After Being Scummed – Chapter 31

by Little Panda

It’s so good to have met you.

Although Zuo Jingyou usually managed her own Weibo, apart from reposting some collaborations and commercial promotions, she didn’t pay attention to much else. To her, her Weibo was more like a platform for interacting with her fans.

As a public figure, she was well aware that she would receive all sorts of evaluations. To maintain a good mental state, she never searched her name on social media. As for some rumors and announcements, unless they became a big deal, she basically left them for her agent to handle.

Of course, this time was no exception.

Not long after she returned to her room, having just told Tongtong and Wenwen to change their shoes, she received a message from her agent, Kong Tianyi¹. He asked about the cause of the matter and also provided a PR plan for this rumor incident.

Zuo Jingyou glanced at the message, pressed her lips together and thought for a moment, then replied to Kong Tianyi: “I’ll just go on Weibo and clarify things.”

“Understood.”

After replying to Kong Tianyi’s message, Zuo Jingyou switched to the Weibo interface and quickly sent out a Weibo post: “Recently went to Vienna with family and a group of female friends, had a lot of fun.”

In addition to this text description, Zuo Jingyou also asked Zhang Yu for the photos taken today and attached a nine-square grid² of her trip photos.

However, in these photos, apart from the group shots of Zuo Jingyou and the two girls, most were of scenery and food. A few were group photos of Zuo Jingyou with Professor Sun and Tongtong. But in the photos, Tongtong and Professor Sun were mostly cropped out, their faces weren’t shown, only parts of their bodies.

After all, Zuo Jingyou’s fans knew that she had always protected her family and never let them appear in public, so as to reduce many unnecessary disturbances.

Kong Tianyi was very fast. In a short while, it was pushed out across the entire internet. Only then did many clueless melon-eating crowd realize they had consumed a big oolong melon³.

After clarifying the rumors, Zuo Jingyou put down her phone. At this moment, Tongtong, who had taken off her coat and changed her shoes by herself, pitter-pattered towards Zuo Jingyou and gave her a sweet smile: “Mom, can we take a bath together?”

Zuo Jingyou reached out and stroked the child’s head: “Okay, go get your pajamas.”

Tongtong then scampered off on her short little legs to find her pajamas. Just then, Wenwen, who had just taken off her socks, also ran towards Zuo Jingyou and said urgently: “Auntie, Auntie, I want to take a bath with you too!”

Zuo Jingyou reached out and pinched her cheek, smiling as she said: “Then you hurry up and find your pajamas too!”

“Alright!” Wenwen cheered and dashed off towards her younger sister.

Zuo Jingyou looked at the two energetic children, shook her head and sighed. She took off her outer clothes and soon took them into the bathroom, where they enjoyed a nice bath.

Perhaps the bath was too comfortable, because not long after their hair was dried, the two children were sound asleep.

Zuo Jingyou sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the two children sleeping sweetly side by side. She tucked them in, gently tapped their noses, and then took out her phone to snap a photo, which she sent to Sun Mingrui back in the country.

Just then, a knock came from the door.

Zuo Jingyou got out of bed, put on her slippers, and walked towards the door. After opening it, she saw Professor Sun wrapped in a down jacket standing at the entrance, somewhat surprised: “Mom? What’s up?”

Professor Sun peeked her head in, looking around the room: “Nothing much… Have those two little rascals⁴ fallen asleep?”

Zuo Jingyou nodded and smiled a little: “Mm, they’re asleep.”

Professor Sun withdrew her gaze and sighed: “They played all day, so it’s normal for them to be asleep.” After saying that, Professor Sun looked up at Zuo Jingyou, her gaze extremely loving: “Girl, you should go to bed early too. Don’t play on your phone later, like a night owl⁵, staying up all night and sleeping during the day.”

Zuo Jingyou didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, saying helplessly: “Mom… I don’t… I was dealing with jet lag today!”

Professor Sun gave her a playful, reproachful look: “You, you’re just full of refined mischief⁶.” After chiding her daughter, Professor Sun sighed and asked with concern: “Are you feeling better now? More comfortable?”

Zuo Jingyou’s eyes curved into a smile, and she smiled very gently: “Much better, don’t worry about me.”

“Alright Mom, you should go to bed quickly. I’m still waiting for you to take me out to play tomorrow.” Zuo Jingyou put her hand on Professor Sun’s shoulder, acting cute as she pushed Professor Sun to the room next door.

