After Being Scummed – Chapter 38

Are you two dating?

The mid-March weather was still a bit chilly. Yin Bai was worried Zuo Jingyou would catch a cold, so she urged her to go back to bed and lie down. Zuo Jingyou couldn’t win against her and obediently returned to bed.

Considering Zuo Jingyou hadn’t eaten much for lunch, Yin Bai, leaning on her cane, came to Zuo Jingyou’s bedside, sat down, and took out an apple to peel for her.

            

Zuo Jingyou initially wanted to refuse, but seeing how unusually skilled Yin Bai was with the knife, she gave up the idea. Leaning against the headboard, Zuo Jingyou gazed at Yin Bai’s side profile as she earnestly peeled the apple. After pursing her lips in thought for a moment, she asked, “How do you know how to do this kind of thing?”

“Practice. You get good with enough practice.” Yin Bai didn’t even look up, focusing solely on the apple in her hands, meticulously carving the large apple into little rabbit shapes.

Watching the “little rabbits” emerge from Yin Bai’s palm, Zuo Jingyou muttered under her breath, “Things like this depend on talent; it’s not something you can achieve just by practicing.” Take her, for example—she was terrible at crafts. Forget about carving little rabbits; she’d be doing well if she could just peel an apple completely!

            

Soon, Yin Bai had arranged the apple, now a row of little rabbits, on a fruit plate and presented it to Zuo Jingyou. “Ta-da! Look, aren’t they super cute!”

Zuo Jingyou smiled and nodded. “Yes, yes, yes! Super cute!” She had already seen this trick several times, thanks to Tongtong.

Yin Bai grinned and asked her, “Feeling a bit better? Do you particularly want to eat them?”

            

Zuo Jingyou’s eyes curved into a smile. “I do!” Even though she had seen it several times, now that it was her turn, Zuo Jingyou still felt exceptionally happy.

Yin Bai placed the fruit plate in front of Zuo Jingyou and said generously, “Then please, help yourself!”

Zuo Jingyou took the fruit plate but didn’t rush to eat. Instead, she tilted her head and asked, “Teacher Yin Bai, can I take a picture of your little rabbits?”

            

Yin Bai readily agreed, “Of course, you can!”

Zuo Jingyou had Yin Bai hand her phone over, and she took a picture of the plate of little rabbits. After taking the photo, Zuo Jingyou asked again, “Teacher Yin Bai, can I post your little rabbits on Weibo?”

Does she even need to ask? Anything is fine!

            

Yin Bai nodded again. She then speared a little rabbit with a fork, held it out to Zuo Jingyou, and said with a smile, “Alright, Teacher Zuo, stop playing with your phone and eat up!”

“Have some fruit to whet your appetite; we’ll have dinner later.”

Zuo Jingyou, holding her phone and posting on Weibo, lowered her head and bit onto Yin Bai’s fork, taking the “little rabbit” into her mouth.

            

In no time, Zuo Jingyou posted on Weibo: “Feeling a bit unwell today, but I received a gift from the Little Prince! [Image]”

After posting, Zuo Jingyou put down her phone. When she looked up, Yin Bai had speared another piece of apple and was holding it to her lips. “Aaah…”

Zuo Jingyou gazed into the other’s deep, gray-blue eyes, stunned for a few seconds. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, then parted her lips and carefully bit into the apple held at her mouth.

            

Just then, Zhang Yu and Yang Yi, carrying food containers for dinner, pushed open the door and walked right into this scene of Yin Bai feeding Zuo Jingyou an apple. The two assistants stopped in their tracks, turned to look at each other, the same question reflected in their eyes: What in the world is going on here?

Why does this look so weird? It feels like they’re dating!

Just as the assistants were inwardly grumbling, Zuo Jingyou slowly swallowed the “little rabbit” in her mouth and, along with Yin Bai, looked towards the two of them.

            

Yin Bai looked at what Zhang Yu was carrying and clapped her hands happily. “Great, dinner’s here! Let’s eat!”

Zuo Jingyou nodded, ignoring her assistant’s gossipy​¹ glances, and agreed with a nod.

That evening, Xiao Nian, on her way home by car after visiting a sick relative, came across Zuo Jingyou’s Weibo post. Sitting in the dark back seat, she felt a vague sense of familiarity when she saw the plate of “little rabbits” Zuo Jingyou had posted.

            

Xiao Nian clicked to enlarge the Weibo picture, carefully examining the plate of “little rabbits.” Recalling Zuo Jingyou’s mention of the “Little Prince” in her post, an idea began to form in her mind.

The friend Yin Bai went to see today… could it be Zuo Jingyou?

At this thought, Xiao Nian couldn’t help but smile. If it’s Zuo Jingyou, then Yin Bai has really made a good friend. After all, Zuo Jingyou has a very good reputation in the circle.

            

But then again, what does this have to do with me?

Thinking this, Xiao Nian sighed softly, closed the enlarged Weibo picture, and stopped thinking about matters related to Yin Bai.

Zuo Jingyou stayed in the hospital for a day before being discharged. When she left, she also took Zhang Yu with her. For a good while after that, Zuo Jingyou was flying all over the place with Zhang Yu.

            

There were many things to prepare before the movie premiere—publicity and distribution, all sorts of public engagements, and so on. Zuo Jingyou was as busy as a spinning top​².

But thankfully, no matter how busy she was, she didn’t forget her daughter’s birthday. April 17th was Tongtong’s sixth birthday. Zuo Jingyou took Tongtong to meet with He Zhiwen. The family of three had a happy day playing at an amusement park. The next day, when Tongtong went to Yin Bai’s house to play, she vividly described her adventures at the amusement park.

