After Being Scummed – Chapter 52
by Little PandaWhat Am I Doing Here?
Zuo Jingyou wrapped her arms around Yin Bai’s waist and gently tapped her chin on her shoulder twice before letting go. She then patted her on her slender waist a few times and looked up, her eyes filled with mirth. “Alright, welcome to Linzhi1, Yin Bai.”
Yin Bai grunted but didn’t say a word. As Zuo Jingyou pulled away from her embrace, the warmth departed, and the cold assailed her once more.
Yin Bai lowered her gaze to Zuo Jingyou, who had already turned to face Xu Ruofeng, and couldn’t help but think to herself, if only this hug could have lasted a little longer.
Just as she was thinking this, Xu Ruofeng, holding a camera, strode up to Zuo Jingyou in just a few quick steps. She looked at Yin Bai and asked probingly, “And who might this be? Aren’t you going to introduce us?”
Zuo Jingyou smiled faintly, stood to the side, and began to introduce Yin Bai. “This is Director Yin of Galaxy Pictures, Yin Bai.”
The moment Yin Bai heard Zuo Jingyou’s introduction, she immediately reached out to straighten her slightly disheveled collar. She tapped the ground with the cane she held along with her phone, cleared her throat, and extended a hand toward Xu Ruofeng. “Hello, I’m Yin Bai.”
Xu Ruofeng reached out and gently shook Yin Bai’s hand, her face beaming with a brilliant smile. “Director Yin, I’ve heard so much about you. Hello, I’m Xu Ruofeng.”
The two exchanged a light handshake. Xu Ruofeng stared at Yin Bai’s exceptionally beautiful face, her eyes shining like a money-grubber staring at the God of Wealth. “I heard from Jingyou that her last film was saved from a desperate situation all thanks to Director Yin’s investment.”
“Director Yin is truly Jingyou’s Bole2!”
Yin Bai was taken aback by this statement, thinking to herself, How is Zuo Jingyou’s Senior just like Zuo Jingyou, so full of sugar-coated bullets?
Although Yin Bai was mentally warning herself to be wary of the enemy’s sugar-coated bullets, when Xu Ruofeng said that, she couldn’t help but let the corners of her lips curve upward. She pressed her lips together to suppress her smile and said very politely, “Not at all, not at all. It’s Teacher Zuo who is remarkably talented!”
If Yin Bai hadn’t been captivated by Zuo Jingyou’s script at first sight back then, she wouldn’t have been able to rationally analyze the situation and invest a large sum of money in her, especially when her feelings toward Zuo Jingyou were still extremely complicated.
Xu Ruofeng strongly agreed with Yin Bai’s words, nodding as she said, “I also believe Jingyou is an exceptionally talented person, which is why I want to collaborate with her on a film this time.”
“Director Yin, if you’re interested, why don’t we find a chance to discuss a collaboration?”
“Regarding the funding for this film, I think we’ll need some help from Director Yin.”
Hearing this, Yin Bai turned to look at Zuo Jingyou beside her, her face filled with confusion. What’s going on? Is she here to ask me for an investment?
Zuo Jingyou met Yin Bai’s bewildered gaze, her eyes crinkling as she smiled.
She turned her gaze to Xu Ruofeng, sighed softly, and said helplessly, “Alright, Senior, even if you want to discuss a collaboration with Director Yin, you can’t do it here.”
“It’s windy out here. Let’s go back inside before we talk.”
Xu Ruofeng, shouldering her camera, responded with a grin, “Of course, of course. Let’s head back first. I’m free tonight, so I’ll treat Director Yin to dinner. We can talk more then?”
Yin Bai, who had originally come aggressively to stir up some trouble and assert her presence, found herself nodding after seeing the other party’s enthusiastic attitude. “Okay,” she said softly.
After exchanging greetings at the door, Yin Bai followed Zuo Jingyou inside. Xu Ruofeng walked alongside Zuo Jingyou, warmly and generously chatting with Yin Bai, asking about her itinerary and how many days she planned to stay in the Tibetan region.
Yin Bai answered each question. It wasn’t until Xu Ruofeng and Zuo Jingyou had enthusiastically escorted her to her room door that Yin Bai frowned. She raised a hand to put the oxygen tank’s mask over her face and took a deep breath of oxygen. Relying on this moment of clarity, she thought, Am I going to make a scene or not!
After all, from the looks of it, there seemed to be nothing going on between Xu Ruofeng and Zuo Jingyou at all!
With a belly full of questions, Yin Bai entered her room. She sat down on the indoor sofa, hugging her oxygen tank, and watched the busy figure of Zhang Yu moving about the room, lost in thought.
