After Being Scummed – Chapter 48

Zuo Jingyou, my tooth hurts!

Hearing Yin Bai say her tooth hurt, Zhang Yu didn’t hesitate to book an appointment for her with a familiar dentist.

At the clinic, after seeing the dentist, the dentist gave Yin Bai the most reasonable advice: “This is an old problem. You have an impacted wisdom tooth. It needs to be pulled.”

            

The moment Yin Bai heard “pulled,” she clutched her aching left cheek in terror, shaking her head frantically. “No way, no way! Just give me some anti-inflammatories, and it’ll be fine!”

Two years ago, when Xiao Nian broke up with her, she couldn’t catch her breath and, in a fit of self-abandonment, ran to the hospital to have her right wisdom tooth pulled. Although the pain was so bad she could no longer find it in herself to hate Xiao Nian, it was also an experience worse than death.

Now, being asked to have a tooth pulled when everything was perfectly fine otherwise? She wouldn’t subject herself to that misery!

            

Seeing her attitude of concealing her illness and avoiding treatment, the doctor tried to persuade her earnestly. “This is only treating the symptoms, not the root cause. It will eventually hurt again. Miss Yin, you should really have the tooth pulled. Pulling a tooth isn’t even that painful!”

The dentist was, after all, a seasoned veteran and definitely not some novice who would make their patient suffer immensely.

Even so, Yin Bai, having already suffered through it once, remained unmoved no matter how much she was coaxed. Helpless, the doctor finally prescribed some medication and watched as Yin Bai fled in a panic.

            

But this time, the pain was truly severe. It persisted for several days, and the anti-inflammatories were no help. With her bad tooth, her mood soured even further. She acted up​¹ every few days, demanding this and that. Under her command, Zhang Yu bought a pile of picture books for her to read at home.

The toothachy Yin Bai was listless, a fact her two little friends quickly noticed. That weekend, when Tongtong and Wenwen were practicing their spoken French with Yin Bai, they saw her constantly clutching her face, looking very uncomfortable, and asked her what was wrong.

Yin Bai frowned, looking at her little friends pitifully. “My tooth hurts…”

            

The children really hadn’t expected their big friend to have such troubles. They quickly scampered over on their short little legs and patted her hair comfortingly. “Then let’s not study today. Let’s go eat yummy things!”

Yin Bai turned her head to look at Wenwen, who had said this so seriously, and replied unhappily, “I can’t eat yummy things. My tooth is broken, and it hurts a lot!”

Wenwen poked her chin with a fingertip and tilted her head, thinking. “But eating yummy things will put you in a good mood. If you’re in a good mood, you won’t think about your toothache!”

            

Yeah, right. Eating yummy things would only make her tooth hurt more.

Yin Bai didn’t say anything, just sighed heavily. Seeing her big friend looking so distressed, Tongtong thought for a moment, then patted her shoulder. “Fairy Sister, I’ve had toothaches too, and I’ve even lost teeth. Mommy said it’s because my tooth went bad and needs to be replaced with a new one. When that happens, you just have to pull the tooth out!”

“The dentist pulls teeth really fast, swoosh, and it’s out. Once the bad tooth is gone, you can eat lots of yummy things!”

            

Yin Bai turned to look at Tongtong. Seeing how serious she was, she asked hesitantly, “Really?”

Tongtong puffed out her chest and said with conviction, “Really! Once it’s pulled, it won’t hurt anymore!”

Tongtong opened her mouth wide with an “Ah,” pointing to a gap where an upper tooth was missing. “This tooth of mine was loose before, too,” she said, her words a bit muffled. “It was hard to eat anything, and it hurt! But after I got it pulled, everything tastes so yummy!”

            

Hearing this, Wenwen, who was standing to the side, straightened her back and spoke with an air of authority. “Tongtong’s right! A bad tooth has to be pulled! After you get it pulled, you can eat lots and lots of yummy things!”

Yin Bai turned her head, blinking her big eyes at Wenwen. “You’re not tricking me? Really?”

Wenwen looked at her seriously, her eyes large and bright. “I’m a good kid who doesn’t lie. I would never lie to my friends!”

            

Fine!

Yin Bai turned back to Tongtong and asked hesitantly, “So I should go get my tooth pulled?”

Tongtong nodded emphatically. “Mhm! You should go, Fairy Sister!” To comfort her big friend, the little child added with a beaming smile, “And I’ll share a little secret with you~ Mommy said that every time a tooth is pulled, something good happens.”

            

“So, Fairy Sister, something good will definitely happen after you get your tooth pulled!”

With this encouragement from her little friends, Yin Bai, who truly couldn’t bear the pain any longer, finally chose to get it over with. On Monday, she made an appointment with the dentist and had both her upper and lower left wisdom teeth pulled at the same time.

Although her teeth were quite deformed, the entire extraction procedure went very smoothly thanks to the dentist’s superb skill. After the extraction, Yin Bai waited for more than thirty minutes before spitting out the cotton ball in her mouth with difficulty and heading home in Zhang Yu’s car.

            

Haicheng was a considerably hot city. Even as it neared the end of October, the scorching autumn tiger​² was still dancing wildly across the city.

On the way home, Yin Bai leaned against the car window, watching the bright sun and the brilliant autumn scenery outside, yet her heart felt ice-cold.