After saying goodnight to Professor Sun, Zuo Jingyou also returned to her room, preparing to sleep.

But perhaps because she had slept too much during the day, she didn’t feel sleepy at all lying in bed. She thought for a moment, then simply sat up, fumbled for her phone, and opened WeChat.

Zuo Jingyou felt she might genuinely be bored, and for some reason, she sent Kong Tianyi an irrelevant message: “Tianyi, I heard someone say I seem to have a lot of same-sex CPs?”

Kong Tianyi replied quickly: “Yes, what’s wrong?”

Zuo Jingyou thought for a moment and replied: “Nothing…”

Although she said it was nothing, Kong Tianyi soon sent over a long string of text: “A few years ago, same-sex marriage became legal, and more and more people in the industry are coming out. Same-sex CPs are even more popular than heterosexual CPs. You’re divorced now. If you’re willing to hype CPs, you could consider going the same-sex CP route in the future. I think for your new movie, that same-sex teacher-student pair could be something to try hyping.”

Zuo Jingyou replied quickly: “No, don’t hype CPs for me.” She was an actress and had long passed the stage where she needed to maintain her popularity.

Kong Tianyi didn’t give up on this idea: “I think it’s possible…”

Before she could finish, Zuo Jingyou said decisively: “It’s not possible for me. I’m going to rest. You have a good New Year. Good night.”

Kong Tianyi: “…”

Having struggled and fought⁷ in the industry for so many years, she had never seen an artist who disliked rumors more than Zuo Jingyou. It was clearly such good publicity, but as soon as it involved the emotional level, Zuo Jingyou would never agree, no matter what.

Kong Tianyi sighed and let her be: “You tell me to have a good New Year, Boss, but since you’re out having fun, please don’t stir up such a big commotion again!”

Heaven knows how a simple trip out of town could turn into a trending rumor!

Zuo Jingyou ignored her and switched to Yin Bai’s chat interface. After hesitating for a long while, she still sent her a message, telling her about today’s PR matter.

Yin Bai wasn’t asleep yet either and replied quickly: “As long as it didn’t affect you, that’s good.”

Since she couldn’t sleep anyway, and it wasn’t too late, Zuo Jingyou wanted to continue chatting with Yin Bai. She thought for a good while and finally found a conversation starter: “By the way, how did you know I have a lot of same-sex CPs?”

Yin Bai replied: “Oh… that. When I was searching for Xiao Nian on a website before, I saw laniang videos⁸ of you two.”

Oh… so it was because of Xiao Nian.

Zuo Jingyou leaned against the headboard, holding her phone with both hands, and tapped out a line of text: “What does ‘laniang’ mean?”

“It means to pair them up as a CP.”

After Yin Bai explained it to her, she soon sent Zuo Jingyou a video link. Zuo Jingyou looked at the title, something like “Red and White Roses, Twin Top Beauties,” and figured this must be the laniang video of her and Xiao Nian that Yin Bai was talking about.

Zuo Jingyou hesitated whether to click it when Yin Bai’s message came in again: “Watch it, it’s actually edited quite well. This is the latest one.”

Hearing her say that, Zuo Jingyou put on her headphones and clicked on the video without hesitation.

The video content was an edit of her 《Horizon》 and Xiao Nian’s 《A Small Building Last Night》, telling a story about a songstress from a dance hall and a female star from the Republican era. Watching the whole video, it had quite a bit of sexual tension.

After Zuo Jingyou obediently watched the entire video and exited the interface, Yin Bai’s message happened to come in: “How was it, not bad, right?”

Zuo Jingyou hesitated for a moment, then replied: “Mm, it’s indeed not bad. The story is a bit simple, but it’s worth pondering.”

On the other end of the phone, Yin Bai, lying in her bed, saw Zuo Jingyou’s reply and a smile touched her lips: “I think so too. Neither you nor Xiao Nian are professionally trained⁹, and you both immerse yourselves in your roles, so your chemistry is quite good. Sometimes, I think it would be great if you two could collaborate. After all, to be fair, you are both very good actors.”

Zuo Jingyou smiled faintly: “Really? I also think Xiao Nian is a very good actress. When I watched her 《Da Yu》 before, I thought that if I had the chance, I definitely wanted to act opposite her.”

“When Director Gu Minghui¹⁰ was filming 《The Little Nightingale》, I even recommended Teacher Xiao Nian to him, hoping to play those sisters with her. It’s just a pity that Xiao Nian didn’t have an opening in her schedule at that time, so we didn’t get to collaborate that time.”

