After Being Scummed – Chapter 77
by Little PandaTeacher Zuo, amazing.
The on-site staff reacted very quickly. The security guards swarmed forward, protecting Zuo Jingyou out of the crowded throng of people. After heading to the emergency treatment room, the on-site first aid team immediately had Zuo Jingyou take off her clothes to rinse the wound area that was splashed by the liquid.
Fortunately, it was not sulfuric acid, just some corrosive alkaline liquid. However, even through a layer of clothing, it still left a large area of redness and blister-like burn marks on Zuo Jingyou’s back.
When Yin Bai saw the marks on Zuo Jingyou’s body, she was so anxious that she kept shedding tears, constantly asking the doctor: “Will it leave a scar? Will it leave a scar?”
The doctor could only say repeatedly: “The wound was treated very promptly. After applying ointment, there won’t be any obvious scars…”
No obvious scars, doesn’t that still mean it will leave a scar?
Yin Bai’s heart ached to death. She supported Zuo Jingyou’s shoulder and said while whimpering: “What are we going to do? A female star’s skin is very important… In the future, can Teacher Zuo still wear backless evening gowns? Can she still wear pretty little dresses?”
Zuo Jingyou sat in the emergency treatment room, hugging Yin Bai’s suit jacket, exposing the large area of skin on her back for the female doctor to treat her wound, biting her lip to endure the pain.
Seeing Yin Bai crying incessantly, Zuo Jingyou helplessly reached out and took Yin Bai’s hand, comforting her nicely: “Alright, alright, don’t cry. Didn’t the doctor say the situation isn’t very serious?”
Yin Bai’s eyes widened, tears hanging precariously on her long eyelashes: “This isn’t serious? This was a fortunate escape! Do you know what the consequences would have been if he had splashed you with sulfuric acid?”
Zuo Jingyou lowered her eyes and smiled lightly: “But it didn’t…”
Yin Bai’s tears fell at once. She raised her hand to wipe them away, interrupting Zuo Jingyou’s words: “It’s not that it didn’t! The nature of this incident is too severe. How many times has the Thorn Flower Award been held? Why was the security so lax, why could they make such a low-level mistake.”
“Regardless of this person’s motive for getting in, or who he hurt, this security loophole cannot be ignored! To think I trusted them so much!”
“I must pursue this matter! And that person, I want him to rot in jail! Hand this matter over to my team, I’m going to sue them to death!”
Yin Bai’s lungs were about to explode from anger. Right now, she wished she could go out and tear that group of people apart!
After she finished cursing through gritted teeth, she turned her head, took Zuo Jingyou’s hand, and spoke to her softly: “Don’t worry, the ambulance will be here in a moment, we’ll go to the hospital…”
“This award, let the team accept it for you.”
Zuo Jingyou did not try to be brave, nodded, and said okay.
In a short while, Yin Bai called her own security team. When the ambulance arrived, she led a large, dense crowd of people to escort Zuo Jingyou onto the ambulance.
With so many media present, even if the organizers wanted to suppress this news, they couldn’t. In a short while, photos and videos of Zuo Jingyou protecting Yin Bai while being splashed with a chemical liquid emerged.
Seeing the photos of Yin Bai leading a group of people to escort Zuo Jingyou to the hospital, Zuo Jingyou’s fans exploded at once.
It was supposed to be the place with the best security, so why would such a lawless maniac appear? If it had been sulfuric acid, it would have been near disfigurement!
Yin Bai and Zuo Jingyou’s public relations teams pushed the waves and added to the billows1 from behind the scenes, guiding the matter of Zuo Jingyou’s injury entirely towards the grand event’s security flaws, and what the extent of the harm would be if other actors were splashed.
For a time, the fans of all the stars participating in this Thorn Flower Award became stirred up with indignation, shouting to beat and kill the organizers of the Thorn Flower Award.
Not only that, the fans also found the person who committed the crime at the scene and passionately hurled a wave of insults at him.
This matter created a huge public opinion and became a typical social news story.
After Yin Bai sent Zuo Jingyou to the hospital to continue treating the wound, many phone calls came in. First were the organizers of the Thorn Flower Award, representing the entire committee to apologize to the two of them for the security issue, and also asking if it was convenient for them to receive a visit at this time.
Yin Bai was furious and refused to see any of them.
