After Being Scummed – Chapter 4
by Little PandaSurely This Isn’t Zuo Jingyou’s Child?
Yin Bai leaned on her cane as she walked toward the wisteria trellis, overhearing the girl who had flown the toy plane earlier ask, “Tongtong, what’s your plan? Tell me!”
The child named Tongtong giggled and said, “Wenwen-jie1, we can just go over and ask her for it!”
The toy plane girl was completely against this. “I don’t want to! She’s so scary! Besides, if the shuttlecock is gone, it’s gone. We have other ones we can use anyway.”
Despite being a child herself, Tongtong patiently reasoned with her older cousin. “But that shuttlecock is still perfectly fine. Come on, Mama said adults don’t hold grudges over things like this. We just need to thank her properly.”
The toy plane girl still wanted to resist. “But…”
The girl named Tongtong pulled her cousin along as they walked further away. “It’ll be fine. If we speak to her nicely, she’ll definitely give it back.”
The two children’s voices gradually faded. Yin Bai pricked up her ears to listen for a moment, faintly catching that the girl named Tongtong seemed to be planning to bring a gift to ask for the shuttlecock.
Was she really that shallow and childish? These little brats couldn’t possibly hope to win her over with candy-coated bullets2!
Yin Bai set down her cane and reopened her book of poetry. As she turned the pages, she plotted. When those brats showed up, she would be even fiercer. Ice in her voice. No more shouting to disturb her reading, no more shuttlecocks flying into her yard—and absolutely no toy planes!
This was a matter of principle. She had to lay down the law, clearly and unmistakably!
With her mind made up, she barely turned a few pages of her poetry book before checking her phone every other minute to see if a call had come through.
She waited for quite some time, but the little brats still hadn’t rung her doorbell. A trace of impatience crept in; she even began to wonder what was taking them so long.
Yin Bai waited and waited, flipping restlessly through several more pages of poetry, until finally, her phone began to ring.
At the sound, a jolt went through her. They’re here! she thought.
She sat up straight, set the book aside, cleared her throat, and tapped to answer the intercom call from her front gate.
The phone screen flashed, displaying the live feed of the two children.
On screen, a little girl who looked no more than four or five years old was tilting her head back to press the doorbell, peering into the yard. “Hello, hello, hello… Is anyone there? Anyone home?”
Yin Bai cleared her throat, hesitating for a moment without answering.
The little girl with her hair tied in small buns looked puzzled and raised her voice. “Hello? Is anyone home?”
The older child standing behind her, who was a bit taller, grew anxious when no one answered after a while. Tugging at the younger girl’s shirt, she pleaded, “Let’s just go, Tongtong. That auntie probably isn’t home. Let’s forget about the shuttlecock.”
Tongtong looked up, straining on her tiptoes to peer through the gate. “But the intercom is connected! Why isn’t there any sound?”
Convinced that someone was home, Tongtong persistently called out a few more times, “Hello? Are you home?”
After three inquiries, even Yin Bai, with her heart of stone, could no longer pretend she hadn’t heard. She nervously rubbed her hands against her trousers, cleared her throat, and asked, “I’m here. Why are you ringing my doorbell?”
Yin Bai’s voice sounded cold and detached, but in the next second, she saw Tongtong’s face light up with delight on the screen. “Oh, it’s a big sister with a pretty voice!”
Yin Bai’s mood instantly brightened upon hearing this.
She let out a soft huff. On the screen, Tongtong’s eyes crinkled into crescents as she offered a sweet, placating smile. “Big Sister, our shuttlecock flew into your yard. Could you let us in to pick it up?”
Having cheered up, Yin Bai no longer cared about being called a “weird auntie” by the children. But with her bad personality, she still instinctively teased the child. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to wander into other people’s homes?”
“If you wander into a stranger’s house, you might run into the Big Bad Wolf!”
Yin Bai deliberately tried to scare them. Sure enough, Tongtong’s expression turned apprehensive. The older girl, who had been hesitant to enter from the start, once again got cold feet. “Tongtong, let’s just go back.”
The weird auntie inside was simply too terrifying—even scarier than the Big Bad Wolf in fairy tales.
Tongtong hesitated, biting her lower lip as she pondered. After a brief moment, she looked up at the intercom camera and smiled. “Then, Big Sister, could I trouble you to help us find the shuttlecock and bring it to the gate for us?”
Yin Bai clicked her tongue, marveling at the child’s sheer boldness. The little brat actually wanted to order her around!
Yin Bai refused without a second thought. “I don’t want to!”
Met with rejection, Tongtong looked crestfallen. She glanced down at her children’s smartwatch, then summoned her courage to speak to the other end of the line. “How about this, Big Sister? If you unlock the gate, we can go in and look for it ourselves.”
Yin Bai muttered to herself, “Well, aren’t you a brave one.” Then she said aloud, “Fine. Come on in. Once you’re through the gate, follow the path on the left straight to the back garden.”
With that, she crisply ended the call and pressed the button to unlock the front gate, letting the two children in.
The iron gate clicked open. Hearing the sound, Tongtong exchanged a glance with her older cousin and took her hand, leading her inside. “Let’s go, Wenwen-jie. Let’s find our shuttlecock.”
The two children pushed the gate open and made their way along the left-hand path.
Yin Bai’s yard was filled with various kinds of roses. As they walked, they were greeted by vibrant, breathtaking blooms of every color. Holding hands, the children were quickly distracted by the flowers, chattering about how beautiful the roses were and how lovely the garden was, only occasionally remembering to mention the shuttlecock.
