After Being Scummed – Chapter 79
by Little PandaOfficial Announcement
Xiao Nian’s livestream completely exploded within the circle. After the livestream finished, many over-the-top fans directly announced they were unfanning. They didn’t mind the matter of Xiao Nian being kept, but they minded that Xiao Nian came out at this time to say everything was not Yin Bai’s business. Between her and Yin Bai, it was willing and content.
In the many days before, the fans who had been fighting a battle of wits and courage with the blackies1 over this “being kept” matter were simply about to be angered to the point of losing their minds, feeling that Xiao Nian didn’t care about them at all, which triggered a large-scale unfanning phenomenon.
And on Zuo Jingyou’s side, her publicly replying to Xiao Nian on Yin Bai’s behalf also made the fans mutter and mumble a bit. However, since Zuo Jingyou had always protected Yin Bai in public before, and was even injured and hospitalized for her, they couldn’t really say anything.
One could only say, Teacher Zuo was truly enveloped by holy light2, her great love universal3…
Luckily, Xiao Nian, having come this far, had already successfully transformed into a serious actor. Although this incident caused Xiao Nian to lose quite a few fans, it also gained her quite a few passerby fans4. Overall, the problem wasn’t big.
Even though Yin Bai had already decided not to get involved in Xiao Nian’s affairs, with Zuo Jingyou’s permission, she still had Zhang Yu go check on the extent of Xiao Nian’s losses.
As expected, Xiao Nian still lost quite a few endorsements and needed to pay a considerable amount in compensation. After Zhang Yu finished reporting, she said to Yin Bai in a lighthearted tone: “Boss, you don’t have to worry. Teacher Xiao Nian can afford this bit of compensation. Besides, she still has Director Lu… Recently, it’s been Director Lu accompanying her to handle these matters…”
The face of Lu Qing, which looked overly upright, surfaced in Yin Bai’s mind. For the first time, she felt that the prim and proper, serious literary youth had a tiny, tiny, tiny bit of cuteness to her.
Yin Bai curled her lip and mumbled, “Lu Qing is also quite good.”
Perhaps she could restrain some of her own prejudice.
This matter, which had caused a great disturbance, finally dissipated like the wind after Xiao Nian’s candidness. Whether it was Xiao Nian, Zuo Jingyou, Yin Bai, or Lu Qing, none of them wanted to avoid this past.
The main characters of the story didn’t care about these things. No matter how filled with righteous indignation or a thousand emotions other people were, it was just eating salty radishes and worrying needlessly5.
In the blink of an eye, it was mid-May. After fully recovering, Zuo Jingyou returned to work, continuing to throw herself into the post-production of 《Dawa》 with Xu Ruofeng.
After she was discharged from the hospital, Yin Bai also completely moved out of Baihe Mountain Villa6, choosing a hotel suite closest to Zuo Jingyou’s studio to live in long-term with Zuo Jingyou.
During the day, Zuo Jingyou went to work, and Yin Bai handled the work assigned to her by Jin Xiangyu at home. Occasionally, she would read books, write movie reviews, and find time to have lunch with Zuo Jingyou.
The puppies7 could often photograph Yin Bai appearing near Zuo Jingyou’s studio, accompanying her as she ran around to participate in all sorts of activities. Although the two hadn’t gone public, one look was enough to tell they were dating.
At this point, Yin Bai no longer cared whether her photos would circulate or what kind of arguments they would trigger. It was just that frequently appearing before everyone in scandals would inevitably affect Zuo Jingyou’s reputation. Therefore, Yin Bai still spent quite a bit of money buying the photos of her and Zuo Jingyou out and about from the hands of the puppies and entertainment reporters, suppressing all sorts of scandals and the marketing press releases8 that said they were showing off their affection.
It was just that she bought them too often, and Zuo Jingyou felt she had money with nowhere to spend it. Sighing, she said it would be better to donate it to children in mountainous regions, and ordered her not to buy them anymore.
But if it was like this, she wouldn’t be able to freely go out to eat with Zuo Jingyou. Therefore, every time she went to find Zuo Jingyou after that, she would put on a good disguise, just to avoid the puppies’s cameras.