Next were the results of the police investigation, which said that the man’s bottle contained a water-soluble pipe dredging agent, and his main target was Yin Bai… Upon further investigation, it was discovered that this person was a recently unemployed youth, and also a sasaeng fan2 of Xiao Nian, who was considerably resentful of the rich and extremist…
When Yin Bai heard this explanation, her lungs were about to explode from anger. She endured and endured, swallowing all her curses. After saying “thank you for your hard work” to the police, she turned around and called her legal team. After giving them a torrent of words, she said viciously: “Sue him to death for me!”
Didn’t he call him a capitalist? Then let him taste how a real capitalist does whatever they want!
After handling all matters, Yin Bai then returned to the hospital room to check on Zuo Jingyou’s condition.
By then, the doctor had already finished treating Zuo Jingyou’s wound, had her change into a breathable shirt, and lie face down on the bed, waiting for the medicine to soothe the burning sensation and pain brought by the chemical.
Zuo Jingyou was lying on the bed, on the phone with her manager: “Yes, it’s fine, it wasn’t sulfuric acid, just an alkaline liquid…”
“I’m a little injured, but it’s not as exaggerated as they say online, I will post on Weibo myself…”
“Don’t worry, you accept the award properly for me. Who knows, maybe I can get a new director award tonight?”
After Zuo Jingyou reassured her manager, she successively replied to inquiries from friends and relatives.
Yin Bai sat down by her bed with her cane. Watching her gently reassuring everyone, her heart felt sour, her eyes were swelling, and sniffing, she was about to cry again.
It was all her fault… if it weren’t for her, Zuo Jingyou wouldn’t have suffered this undeserved disaster.
Zuo Jingyou was on the phone lying on the bed. As she was talking, she turned her head and saw Yin Bai sitting beside her with red eyes, looking like she was about to cry. She quickly said a few reassuring words to the person on the other end of the phone, hung up hastily, and then got up from the bed. Kneeling in front of Yin Bai, she raised her hand to wipe away her tears, coaxing helplessly: “Why are you crying again? Are you the Little Mermaid? Why so many tears today?”
Yin Bai sobbed: “It’s all my fault… If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”
Zuo Jingyou didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She reached out and hugged Yin Bai, patting her head to coax her: “Alright, alright, am I not okay? It just… hurt a little…”
Yin Bai was afraid of touching the wound on her back and didn’t dare to hug her from behind. She could only clutch the clothes at her side and say with great heartache: “Is that just hurting a little? You were in so much pain you cried!”
When she was splashed earlier, she had seen the tears in Zuo Jingyou’s eyes! How much must that have hurt for a person as strong as Zuo Jingyou to cry.
The more Yin Bai thought about it, the more her heart ached, wishing she could dismember that rotten person into eight pieces.
Zuo Jingyou rubbed Yin Bai’s soft black hair and said helplessly: “I’ve told you before, I’m very afraid of pain. I can’t stand even a little bit of pain. Besides, this injury is actually not as serious as you think. When I was filming before, the injuries from hanging on wires3 were much more serious than this, and hurt much more.”
“Don’t blame yourself anymore. I only injured my back. If you had been splashed, it would have been your face.”
Zuo Jingyou released Yin Bai, pinched her fair, tender cheek, and smiled with curved eyes: “You should know, I especially like this face of yours! How could I bear to let you have the risk of being disfigured?”
Yin Bai looked up, watching her with teary eyes, and said with a red nose: “Then let me be disfigured instead. I’m more tolerant of pain, I won’t cry even if I get hurt.”
After all, she was a person reborn from raging flames; she could endure pain much better than Zuo Jingyou.
Zuo Jingyou didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She pinched Yin Bai’s nose and said with a smile: “What silly things are you saying? You wouldn’t be in pain, but my heart would ache!”
Alright… Yin Bai buried her head, rubbed against Zuo Jingyou’s shoulder, then looked up and said to her: “I’ve handled everything. You should rest for a bit.”
Zuo Jingyou wrapped her arms around her neck and nodded with a smile: “Okay, then you come up and keep me company.”
Yin Bai took off her shoes and socks and got onto the hospital bed. Zuo Jingyou bent over and lay on her lap, closing her eyes while hugging her waist.
Yin Bai looked down at Zuo Jingyou’s docile appearance lying on her lap and couldn’t help but reach out to lift the shirt collar at the back of Zuo Jingyou’s neck. When she saw the patch of red marks, she said very sadly: “I don’t know when it will get better… You still have to be in pain for so many days, it’s such suffering just thinking about it.”