What was she doing, rushing all the way here, thousands of miles into these deep mountains and old forests?
Just because of a single photograph, she’d gotten so worried her friend would be spirited away… what exactly was her mental age?
Why… why was she so wary of a stranger like Xu Ruofeng, without even knowing how close her relationship with Zuo Jingyou was?
Was it just because of how affectionately Zuo Jingyou acted towards her at the celebration banquet?
Just because of that, she had to come here, armed with the utmost vigilance and even an oxygen tank, just to declare her sovereignty?
Wait… declare sovereignty? Do friends have such a strong sense of possessiveness over each other?
Yin Bai hugged the oxygen tank and took another deep breath. After letting the oxygen clear her muddled mind for a moment, she looked at Zhang Yu, who was unpacking her luggage nearby, and said, “Zhang Yu, do you think I should go see a psychiatrist?”
Zhang Yu turned around, baffled, and looked at Yin Bai. “BOSS, haven’t you not gone for several years? Are you feeling emotionally unwell recently? I think you’re in pretty good shape.”
This? This is good shape?
No, Yin Bai thought, something was definitely wrong with her. This state of mind… it was practically madness.
Yin Bai thought for a moment, forced herself not to dwell on it, took another hit of oxygen, and cheered up, saying happily, “Forget it. Since I’m already here, let’s just follow Teacher Zuo and have a good time!”
After saying this, Yin Bai, with Zhang Yu in tow, happily waited for Xu Ruofeng to treat them to dinner.
The sky on the plateau seemed to darken very slowly. Even in winter, at six in the evening, the sun still hung in the western sky.
When Zuo Jingyou knocked on Yin Bai’s door, it was Zhang Yu who opened it. Not seeing Yin Bai, Zuo Jingyou asked, “Where’s your BOSS?”
Zhang Yu stepped aside, pointed toward the window behind her, and said, “There, she’s over there.”
At that moment, Yin Bai was hugging her oxygen tank, sitting on the sofa by the bed and playing on her phone.
The afterglow of the setting sun filtered through the window, faintly enveloping Yin Bai in a hazy veil of reddish-orange light.
Zuo Jingyou stood at the doorway with her arms crossed, watching the figure embraced by the sunset. For a moment, she felt as if the other person had walked out of a dream, not a real presence that should be here.
Perhaps, in this moment, Yin Bai isn’t real; she has merely walked out of my dream.
With this thought, Zuo Jingyou hesitated for a moment before finally speaking, shattering this phantasmagoria. “Yin Bai…”
She called out, and the dream-figure by the window looked back, her gaze, from behind her oxygen tank, fixed directly on her.
The moment their eyes met, Zuo Jingyou found a sense of reality. She smiled faintly, her eyes soft as she looked at Yin Bai. “I’m here to take you to dinner.”
Sitting by the window, Yin Bai grabbed the cane beside her, stood up nimbly, and walked toward Zuo Jingyou, calling out happily, “Let’s go!”
Zuo Jingyou stood at the door with her arms crossed, watching Yin Bai walk towards her with her back to the sunset, leaning on her cane, limping and stumbling. Her mind suddenly flashed back to that early morning half a year ago when Yin Bai had also walked towards her step by step, with her back to the faint morning light.
She thought, Yin Bai was the one who started all of this…
Who could possibly refuse?
So, as Yin Bai drew near, Zuo Jingyou smiled, reached out, and deftly took Yin Bai’s oxygen tank from her. She took the hand that wasn’t holding the cane and said naturally, “Let’s go. I’m treating you to the best yak meat3 hotpot here tonight!”
Feeling her cold hand being held, Yin Bai froze for a good while. She looked down at Zuo Jingyou’s hand holding hers, feeling the warmth radiating from it, and hesitated for a long moment without letting go.
It seems… the feeling of someone else taking the initiative to hold her hand isn’t so bad…
As long as it’s Zuo Jingyou, she didn’t mind the physical contact at all.
With this thought, Yin Bai followed beside Zuo Jingyou, heading off to dinner in high spirits.
Dinner was Xu Ruofeng’s treat, and the location was a restaurant right next door. In the freezing weather, the group split into two tables, happily swishing beef around a blazing stove.
Yin Bai couldn’t handle things that were too spicy, so Zuo Jingyou prepared a pot of highland barley tea4 for her on the side, to rinse her food in.
As Yin Bai swished a piece of beef coated in spices and red oil, she listened to Xu Ruofeng talk about the movie they were planning to shoot. “I want to film the story of a Tibetan girl…”
“I originally wanted to make a documentary about Tibet. While gathering material in the Tibetan region last year, I met a very warm and generous Tibetan girl…”
Yin Bai picked up a piece of beef with her chopsticks, dipped it in her small bowl of highland barley tea, and asked curiously, “And then?”