“Daddy rode the carousel with me, and he also took me on the ghost house train! Wow, those skeletons and ghosts looked so scary!”

            

In the second-floor living room, Yin Bai and Wenwen sat on the sofa, watching Tongtong excitedly describe yesterday’s events. “Daddy also took me to eat delicious cake! I feel so happy!”

Yin Bai watched Tongtong, hands clasped together, looking overjoyed, but her thoughts couldn’t help drifting. My dear friend, she thought, you were happy, but your mom was probably feeling incredibly heartbroken yesterday!

Should I call Zuo Jingyou tonight to comfort her wounded heart?

            

Just as Yin Bai was letting her imagination run wild, her little companion’s voice suddenly dropped. Tongtong sighed and said sadly, “But when Daddy and I parted yesterday, he said he might not be able to see me often in the future. Because he and Mommy divorced, and he moved out.”

Tongtong sat down next to Yin Bai, looked up at her, and asked, “Fairy Sister, is divorce a very bad thing?”

Yin Bai looked at the child’s innocent eyes, and her mind went blank for a moment.​³ Wenwen, sitting on the other side, felt she had more authority on the subject. She tilted her head, looked at her little friend, dangled her feet, and said, “No, Tongtong. My mommy said divorce isn’t a bad thing.”

            

“Even though my daddy doesn’t live with Mommy and me anymore, both Daddy and Mommy still love me very much.”

Wenwen frowned in thought for a moment, then concluded, “Of course, I think Mommy loves me a little more. Because Daddy got married last year and has new kids! But Mommy only has me!”

Tongtong bit her lip, lowered her head, and said dejectedly, “Mommy told me the same thing. But other people’s daddies and mommies are together, while mine are separated. It’s still not very good, after all.”

            

Yin Bai had never encountered such a situation and didn’t know how to comfort Tongtong. She thought for a moment, then reached out to pat Tongtong’s head and said softly, “It’s not necessarily like that… Think about it, your daddy and mommy are both very busy with work, right? So what does it matter if they live together or not? Anyway, your daddy is a director, so he rarely came home to see you in the first place.”

Tongtong felt this logic wasn’t right. She racked her brains for a while and said anxiously, “But… but Daddy and Mommy weren’t separated before. If they weren’t separated, then Daddy wouldn’t possibly be like Wenwen-jie’s daddy and have new children!”

“He would… he would only have Tongtong!”

            

Yin Bai sighed. Silly child, she thought, your father has already dumped his adorable daughter—you—for another man. Are you still trying to win him over?

She reached out and gently pinched Tongtong’s cheek, looking at her with great affection. “But it was your daddy who chose to divorce, who chose to leave you. Tongtong, you need to understand, when he left you, it meant he had already decided that you might not be his only child in the future.”

Tongtong lowered her head, then sadly threw herself into Yin Bai’s arms, sniffling. “If that’s the case, Daddy is so mean… Then Tongtong won’t go see Daddy anymore either!”

            

Yin Bai felt like she might have given the child the wrong idea. She patted Tongtong’s back comfortingly and said, “There, there, don’t be sad. Even if you don’t have your daddy around, you still have us, don’t you? Wenwen and I will be your good friends for life!”

The already sad child became even more upset hearing this. She flopped onto Yin Bai’s lap and burst out crying with a “Waaah!”

Yin Bai had never seen such a scene and quickly turned to her little companion beside her. Hearing the crying, Wenwen quickly jumped off the sofa, ran to Tongtong’s side, hugged her, and leaning over her, also tried to persuade her, “Yeah, don’t cry, Tongtong! You still have us. From now on, just don’t want your daddy anymore, okay!”

            

“Waaaaah!” Tongtong immediately collapsed onto Yin Bai’s lap, wailing loudly!

Yin Bai was flustered by the crying. She quickly pulled Tongtong up from her lap, held her, and patted her back, coaxing, “Okay, okay, don’t cry, don’t cry… Even though your parents divorced, your mommy still loves you!”

“Waaaaah!” Tongtong wouldn’t listen, burying her face in Yin Bai’s shoulder, clutching her clothes, and crying loudly.

            

Wenwen, at the side, whispered, “Jiejie, that’s no use! Saying that will only make her sadder! Tongtong usually loves eating the most. Quick, get her something yummy!”

Yin Bai quickly patted the back of her head and hurriedly coaxed, “Alright, alright, let’s not talk about this anymore. I’ll take you to eat something delicious!”

“We’ll eat cake! Pudding, yummy strawberry cake, caramel pudding, pancakes, ice cream, yogurt salad… Whatever you want to eat today, you can have anything, okay!”

            

Yin Bai rattled off a long list of foods. The child in her arms sniffled, wiped away her tears with her hand, sat up straight, and looked into her eyes, asking, “Really… really?”

Tongtong wiped away her tears, hiccuping between sobs. “Can I… can I really eat that much today?”

Yin Bai, holding the little crybaby in her arms, looked at the tearstains on her tender little face and nodded. “Really!”

            

Tongtong pouted, then managed a small smile. “Then… then I won’t cry anymore… I’m not sad anymore…”

Watching her smile through her tears, a thought couldn’t help but pop into Yin Bai’s mind: Actually, your dad isn’t even as important to you as food, is he! So why were you crying so hard then!

Could it be… you were just trying to scam some food and drinks? Ai, as expected, fatherly love is hardly worth mentioning!

            

In the future, I should remind Tongtong more often that ‘in this world, only mothers are good’!​⁴

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LP: Re-translated on June 06, 2025

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