After Being Scummed – Chapter 64
by Little PandaZuo Jingyou watched for a while, her eyes curving into a smile. She looked at the three people making a very cheerful ruckus on the living room sofa and called out, “Alright, stop fooling around, everyone. Go wash your hands and eat dinner.”
“Yay!” the two children cheered, hopping and skipping to wash their hands.
Because Yin Bai’s leg was inconvenient, and she had recently gotten too lazy to use her cane, she had no choice but to follow behind them in a wheelchair, saying helplessly, “Slow down, you two. Don’t fall.”
The children weren’t afraid of falling at all. On the contrary, seeing that Yin Bai was slow, they hurriedly urged her, “Faster, faster! Mom made lots of yummy food, I’m so hungry, I want to eat!”
Fine, fine, eating is the most important thing.
After the three “little kids” finished washing their hands, Yin Bai also washed her own face clean before letting her little companions push her to the dining room.
Zuo Jingyou had made a rather sumptuous dinner. After a wonderful meal, she brought out the main event of the dayβthe cake she had made with her own hands.
The children cheered, “Cut the cake, cut the cake! Hurry up and make a wish and cut the cake!”
Yin Bai hurriedly nodded, “Okay, okay, don’t be anxious. Let’s light the candles first, alright?”
Tongtong took out a handful of edible candles and waved them excitedly in front of Yin Bai. “I brought them! How many does Fairy Sister want to light?”
Wenwen happily answered for Yin Bai, “The fairy is so, so, so much older than usβ¦ She must be many, many years old. Let’s stick all the candles on it!”
Yin Bai was greatly alarmed upon hearing this and quickly stopped them, “Why stick so many on? Are you trying to turn the cake into a hedgehog?”
The beautiful aesthetic of the cake Zuo Jingyou had worked so hard to make couldn’t be ruined like this!
Zuo Jingyou, who was standing to the side, saw the interaction between the three of them and couldn’t help but smile until her eyes curved. She raised her hand and rubbed her daughter’s soft, black hair, saying very dotingly, “Tongtong, Fairy Sister is a grown-up. She doesn’t need to be particular about her age. Just put in three.”
Tongtong held the candles, rested her chin on the table, and tilted her head to look at Zuo Jingyou. “Mom, why three? Could it be that Fairy Sister is actually only three years old?”
When Yin Bai heard that, she immediately wanted to retort. What the hell, three years old? I’m thirty, okay!
Before she could speak, Zuo Jingyou rubbed her daughter’s head, the corners of her lips raised in a gentle smile as she said, “Of course not. Three candles mean ‘I love you.'”
“The most beautiful birthday blessing, besides ‘Happy Birthday,’ can also be ‘I love you’!”
Hearing this, Yin Bai, who was at the side, couldn’t help but raise her eyes to glance at Zuo Jingyou. So this is how Zuo Jingyou usually teaches her child, she thought. No wonder my little companion has so much crooked reasoning and heretical theories2.
But ‘I love you’β¦
This is her confessing to me again in front of my little companions. I feel⦠strangely embarrassed.
Yin Bai raised a hand to rub her ear and said shyly, “Then it’s decided. Help me put in three candles!”
Zuo Jingyou lowered her gaze, glanced at her almost imperceptibly, her eyes full of amusement.
“Okay-dokey!” Tongtong agreed readily, handing one to Wenwen. The two of them worked together to place three candles on the cake.
Zuo Jingyou took a lighter and lit the candles. Then, Yin Bai took out her phone, ready to turn off all the lights in the room.
Just then, Zuo Jingyou spoke up, saying, “Wait a moment⦔
Yin Bai looked up, watching her with a lack of understanding.
Zuo Jingyou’s eyes curved as she smiled at her. “We still need to make a few more preparations. Give me a moment.”
As Zuo Jingyou said this, she turned around and took a small crown from the cabinet where things were stored in the dining room, and walked toward Yin Bai.