Xu Ruofeng scooped up a spoonful of beef, placed it in Zuo Jingyou’s bowl, and continued rambling, “She worked as a local tour guide. When we were in the Tibetan region, she was the one who took us everywhere. When she found out we were filmmakers, she started telling us a lot about herself…”
“For example?”
Xu Ruofeng poured a cup of highland barley wine5, brought it to her lips, and took a sip, hissing lightly from the spiciness. “This wine has quite a kick!”
Zuo Jingyou, seeing her reaction, smiled and asked, “Is it very strong? Let me try?”
As she spoke, Zuo Jingyou reached over, took Xu Ruofeng’s cup, and took a light sip, her eyes narrowing slightly. “It really is strong, but it’s really good.”
Across the table, Yin Bai’s eyes widened at this scene!
You two are sharing a cup!
After taking a sip, Zuo Jingyou looked at Yin Bai and said with a smile, “It’s quite good. Yin Bai, want to try?”
Yin Bai shook her head frantically, munching on the beef in her mouth and mumbling indistinctly, “I have altitude sickness, I can’t drink!”
Damn it, sharing a cup! Are you two drinking cross-cupped wine6?
Yin Bai grumbled internally, the little loudspeaker in her mind starting to blare again. She swallowed a piece of beef, forced herself to ignore the matter, and looked up at Xu Ruofeng. “And then? What happened to that girl?”
Xu Ruofeng got to the main point. “She talked about her childhood… In the Tibetan region, women have a low status, but she studied hard and was always the most outstanding child in her village…”
“But before she had the chance to grow up, she was…”
“Her father sold her to a man for a cow…”
“Later, she had a child, and for the child’s sake, she worked hard to get out and find a job…”
“But her husband was not good to the child… For her child’s sake, she fought for a divorce and got her husband sent to prison…”
Bit by bit, Yin Bai pieced together from Xu Ruofeng’s words the story of a simple and kind Tibetan girl. She felt that if this movie were made, it probably wouldn’t have any box office success, but knowing the subject was a real, living person, Yin Bai couldn’t help but look at Xu Ruofeng and ask, “And later? What happened to the girl?”
Xu Ruofeng smiled and raised her cup, pouring some wine into her mouth. She sighed, her eyes glistening with unshed tears as she looked at Yin Bai. “She died later. On the very day her child got into university… she was killed… in a big fire…”
“She told me before that she wanted her name to be remembered, that she wanted her story to be made into a movie. So I’m trying to see if I can complete this film.”
Yin Bai pinched her own fingers, taking several deep breaths. She weighed the pros and cons in her mind, thinking that this was a movie guaranteed to be a box office failure, and… with Xu Ruofeng’s ability, it wasn’t certain it could even win an award.
Yin Bai picked up the oxygen tank beside her, pressed the mask to her face, and took several deep, desperate breaths. After a while, when her mind had cleared slightly, she looked up at Xu Ruofeng and asked solemnly, “How much money do you need?”
“However much you need, I’ll give it to you!”
Because some things cannot be measured by money. In one’s life, there are many times when you can’t just weigh the pros and cons.
For things like these, Yin Bai was willing to pay the price.
LP: Re-translated on June 24, 2025
Footnotes
- 林芝 | Línzhī | A prefecture-level city in the southeast of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It is known for its stunning natural scenery.
- 伯樂 | bólè | Bole was a legendary horse tamer in ancient China, renowned for his ability to recognize exceptional horses. The term is now used as a metaphor for a good judge of talent, a benefactor, or a patron who discovers and supports a gifted individual.
- 牦牛 | máoniú | The yak is a long-haired domesticated cattle species found throughout the Himalayan region. It is well-adapted to high altitudes and is a crucial part of the local economy, providing milk, fiber, and meat.
- 青稞茶 | qīngkē chá | Often referring to butter tea (po cha), a staple in Tibet made from tea leaves, yak butter, water, and salt. Highland barley (qīngkē) flour is sometimes added to make a thick porridge-like drink called tsampa.
- 青稞酒 | qīngkē jiǔ | An alcoholic beverage made from roasted highland barley, a staple crop of the Tibetan Plateau. It is a popular drink in Tibet and is often consumed during festivals and celebrations.
- 交杯酒 | jiāobēijiǔ | A traditional Chinese wedding ceremony ritual where the bride and groom drink wine or liquor from two cups tied together with a red string, or exchange cups to drink from. It symbolizes their union.
oh to be rich
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HARD WORK TRANSLATOR
oh to be rich
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HARD WORK TRANSLATOR