When Yin Bai saw this string of messages, her eyes widened in surprise.

Zuo Jingyou had actually thought about collaborating with Xiao Nian? And had even tried to get a role for Xiao Nian?

She had never imagined that Zuo Jingyou had been the one to fight for that role from Gu Minghui!

《The Little Nightingale》 was filmed four years ago. At that time, Xiao Nian’s career already had some success, but Yin Bai still strictly vetted every role and script she participated in.

When she saw the role invitation from Gu Minghui, Yin Bai was somewhat happy for Xiao Nian. After all, Gu Minghui was a big director, with a good reputation and box office success.

Xiao Nian was also very happy and really wanted to take the role. But when Yin Bai saw that the lead was Zuo Jingyou, and Xiao Nian would be playing a supporting role to her, she rejected the role for Xiao Nian without hesitation. As compensation, that year Yin Bai arranged for her two big-production movies where she was the top-billed female lead¹¹.

Thinking about it now, Yin Bai also felt she had been very unreasonable. Xiao Nian clearly liked that role, yet she had rejected it for her own selfish reasons. Although it seemed like it was for Xiao Nian’s good, perhaps in Xiao Nian’s eyes, she was just a domineering, unreasonable, and detestable financial backer¹²!

Yin Bai raised her hand, rubbed the tip of her nose, and replied sheepishly: “That’s truly quite a pity then.”

Zuo Jingyou deeply felt the same, but still said optimistically: “Mm, but it’s okay, there will be opportunities in the future.”

As the two talked about Xiao Nian, Zuo Jingyou couldn’t help but think about Yin Bai and Xiao Nian’s past.

Zuo Jingyou lowered her gaze, looking at the three words “Little Prince” in the upper left corner of the chat interface. After hesitating for a moment, she still pressed the screen and tapped out a string of text: “Have you… let go of Xiao Nian… now?” To be able to bring her up so proactively, without any strange feelings, she must have let go, right?

Let go?

Seeing these two words, Yin Bai lay in bed, tilted her head and thought for a long while, then replied: “I don’t know… I wouldn’t say I’ve let go… But then… if I don’t let go, what else can I do?”

“I’ve already tried, but some things can’t be solved by effort alone.”

Growing up, the people close to Yin Bai could be counted on one hand. Ever since she knew Xiao Nian had separated from her, people around her had been advising her, overtly or covertly, with things like “Fragrant grass can be found anywhere under the heavens, why be fixated on a single flower?¹³” and “Let those who leave, leave and never come back.”

Yin Bai never mentioned this matter to anyone else. No matter how much unwillingness or reluctance she felt, she could only swallow it all back herself.

She didn’t even have an intimate person with whom to pour out her emotions.

After she turned eighteen, besides Xiao Nian, only Zuo Jingyou would ask her, “Are you okay?”

Zhang Yu and the others wanted to ask, but they were ultimately still a step away from being close friends, so they couldn’t bring themselves to ask, nor could they offer more care.

Zuo Jingyou lowered her gaze. In the darkness, through the dim fluorescent light, she carefully read these two lines again. Between the lines, she saw Yin Bai’s reluctance to let go.

But just as Yin Bai said, what difference did it make whether she had let go or not?

It was of no help and only increased the loneliness.

Zuo Jingyou thought for a moment, typed out a line, and sent it to Yin Bai: “At least you tried, didn’t you?”

At this moment, Zuo Jingyou suddenly remembered that night, the scene of encountering Yin Bai and Xiao Nian arguing in the garden. It seemed that from that day on, she began to formally know Yin Bai as a person.

Although she had met Yin Bai many times before. In her impression, Yin Bai, who had burst onto the scene¹⁴, was the most watched major investor in the entertainment industry. Because she was rich, generous, a veritable money-scattering child.

Every time she saw Yin Bai, it was always in various noisy occasions. The tall girl, dressed in suits of various colors, always had a cold expression on her face, leaning on a cane, silently making her way, unsteadily, through the crowded, fawning throngs.

Although she had difficulty walking, every time she appeared in a crowd, she was always so proud. Like a proud monarch surveying her territory, she would silently extend a long finger, take the business cards offered up like sacrifices from countless directors and producers, say lightly, “Contact my assistant,” and then drift away.