The effect of the anesthetic gradually wore off, and a sharp pain surged from the incised area, stimulating her mouth to produce a large amount of saliva. Yin Bai wanted to swallow the fluid, but the anesthetic had numbed the sensation in her throat, making the act of swallowing incredibly difficult.

            

It’s so awful… so awful…

The pain originated in her mouth, but it felt as if it flowed down her throat, into her stomach, and then spread to her heart, until all her internal organs were stained with this feeling of pain and misery.

Leaning against the window, Yin Bai gazed at the scenery outside, forcing herself to get distracted from the pain by wondering what Zuo Jingyou was doing right at this moment.

            

Does she have an interview today, or has she flown to another city for a press conference? Or maybe she’s recording a variety show?

What’s the weather like where she is? Is it also sunny, or does it already feel like winter? It’s almost eleven o’clock, right? Is she about to have lunch…?

Countless thoughts flashed through Yin Bai’s mind. Amidst the escalating pain, one thought emerged with overwhelming intensity: I really want to see Zuo Jingyou… I really want to talk to her…

            

It was only at this moment that Yin Bai was struck by the realization that her dependence on Zuo Jingyou had actually reached such a degree.

Besides love, was there anyone else in this world she could trust so much?

Zuo Jingyou really was a friend she could rely on.

            

With this thought, Yin Bai arrived home, reached out to take her phone from Zhang Yu, and silently rode the elevator upstairs, leaning on her cane.

On the way to her room, Yin Bai opened Zuo Jingyou’s WeChat several times, hesitating over whether to tell her about the tooth extraction and have a pitiful cry about it.

But every time she remembered that Zuo Jingyou was going on a month-long trip with someone else next month—and had even turned down her own invitation—Yin Bai grew too angry to talk to her about it.

            

So angry, so jealous, but I miss her so much!

Yin Bai’s mind was a battlefield​³ for quite some time. By the time she had changed into her pajamas and was lying stiffly on her bed like a corpse, forcing herself to endure the pain, she finally couldn’t hold back any longer. Curling up, she picked up her phone and sent Zuo Jingyou a message: “Zuo Jingyou, I went to get my teeth pulled. It hurts so much.”

Her tone was full of grievance, like a child who hadn’t grown up, trying to win an adult’s sympathy.

            

She waited and waited. After a while, she didn’t get a message back from Zuo Jingyou, but she did get a video call.

The moment Yin Bai saw the incoming video call from Zuo Jingyou, she panicked and hung up. After all, she had just had her teeth pulled, her face was slightly swollen, she couldn’t speak clearly, and she was drooling. She looked far too unsightly; there was no way she was having a video call with Zuo Jingyou!

Fearing Zuo Jingyou would call again, Yin Bai clutched her phone with both hands and quickly typed a reply: “I can’t talk right now. Just text me.”

            

Zuo Jingyou’s message came in quickly: “Does it still hurt? Have you had lunch? Did you take any painkillers?”

Her tone seemed extremely urgent, her concern plain to see.

Yin Bai’s mood improved slightly. She hugged her phone and sluggishly typed back: “No… I can’t take the medicine yet…”

            

Zuo Jingyou was very worried and continued to ask: “What about ice cream? I heard eating ice cream helps the wound.”

Yin Bai replied pitifully, “I can’t eat. It hurts too much.”

“What are we going to do?” Zuo Jingyou sounded very distressed and asked worriedly, “Is there anything I can do for you, Yin Bai?”

            

When Yin Bai saw this sentence, her mood lifted tremendously. She quickly replied to Zuo Jingyou, “Are you busy right now? If you’re not, can you talk with me for a bit!”

Zuo Jingyou quickly explained, “I’m on my way to the airport. I’ll have lunch there in a bit, so I can chat with you for a while.”

Yin Bai asked, “What time is your flight?”

            

Zuo Jingyou replied swiftly: “Two-thirty.”

Yin Bai did a quick mental calculation and realized Zuo Jingyou had three hours to chat with her. She said happily, “Then I’ll call you on WeChat. You can talk, and I’ll chat with you through text.”

Zuo Jingyou replied with a single word: “Okay.”

            

Seeing that word, Yin Bai immediately placed a video call to Zuo Jingyou. The call was answered quickly. Yin Bai turned on the speakerphone, and Zuo Jingyou’s voice filled the empty room. “Yin Bai, what do you want to listen to?”

Her voice was beautiful—clear and cool, like a gurgling stream. For a moment, Yin Bai felt that her ridiculously large room was suddenly filled by Zuo Jingyou’s presence.

Yin Bai pressed her lips together, wanting to smile but afraid of pulling at her wound. Unable to manage a smile, she just held her phone and replied to Zuo Jingyou: “You can talk about anything. I’m a little sleepy.”

            

She was in so much pain; she thought she might feel much better after a nap.

Zuo Jingyou chuckled softly. “Alright. Then do you want me to read to you?”

Yin Bai replied: “Read what?”

            

Zuo Jingyou leaned against the car window and had her assistant hand her another spare phone. She opened it, searched for Shakespeare, and said gently to Yin Bai, “How about Shakespeare’s 《Romeo and Juliet》?”

Yin Bai was very familiar with Shakespeare’s famous play, so she had no objections and happily replied: “Okay.”

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LP: Extracting a wisdom tooth because of a breakup?!

            

Re-translated on June 19, 2025

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