From a distance, Yin Bai heard their voices. She quickly reached out and tossed the shuttlecock she had retrieved into a low shrub beside the wisteria trellis. The white shuttlecock rested atop the green leaves, positioned perfectly for the children to spot at a glance.
As the patter of their footsteps drew closer, Yin Bai hurriedly smoothed open her poetry book, pretending to be engrossed in reading. Yet, from the corner of her eye, she couldn’t help but peer in the direction the children were coming from.
Before long, two small figures emerged hand-in-hand from behind the decorative rockery.
Yin Bai held the book up to hide her face, but she couldn’t help but lower it bit by bit to peer at the two girls.
The girl leading the way was about four or five years old, her hair styled in small double buns. She wore a white T-shirt and black overalls, her chubby face with baby fat, soft and pink like a little dumpling. The girl behind her was slightly taller, around six or seven years old, wearing a dress with her hair down, her expression nervous.
It was Yin Bai’s first time seeing the younger girl, but looking at her features, she felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
The older girl, however, rang a bell. Not long ago, her toy plane had landed on Yin Bai’s balcony, nearly hitting her in the head. So when Yin Bai had gone out to return the toy plane, her face had been incredibly grim.
As they drew closer, Yin Bai hastily raised the book again to cover her face, pretending to be an indifferent, aloof adult.
Before long, the girls spotted the shuttlecock resting in the shrubbery. They ran over, their little feet going pitter-patter. “Ah! It’s our shuttlecock! Wenwen-jie, it’s over here!”
“It really is, Tongtong!” Wenwen said happily.
They quickly reached the side of the wisteria trellis and excitedly scooped up the shuttlecock.
Hearing the movement, Yin Bai couldn’t resist lowering her book. She cleared her throat, training her gaze on the two children nearby.
Hearing the sound, Tongtong, holding the shuttlecock, looked up at Yin Bai beneath the wisteria trellis and froze.
Beneath the beautiful wisteria trellis, Yin Bai sat clad in a cold-gray linen T-shirt and matching trousers. Wearing a pair of silver-rimmed glasses, she exuded a cool, detached elegance.
Yet, even colder than her appearance was her pair of unusual eyes. In a child’s eyes, those gray-blue eyes were incredibly unique.
The child clutching the shuttlecock stared intently at Yin Bai’s eyes, letting out an admiring gasp. “What beautiful eyes!”
Receiving such praise from a child, Yin Bai’s first instinct was to raise her hand to cover her eyes. Mid-motion, she felt it was inappropriate, so she brought her hand to her lips and cleared her throat instead. “Now that you’ve got your shuttlecock, you should head back home.”
Perhaps out of a touch of self-consciousness, her tone was much softer than it had been over the intercom.
Tongtong let go of Wenwen’s hand and pitter-pattered over to Yin Bai, holding her shuttlecock. Her eyes shone bright as she looked at her. “Big Sister, thank you for letting us in to find our shuttlecock.”
Confronted with such curious, delighted eyes, Yin Bai found herself at a loss for how to respond. She merely nodded, squeezing out a soft, “Mm.”
Tongtong studied her with curiosity, her eyes crinkling with smiles. “Big Sister, you’re so pretty! Just like an angel. Your eyes are like shiny, gray-blue glass marbles!”
Yin Bai had to admit she was pleased. The corners of her lips curved upward. “Of course. I’m a fairy.”
Tongtong’s eyes sparkled. To Wenwen’s mounting panic, she stepped even closer to Yin Bai, cradling the shuttlecock. “Then, Fairy Sister, do you know magic? Do you have a magic wand?”
Yin Bai’s smile froze in place. With a stiff, humorless smile, she replied, “Sorry, I don’t know magic, and I don’t have a wand. I’m a completely useless fairy, except for being beautiful.”
But Tongtong didn’t mind her answer at all. She pitter-pattered right up to Yin Bai and fished a piece of candy from her pocket. “Fairy Sister is pretty and kind-hearted. You’re a good fairy.”
Tongtong held the candy out to Yin Bai, offering a soft, warm smile. “Kind Fairy Sister, thank you for letting us in to get our shuttlecock. This is a thank-you gift for you. Please take it.”
Yin Bai looked down at the candy Tongtong was holding out to her. After a brief hesitation, she reached out, took it, and offered a quiet thank-you.
Seeing Yin Bai accept the candy, Tongtong chirped happily, “We’ll go home now. Goodbye, Fairy Sister!”
Clutching the candy, Yin Bai nodded. “Goodbye.”
Before long, Tongtong skipped away hand-in-hand with her older cousin, who had stood there dumbfounded, holding her breath the entire time.
Sitting beneath the wisteria trellis, Yin Bai watched the two children depart. She unwrapped the candy and popped it into her mouth, wondering to herself if this child’s parents fed her honey every day. They were both raising kids, so how could this Tongtong have such a sweet mouth?
Besides, Tongtong looked inexplicably familiar…
Yin Bai mulled it over, mentally scanning everyone she knew. It took her quite a while to finally realize who the child resembled.
Zuo Jingyou!
Fuck!
She remembered Zuo Jingyou’s kid was about that age, too! Surely it couldn’t be such a coincidence? Was this kid really Zuo Jingyou’s daughter? What kind of bizarre twist of fate was this?
She has a private island but can’t afford a mansion with any privacy?
Interesting to see that Yin Bai is just an awkward person in general and why her first relationship didn’t work out
Interesting to see that Yin Bai is just an awkward person in general and why her first relationship didn’t work out
petty fairy having beef with kids lol
petty fairy having beef with kids lol
hahahhaa TONG TONG already likes her other mother…
hahahhaa TONG TONG already likes her other mother…