Although in Zuo Jingyou’s eyes, Yin Bai was very beautiful. But because of this arrogant demeanor, Zuo Jingyou had always thought she was just an arrogant businesswoman.

It wasn’t until she saw the argument between Xiao Nian and Yin Bai that she realized the pride on that person’s face was merely a facade necessary for survival.

That night, she stood in a corner and witnessed everything.

She saw that person, who always seemed cold and indifferent, like an iceberg, reach out and grab Xiao Nian, her eyes filled with pleading. The surging emotions shattered her icy mask to pieces, and sorrowful and desperate emotions erupted from her like an avalanche.

In Xiao Nian’s cruel rejection, Yin Bai was like someone clutching at the last straw, pleading over and over, “Don’t leave me, don’t leave me…”

To make Xiao Nian stay, using money, dignity, her own love… she risked everything.

But even so, Xiao Nian did not stay for her.

Xiao Nian shook off her hand and left without looking back. Leaving only that person, like a loser, like a mermaid princess doomed to die after coming ashore, collapsed on the ground, wailing like a child.

Such cries were more heart-wrenching than many farewell scenes in romance movies.

It was at this moment that Zuo Jingyou felt that perhaps this “money-scattering child” wasn’t actually an arrogant iceberg; she was just an awkward child who wasn’t good at expressing herself.

Looking at it now, there were truly so many good qualities hidden beneath Yin Bai’s icy mask.

Zuo Jingyou couldn’t help but think, It was so good that I couldn’t stop myself from stepping forward that day.

It’s so good that I didn’t miss out on such a wonderful friend.

LP: Re-translated on May 29, 2025

Footnotes

孔天一 | Kǒng Tiānyī
九宮格 | jiǔgōnggé | A common way to post nine photos in a 3×3 grid on social media, especially on platforms like Weibo.
烏龍大瓜 | wūlóng dà guā | ‘Oolong’ (烏龍) in this context means an embarrassing mistake or blunder. ‘Melon’ (瓜) refers to gossip or a juicy story. So, a ‘big oolong melon’ is a major piece of mistaken gossip or a significant misunderstanding that has been spread around.
皮猴子 | píhóuzi | Literally ‘skin monkeys.’ A colloquial and often affectionate term for naughty or mischievous children.
夜貓子 | yè māozi | Literally ‘night cat child.’ A common term for a night owl, someone who stays up late.
渾身都是精致的淘氣 | húnshēn dōu shì jīngzhì de táoqì | A rather unique and affectionate expression. Literally, ‘your whole body is exquisite naughtiness/mischief.’ It implies someone is charmingly and cleverly mischievous, not in a truly bad way.
摸爬滾打 | mō pá gǔn dǎ | Literally ‘to touch, crawl, roll, and hit.’ An idiom describing going through hardships, struggling, and gaining experience, often in a tough environment.
拉娘 | lāniáng | A term used in Chinese online fandoms, particularly for fan-made videos (often called ‘拉娘配’ – lāniángpèi). It involves taking footage of two female characters, often from different works, and editing them together to create a narrative suggesting a romantic relationship between them. ‘娘’ (niáng) is a colloquial term for ‘girl’ or ‘woman’.
科班出身 | kēbān chūshēn | Refers to someone who has received formal, professional training in a specific field, especially in performing arts like acting or traditional Chinese opera. It implies a solid foundation and adherence to established techniques.
顧明輝 | Gù Mínghuī
一番女主 | yī fān nǚzhǔ | In the context of East Asian film and drama, ‘一番’ (yī fān) refers to the top billing or the main leading role. ‘一番女主’ means the top-billed female lead, signifying her primary importance in the cast and often more screen time and focus.
金主 | jīnzhǔ | Literally ‘gold master.’ A colloquial term for a wealthy financial backer or sponsor, often implying a power dynamic and sometimes a transactional relationship, similar to ‘patron’ or, in some contexts, ‘sugar daddy/mommy’.
天涯何處無芳草，何必單戀一枝花 | tiānyá hé chù wú fāngcǎo, hébì dān liàn yī zhī huā | A well-known Chinese saying. It means there are plenty of other potential partners out there; don’t get hung up on just one person. It’s similar in meaning to the English idiom ‘plenty of fish in the sea’.
橫空出世 | héngkōng chūshì | Literally ‘to appear across the sky.’ An idiom describing someone or something that emerges suddenly and impressively, often making a big impact and attracting much attention.

Footnotes

0 Comments