right now is great.”
She winked at Zuo Jingyou, trying to move this adult’s heart. Wenwen, the little glutton beside her, also mimicked Yin Bai, blinking her eyes desperately as a hint, and reached out to grab Zuo Jingyou’s arm, cooing softly, “Yeah, yeah, Auntie, delicious things should be eaten to your heart’s content right away. Fairy Sister is our guest, we have to treat her well, okay?”
Zuo Jingyou now saw through their little trick. She sighed lightly. “If that’s the case, then I’ll let you all have your fill.”
Saying so, she got up and went to the kitchen to get them more pudding.
Just a moment after Zuo Jingyou left, she heard the children’s cheers from behind: “Yay!”
She subconsciously looked back towards the end of the corridor. Wenwen threw herself at Yin Bai, planting a sweet, sticky kiss on her face, and shouted, “Fairy Sister is the best in the world!”
Yin Bai quickly pushed her away, took out a handkerchief to wipe the saliva off her face, and said in a low voice, “Calm down, calm down. If your auntie finds out, you won’t get any more!”
Wenwen quickly covered her mouth and, along with Tongtong, snuggled up beside Yin Bai, starting to whisper. The two children showered her with rainbow compliments10, all saying how brilliant and wise Yin Bai was.
Seeing their ecstatic, food-mooching appearance, Zuo Jingyou shook her head with a sigh and turned to go to the kitchen.
After a short while, Zuo Jingyou returned to the small tea pavilion with new puddings.
The children, having eaten double portions of pudding, were overjoyed and kept showering Zuo Jingyou with rainbow compliments, saying she was the most beautiful, the best, and the kindest in the world.
Zuo Jingyou didn’t fall for their act. She reached out and flicked their foreheads. “Enough of your cheeky talk. After you finish eating, wash all your toys tomorrow, understand?”
Wenwen and Tongtong, holding their puddings, happily said in unison, “Okay!”
After placating the children, Zuo Jingyou turned to Yin Bai. “Teacher Yin Bai, you spoil them too much. Don’t do this next time.”
Yin Bai, biting her spoon, grumbled, “That’s because your pudding is so delicious!” To avoid being held accountable, Yin Bai quickly employed the tactic of changing the subject, picked up her black tea, and deliberately raised her voice, “Oh… right, I forgot to compliment you!”
“Your qipao today is super pretty, exceptionally beautiful, more vibrant and captivating than the white plum blossoms in winter!”
After speaking, Yin Bai gave Zuo Jingyou a thumbs-up, blinked, and said, “You should consider wearing qipaos more often!”
Zuo Jingyou lowered her gaze and chuckled softly. It took her a while to suppress her laughter before looking up at Yin Bai, trying her best to maintain a serious face. “Even if you praise me, I won’t indulge you like this again.”
Yin Bai averted her gaze, holding her teacup, her eyes drifting up and down, looking at the sky. “Let’s not talk about this… Ah… the weather is really nice today, isn’t it?”
Tongtong and Wenwen chimed in, both looking up at the sky. “Yes, the weather is super nice today.”
Yin Bai brought her gaze back, looking at the plum blossoms and bamboo grove outside the window. “Ah… the bamboo leaves are so tender green, and the plum blossoms are blooming so well. Spring is coming, isn’t it?”
Tongtong and Wenwen, her two little shadows, followed her gaze and chimed in, “Yes, spring is coming soon!”
After talking about the weather and the plants, Yin Bai shifted her gaze back to Zuo Jingyou, her eyes full of smiles, and said, “But really, no matter the weather, no matter the scenery, Teacher Zuo right in front of me is still the most beautiful!”
Tongtong and Wenwen turned their heads and looked at Zuo Jingyou in unison. “Yes, Teacher Zuo is still the most beautiful!”
Yin Bai turned, winked at Tongtong and Wenwen, then looked back at Zuo Jingyou, and they all said in unison, “Teacher Zuo is the best in the world!”
Zuo Jingyou raised her hand to her forehead and was dumbstruck with laughter. “Where did the three of you get this strange tacit understanding from?”
They’ve even learned to team up and flatter11 people. How was she supposed to discipline anyone in the future?
LP: Re-translated on May 24, 2025
Footnotes
- 天下第一 | tiānxià dì yī | Literally ‘first under heaven’; means the best in the world, number one.
- 莫紮特 | Mòzhātè | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
- 春節 | Chūnjié | Spring Festival, also known as Chinese New Year.
- 年二十七 | Nián èrshíqī | The 27th day of the last lunar month, a few days before Chinese New Year’s Eve.
- 眼不見為盡 | yǎn bù jiàn wéi jìn | What the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over; out of sight, out of mind. The character 盡 (jìn – to exhaust) is used here, though 淨 (jìng – clean) is more common in the similar idiom 眼不見為淨.
- 榻榻米 | tàtàmi | Tatami mats, traditional Japanese flooring.
- 綠竹猗猗 | lǜ zhú yīyī | Describes lush, verdant bamboos swaying gracefully; an allusion to the Book of Songs, a classic collection of Chinese poetry.
- 旗袍 | qípáo | A traditional Chinese one-piece dress for women.
- 草在結它的種子，風在搖它的葉子，我們站着，不說話，就十分美好。 | Cǎo zài jié tā de zhǒngzǐ, fēng zài yáo tā de yèzi, wǒmen zhànzhe, bù shuōhuà, jiù shífēn měihǎo. | This is a line from the poem “門前” (At the Door) by the modern Chinese poet Gù Chéng (顾城).
- 彩虹屁 | cǎihóng pì | Literally ‘rainbow fart’; slang for extravagant, over-the-top compliments or flattery.
- 拍馬屁 | pāi mǎpì | Literally ‘pat the horse’s rump’; means to flatter or suck up to someone.
RHEYRE SO CUTEEE 😭😭
what a cute family 🥰🥰
what a cute family 🥰🥰
I love this ahhhh. I’m melting.
I love this ahhhh. I’m melting.
So cute 😭
Fluuuffffffffffffffyyyyyyyyyyy❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
It so much fluffy 😻
So cute 😭
Fluuuffffffffffffffyyyyyyyyyyy❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
It so much fluffy 😻