After Being Scummed – Chapter 71

What if I have a guilty conscience?​¹

The scandal between Zuo Jingyou and Yin Bai was spreading seethingly and bubbling up​², and people both inside the circle and outside the circle had more or less heard about it. Yin Bai’s statement to the reporters at the end of November further solidified the speculations of those within the circle: Yin Bai and Zuo Jingyou were dating.

As one of the famous female stars in the circle, Xiao Nian had naturally heard others discussing this matter on many occasions. Yin Bai herself was a beauty, but unexpectedly, the great beauty only liked other great beauties. Whether it was the white moonlight​³ like Zuo Jingyou, or the red rose​⁴ like Xiao Nian, both had a connection to her.

            

Every time this matter was discussed, these people had a tone of not knowing who to envy for a moment.

When Xiao Nian heard about this scandal, she was actually quite happy. Yin Bai had chosen a better person and had also received a response, finally no longer being a solitary person.

After learning that Zuo Jingyou had accepted that movie role, Xiao Nian had always been looking forward to acting opposite her. It was just that she thought her meeting with Zuo Jingyou would be at the commencement ceremony​⁵.

            

She had never expected that it would be in the middle of such a late night, sitting in her former gold master’s​⁶ room, chatting with her former gold master’s current girlfriend. And this current girlfriend was an actress she greatly admired.

This relationship, no matter how one heard it, sounded terrible, and no matter how one spoke of it, it was awkward.

Xiao Nian pressed her lips together, looking at Zuo Jingyou in the video, not knowing how to start for a moment.

            

Zuo Jingyou, who was equally surprised, quickly returned to her senses. She gave a faint smile and said to Xiao Nian, “Teacher Xiao Nian, how did you run into our Yin Bai? I heard from her that it was a very thrilling story. If Teacher Xiao Nian has time, why not tell me about it?”

Zuo Jingyou seemed to have just taken a bath and was now wearing a nightgown, leaning against the bed. Her long, slender black hair cascaded over her shoulders like a waterfall, adding a touch of softness to her stunningly beautiful face.

This is a very gentle person, Xiao Nian thought.

            

When she spoke Yin Bai’s name, she was even more gentle.

But the possessiveness contained within the words “our Yin Bai” formed a stark contrast with her gentle words.

Zuo Jingyou… really cares a lot about Yin Bai.

            

Xiao Nian knew her own position was awkward. She pursed her lips into a smile and, in the manner Yin Bai had hoped for, explained to Zuo Jingyou, “It’s like this, I was attending an event nearby today, and in the evening, I checked into the Galaxy Hotel…”

Among Yin Bai’s businesses, a portion was in the hotel industry, so she had a complete and mature hotel service industry chain in many cities.

The time Xiao Nian had spent with Yin Bai was almost seven years. In her impression, the hotels under Yin Bai’s banner almost all had excellent security, so even after they separated, she subconsciously still chose hotels under the Galaxy Group.

            

She just hadn’t expected to encounter such an accident this time.

Xiao Nian clasped her hands, forcing herself to pull away slightly from that feeling of panic, and looked at Zuo Jingyou, saying very calmly, “I just didn’t expect that when I entered the elevator, I would run into Director Yin who was leaving the annual meeting venue…”

Zuo Jingyou thought to herself, it really was quite a fateful encounter.

            

Xiao Nian continued, “After we took the elevator to the top floor with our assistants, we discovered an accident… I heard a delirious girl crying for help, so I asked Director Yin for help, who called security and rescued the person…”

“During the rescue, we discovered this girl had been injected with an overdose of drugs and was nearly… by three men.”

Hearing this, Zuo Jingyou understood everything. Her eyes filled with concern as she looked at Xiao Nian and asked, “How is that girl?”

            

“She was taken away by an ambulance, and the police went with them.” Xiao Nian turned her head to glance at Yin Bai, who was propping up her chin beside her, and said softly, “Thanks to Director Yin’s help, nothing more terrible happened to that girl.”

“As for why this kind of thing happened in the hotel, we’ll have to wait for the results of the police investigation to know.”

Zuo Jingyou nodded and looked at Xiao Nian with great affection, saying, “Teacher Xiao Nian is truly a kind person. Thanks to you today, that girl was saved!”

            

Xiao Nian shook her head, “I didn’t do anything, it was Director Yin who took action.”

Yin Bai, at the side, put her hands on her hips, snorted, and said with a displeased face from an angle Zuo Jingyou couldn’t see, “Exactly! I was the one who led the people to do it!”

Why only praise Xiao Nian and not praise me!

            

Hearing Yin Bai’s clamorous voice, Zuo Jingyou’s eyes curved into a smile, “Yes, yes, you get the most credit, but wasn’t it indeed Teacher Xiao Nian who first heard the girl’s call for help?”

Hearing this, Yin Bai gestured for Xiao Nian to give her the phone. She took the phone, looked at Zuo Jingyou’s gentle face in the video, and whined, “But I was the one who led the rescue, I also called the police, and I also called 120!”

Hurry up and praise me! Or this will never end!

            

Her childish appearance of seeking credit instantly lifted Zuo Jingyou’s mood. She looked at Yin Bai dotingly and coaxed her, “Alright, I know you’re the best. Our Xiao Bai is both well-behaved and has a sense of justice, she’s the best person.”

“You did very well, I’m very proud of you!”

Yin Bai was very happy to hear this, but she soon felt something was wrong. What was with Zuo Jingyou’s tone of coaxing a child? Was she Tongtong? Did she need this kind of encouragement from a mother?

            

Yin Bai furrowed her brows, and just as she was about to correct Zuo Jingyou’s way of speaking, she suddenly heard the puchi​⁷ sound of Xiao Nian’s laughter beside her.