Zuo Jingyou turned her face slightly to the side, resting her head on Yin Bai’s slender thigh, and said: “It will get better eventually… one day, two days, ten days, half a month, the wound will always heal.”
“Yin Bai, when a person is injured, as long as they don’t die, any kind of wound will heal.”
Yin Bai pressed her lips together and said in a low voice: “But it will leave a scar… Isn’t it very sad to have a scar…”
Zuo Jingyou looked up, smiled at Yin Bai, and said: “It doesn’t matter even if it leaves a scar. All in all, the wound will heal.”
She tightened her arms, hugging Yin Bai’s waist and said softly: “Yin Bai, don’t worry too much about me. You should know, I was able to protect you this time, and I’m very happy.”
“I hope that I can be the person in your life who doesn’t leave you with scars. The scars you’ve had before are truly too many…”
Visible, and invisible… covered in scars, it always makes one’s heart ache.
Yin Bai’s nose tingled, and tears fell at once. She said with a crying tone, calling out a name: “Zuo Jingyou…”
“Hm？”
Yin Bai sobbed and said: “Don’t always make me cry.”
Zuo Jingyou sighed, raised her hand to randomly wipe away Yin Bai’s tears, and said helplessly: “Who made you the Little Mermaid, you cry no matter what is said.”
The two held each other quietly on the bed for a while, both feeling a sense of joy of surviving a catastrophe. After a good while, Zuo Jingyou’s phone rang. Yin Bai answered the call for her.
After she turned on the speakerphone, manager Kong Tianyi’s excited voice instantly filled the room: “Jingyou! Ahhhhhh! Jingyou! You won an award! You won an award!”
Yin Bai’s eyes lit up, and she looked at Zuo Jingyou in surprised delight. A smile also appeared on Zuo Jingyou’s face, and she said with curved eyes: “Don’t be anxious, don’t get excited, first tell me what award it is?”
“New Director! New Director!”
“Ah, Jingyou, you won a director’s award! Your career change is a success!”
Zuo Jingyou’s lips curved up: “Yes, yes, I know. Then help me hold the trophy well.”
After Zuo Jingyou finished speaking, she hung up the phone. Yin Bai lowered her gaze, looking at her with sparkling eyes: “Teacher Zuo, you’re so calm, you’re not excited at all!”
Zuo Jingyou held her phone and smiled, saying: “Among the new directors this year, I think I am still very strong… Being able to win the award is quite normal.”
So… so confident! So amazing!
Yin Bai blinked and gave Zuo Jingyou a thumbs-up: “Teacher Zuo, amazing! To celebrate you winning the award, after you’re discharged from the hospital, I’ll take you out to have fun!”
Alright, it was so happily decided. They would take a vacation, and she would take Zuo Jingyou out to play!
Zuo Jingyou nodded, looking at her with a smile: “Okay, let’s go swimming this year.”
After saying that, Zuo Jingyou bit her lip and said with some regret: “But I still feel it’s a bit of a pity. I won the first director’s award of my life, but I didn’t get the chance to go on stage to accept it…”
Yin Bai looked down at her and said very seriously: “You will definitely win it again, the Best Director Award! When that time comes, I will go present the award to you!”
Zuo Jingyou smiled faintly, looking at Yin Bai: “Okay, will you present the award to me in a wheelchair then? In that case, I will wipe my eyes and wait4…”
LP: Re-translated on August 17, 2025
Footnotes
- 推波助澜 | tuī bō zhù lán | Literally “push the waves and add to the billows” | A Chengyu (four-character idiom) meaning to add fuel to the fire, to intentionally make a situation worse or more turbulent. It carries a negative connotation of aggravating a matter.
- 私生饭 | sī shēng fàn | A term originating from Korean fan culture, adopted into Chinese. It refers to an overly obsessive fan who engages in extreme behaviors that constitute an invasion of a celebrity’s privacy, such as stalking, harassing, or other dangerous actions.
- 吊威亚 | diào wēiyà | Literally “hanging on Weiya”. “Weiya” is a loanword from the English “wire”. The term refers to the wire-work system used in filmmaking for stunts, allowing actors to be suspended in the air to simulate flying, jumping, or falling.
- 拭目以待 | shì mù yǐ dài | Literally “to wipe one’s eyes and wait” | A Chengyu (four-character idiom) meaning to eagerly wait and see what will happen, to look forward with anticipation. It implies that one is keenly watching for an expected outcome.
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