Yin Bai looked at the “crown” in Zuo Jingyou’s hand and said with some surprise, “When did you put that there?”
“I put it there when I came over today,” Zuo Jingyou replied, placing the crown askew on Yin Bai’s head. She said with a grin, “The little prince is having a birthday. How can there be no crown?”
She reached out and poked Yin Bai’s snow-white cheek, saying with a smile, “Don’t you think so?”
With the “crown” on her head, Yin Bai nodded, a little embarrassed. “Mhm, yes.”
“Alright, hurry and blow out the candles.”
“Okay.”
After Yin Bai agreed, she pressed her phone, controlling all the lights in the room to extinguish at once.
Darkness suddenly enveloped the entire dining room. In the spacious room, only three candle flames glowed faintly.
By the dim candlelight, Yin Bai saw her young companions sitting to the side, clapping their hands rhythmically, their eyes sparkling as they looked at her. “Happy birthday to you⦔
“Happy birthday to you⦔
The light reflected in the children’s eyes, as if illuminating their pure and innocent souls. Yin Bai felt a wave of emotion in her heart. She looked up and met Zuo Jingyou’s gaze, seeing an equally scorching flame in her eyes.
In the dim world, Zuo Jingyou looked at Yin Bai, her eyes full of gentleness. “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you~”
“Yin Bai, you must be happy forever!”
Yin Bai looked at the flames reflected in her eyes and felt a fire ignite in her own heart, a warmth that was impossible to describe filling her entire being.
Since her grandmother passed away, she hadn’t had such a lively birthday in twelve years.
Although Jin Xiangyu and the others celebrated with her every year, it was more of a warmth between friends, a different feeling from the one Zuo Jingyou brought.
The feeling Zuo Jingyou gave was safer, more stable and long-lasting, a feeling that she could forever enjoy this very moment.
It was⦠the feeling of home.
Yin Bai sighed softly. Under the gaze of the people she cherished, she closed her eyes and made a wish: It doesn’t matter if we might separate in the end. Just let me and Zuo Jingyou love each other for a little longer, let this sweet time last a little longer.
With so much sweetness, even if Zuo Jingyou still leaves in the end, I can look at these sweet memories to get through the rest of my life.
Having been loved by someone like Zuo Jingyou, how could I possibly fall for anyone else for the rest of my life?
The birthday party finally came to a perfect end when the children reached their bedtime.
Yin Bai pushed her wheelchair, seeing Zuo Jingyou and the children back to the house next door.
But after leaving her house with the children, Yin Bai suddenly felt a bit of regret. Although Zuo Jingyou lived right next door, for the sake of her little companions, Yin Bai had recently been spending her days messing around with Zuo Jingyou at her own place, and then sending Zuo Jingyou home at night.
After having experienced such a warm embrace, being made to return alone to the biting, cold night was actually a very difficult thing to endure.
Especially on this special day, after experiencing such a warm reunion, Yin Bai was even more reluctant to part with the person she loved.
When they were parting at the outer gate of Zuo Jingyou’s yard, Yin Bai sat in her wheelchair, her eyes full of reluctance as she looked at Zuo Jingyou.
She sat under the dim yellow streetlight, looking at Zuo Jingyou pitifully, like a little puppy about to be abandoned.
Seeing this, Zuo Jingyou’s heart softened. She pursed her lips and thought for a moment, then extended an invitation to Yin Bai, “It’s still early. Would you like to come in and sit for a while?”
Yin Bai’s eyes lit up at once. “Okay!”
She nodded emphatically, cheered along with her little companions, and pushed her wheelchair into Zuo Jingyou’s home.
Yin Bai played with the children for a while longer, and only after they had washed up and gone to bed did she sullenly prepare to leave.
Happy times are always fleeting. Tasting just a little bit of sugar only makes the bitterness more pronounced.
After leaving Zuo Jingyou’s house, Yin Bai looked up at her and said with great melancholy, “Maybe I shouldn’t have come in to play for a while longer. I feel that the me right now is even sadder than the me from an hour ago.”