Yin Bai turned her head and looked at Xiao Nian with great dissatisfaction.

Xiao Nian covered her lips, her eyes containing specks of light, full of unconcealable amusement.

            

Yin Bai felt that she was being laughed at and said, becoming angry from embarrassment, “What are you laughing at? Is what Teacher Zuo said wrong?”

Xiao Nian shook her head, reined in her smile, and looked at her with a very proper and serious expression, “No, I wasn’t laughing. I think she’s absolutely right.”

“You are just such a person, full of compassion and with an extreme sense of justice.”

            

She had always known that wrapped beneath this cold exterior was an exceedingly pure heart.

She was too precious… and too fragile. I couldn’t, and I didn’t have the ability to protect such a heart…

Xiao Nian sat on the sofa, propping up her chin and looking at Yin Bai with a gentle gaze, her expression extremely earnest, “Yin Bai, thank you for what happened tonight.”

            

That was a look Yin Bai had rarely seen. At this moment, Xiao Nian was like a rose that had shed its thorns, leaving only the softness of every petal.

Under such a gaze, Yin Bai only felt the wounds that had once been pierced by the rose’s thorns gradually begin to itch. She felt a little touched, but also a little awkward, so she had to turn her gaze away, no longer looking at her, and said nonchalantly, “You’re welcome, this is what I should do.”

“This is my territory​⁸, how could such a disgusting thing be allowed to happen.”

            

Yin Bai’s gaze landed on Zuo Jingyou’s face on the phone, and she asked with a smile, “Don’t you think so, Teacher Zuo?”

Zuo Jingyou hadn’t missed the momentary change in Yin Bai’s expression just now. She suppressed the discomfort in her heart, nodded, and said, “Mm, yes, this is what you should do.”

Next, Zuo Jingyou spoke with Yin Bai and Xiao Nian for a while longer. Zuo Jingyou and Xiao Nian chatted about that movie, and Xiao Nian said she was very much looking forward to collaborating with Zuo Jingyou.

            

Seeing that it was getting late, Yin Bai said goodnight to Zuo Jingyou.

The conversation had slightly stabilized Xiao Nian’s uneasy heart. In the end, she still refused Yin Bai’s offer to stay the night and returned to her room with her assistant.

Yin Bai didn’t understand why Xiao Nian, who clearly needed help, had refused her. Watching Xiao Nian get up, she even said, “Teacher Zuo also invited you to stay just now, and she even said that after such a scare, it’s good to have a friend by your side.”

            

“You’re afraid of the dark, and you have PTSD from this kind of thing. My place can make you feel safe, why won’t you stay?”

“Besides, the two of us have no ties​⁹ anymore, I don’t like you anymore either, and I’ve explained it clearly to Teacher Zuo. We are open and honest​¹⁰ with each other, with a clear conscience.”

Yin Bai muttered to herself and soon thought of a possibility, “Ah, could it be that you’re worried about Lu Qing? Please, your assistant is with you, and I’m a cripple, I pose no threat to you at all. You don’t like me, so what is she worried about?”

            

As Yin Bai spoke to this point, she couldn’t help but feel her heart aching and head shaking in distress, “What’s wrong with her, she’s a grown person, why can’t she have some basic trust in her own legal partner!”

“You are clearly such a person with the spirit of the contract​¹¹!”

Although in the past she couldn’t get out of character​¹², although she would fall in love with others in her roles, she had abided by the contract for all those years she was with her, returning to her side every single time.

            

It wasn’t until their contract period was dissolved that she responded to Lu Qing.

Xiao Nian was someone who would give people sufficient dignity​¹³.

Xiao Nian looked at her puzzled face and, for some reason, recalled the sight of her crying with a face full of tears that night, and her heart clenched with pain.

            

Over so many years, she had made Yin Bai angry many times and had coaxed her many times, but she was never able to shatter her ice-cold mask. Only on the day she left did she see the shattered to pieces​¹⁴ expression on Yin Bai’s face, and a face that was crying like a child, at a complete loss.

She had always thought that Yin Bai hadn’t grown up, that she treated her as just a favorite toy that would be thrown away sooner or later.

She even felt that Yin Bai didn’t even know what love was.

            

But Yin Bai, she knew.

She understood everything, it was just that I was always looking up at her, only seeing her ice-sculpture mask, her child-like immature behavior, and her appearance of not understanding people’s hearts.

That night, for a moment, I didn’t want to let go.

            

But after making such a choice, how could she turn back? What’s more, at that time she already had Lu Qing.

Xiao Nian lowered her eyes, looking at Yin Bai who was sitting on the sofa muttering and complaining about Lu Qing. She sighed softly and said, “It’s not about Lu Qing… It’s me…”

Yin Bai raised her eyes and met Xiao Nian’s gaze. Xiao Nian stood before her, her eyes glistening with tears, and said with extreme regret, “It’s me… who has a guilty conscience.”

            

Only now did she understand that the one who didn’t want to face this relationship was not Yin Bai, but her.

It was she, the one who was not forthright from beginning to end, had always been her.

Yin Bai sat on the sofa in a daze, watching Xiao Nian leave. She looked at Xiao Nian’s departing back, her mind filled with the words Xiao Nian had just said…

            

What does it mean to have a guilty conscience?

She agonized over this question until she fell asleep. It wasn’t until she woke up the next morning and thought about being able to go back and see Zuo Jingyou that she cheerfully cast the question aside.

Who cares about her. I have Teacher Zuo now! What Xiao Nian is thinking is no longer my business. These past matters should not be dwelled upon again.

            

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LP: Damn, that gotta hurt! Is the author gonna milk this issue ⊙︿⊙

Please expect inconsistent updates this month ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶

Re-translated on August 08, 2025

            

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