Wuwuwuβ¦ I’m even more reluctant to leave now, what should I do?
She even had the thought of kidnapping Zuo Jingyou!
Zuo Jingyou smiled, raised her hand to rub Yin Bai’s hair, and looked at her with a grin, “How about this, then? I’ll go over and keep you company tonight.”
Yin Bai’s eyes lit up at once. “Really?”
“Really!” Zuo Jingyou nodded, leaning down to speak to her softly, “Wait for me while I go get a change of clothes~”
After saying that, Zuo Jingyou turned and went back into her house. Yin Bai waited at the gate for a while. After Zuo Jingyou got her change of clothes and locked all the doors to her house, she then pushed Yin Bai back home.
On such a wonderful night, Yin Bai also let go of that little bit of awkwardness and happily took a bath with Zuo Jingyou.
Soaking her whole body in the hot water, she rested her head against Zuo Jingyou’s soft body behind her. While using her hands to splash the hot water, she looked up at Zuo Jingyou and said with a series of playful whines3, “Teacher Zuo, you’re so, so nice. You organized a birthday party for me, cooked for me, and even made me a cake! You’re the number one best person in the world!”
Zuo Jingyou raised her hand and tapped Yin Bai on the forehead, saying with a smile, “Isn’t this what I’m supposed to do?”
But where in the world are there things that one is “supposed to do”? It was just that Zuo Jingyou cherished her especially.
Yin Bai secretly gave Zuo Jingyou another checkmark in her heart and decided that in the future, during holidays and festivals, she would also give Zuo Jingyou the same thoughtfulness and surprises.
As she was thinking this, Zuo Jingyou raised a hand, pinched her ear, and asked lightly, “By the way, before dinner tonight, why were those two kids pestering you so much?”
Yin Bai said “oh,” and splashing the hot water, she answered with a smile, “Because Tongtong said that since it’s my birthday today, I’m a lucky star, so kissing me will let them soak up some luck, and they can get first place on their test tomorrow.”
Yin Bai leaned against Zuo Jingyou’s shoulder, looked up at her, and said cautiously, “Speaking of which, she said you were the one who told her that⦔
“Hm? Is that so?” Zuo Jingyou thought for a moment and vaguely remembered that there was such a thing.
Her eyes curved into a smile. She leaned down to look at Yin Bai and said, “Since you’re a lucky star, then I should be able to soak up some happy vibe too, right?”
“I hope that from now on, Teacher Yin Bai can bless my career to be smooth and successful.”
As Zuo Jingyou said this, she wrapped an arm around Yin Bai’s shoulders, held her in her arms, and leaned down to kiss her.
As Yin Bai received her kiss, she thought as Zuo Jingyou’s hand moved downwards: This is really bad. There’s nowhere to hide in this place. It looks like I’m bound to be done for here today.
But who cares! Doing happy things with a lover, as long as it’s happy, that’s all that matters!
LP: Re-translated on July 20, 2025
Footnotes
- ζ²Ύζ²Ύεζ° | zhΔn zhΔn xΗ qΓ¬ | A common Chinese expression meaning to get some of someone elseβs good luck, happiness, or festive atmosphere by being near them. Itβs a way of saying you want to share in their joy and good fortune.
- ζͺηιͺθ―΄ | wΔi lΗ xiΓ© shuΕ | A Chinese idiom that literally translates to βcrooked reasoning and heretical theories.β It refers to arguments that sound plausible on the surface but are actually twisted, fallacious, or unconventional.
- ε·εε·ε | Γ‘o wΕ« Γ‘o wΕ« | An onomatopoeia used to describe a cute, whining, or whimpering sound, often associated with a puppy or kitten. It conveys a sense of playful complaint or coquettishness.
tonight the little prince gets topped
tonight the little prince gets topped
Thanks for the tl!
Thanks for the tl!