One time during lunch, Zuo Jingyou watched her sneakily hiding from the puppies while wearing sunglasses, and couldn’t help but reach out and knock her on the head, chiding, “Why do you have to be so careful? It’s not like the puppies can eat you!”
Yin Bai pushed up her sunglasses and said with a sigh, “The puppies can’t eat me, but your movie fans can! If I appear in the public eye every day having scandals and showing off affection with you, your fans will probably be disgusted to death with me!”
Yin Bai muttered under her breath, “Sigh, dating a famous actor really comes with this kind of trouble.”
Zuo Jingyou crossed her hands under her chin, pondered for a moment, and said with a smile, “Is that so? Before… when I was with Mr. He, I was also always being photographed, but I didn’t really feel anything… Anyway, with enough marketing, everyone gets disgusted, and if there’s no traffic, the puppies won’t bother with us anymore.”
“Some things are just like that; the more you try to hide it, the more curious people become.”
Yin Bai raised her eyes and looked at Zuo Jingyou with great dissatisfaction. “Hey, hey, hey, Teacher Zuo, don’t mention Mr. He at a time like this. I’ll get jealous!”
“Oh… is that so? I thought you wouldn’t be.” Zuo Jingyou tapped her chin and said with a grin, “Then how about this, what if we publicly announce our relationship? That way, even if we get photographed, you won’t have to care so much.”
Yin Bai looked at Zuo Jingyou and said with some hesitation, “But I feel… to publicly announce our relationship, isn’t it better to find a good day?”
Zuo Jingyou blinked and asked her, “Isn’t today a good day? Is the weather not good?”
Yin Bai raised her eyes and looked out the window. It was early summer, the sunlight was brilliant, and all the flowers, plants, and trees were emitting a vigorous life force in this weather. Who could go against their conscience and say this was bad weather?
Yin Bai was an honest person, so she answered, “It’s good.”
“Then ‘good’ is right.” Zuo Jingyou beckoned to her and said, “Come here.”
Yin Bai picked up her cane, got up, and moved to sit down beside Zuo Jingyou. Zuo Jingyou raised her arm, wrapped it around Yin Bai’s shoulders, and forced her to lower her head. “Since it’s a good day, then it’s also very suitable for announcing our relationship, right?”
“Summer isn’t actually a good season for dating. Being close together is always sticky, and it’s very hot and dry. Winter is very good… hugging you is very warm…”
As Zuo Jingyou spoke, she opened her phone’s front-facing camera with one hand and leaned on Yin Bai’s shoulder, saying with a grin, “But if I’m with you, all four seasons are good seasons for dating.”
Yin Bai felt that her previous sentence was a bit off. She lowered her eyes to look at Zuo Jingyou in her arms and frowned slightly. “Teacher Zuo, were you just driving a car9?”
“No, I’m a proper person, okay?” As Zuo Jingyou said this, the hand hugging her shoulder poked Yin Bai’s face and reminded her, “Don’t move, look at the camera.”
Yin Bai immediately looked at the camera and stiffly squeezed out a smile. Zuo Jingyou raised her eyes, looking at the two of them close together in the phone, their figures shaking slightly, and smiled until her eyes curved. “Say ‘qiezi’10!”
Yin Bai very cooperatively raised a peace sign and said to the camera, “Qiezi!”
With a click, the smiles of the two people close together were frozen on the small phone screen. After the photo was taken, Yin Bai immediately scooted over to Zuo Jingyou’s side, chattering next to her, “Let me see, let me see! I think my smile was so stiff just now. Was it not a good picture?”
Zuo Jingyou showed the photo to Yin Bai. Seeing the picture of Yin Bai’s shy and unnatural appearance while holding up a peace sign, she chuckled lightly. “It is a bit unnatural. Should we take another one then?”
“Okay, okay.”
Next, the two of them stayed close together and took several dozen photos. When Zuo Jingyou had smiled so much the corners of her mouth were tired, she finally raised her hand to pat Yin Bai’s head and said to her, “Alright, that’s enough. Quick, pick one. We’ll post it on Weibo in a bit.”
Yin Bai’s eyes widened. “Teacher Zuo, are you this casual?” Shouldn’t they announce their relationship on a more grand occasion?
Zuo Jingyou looked at her with a grin. “Is this very casual? A sudden day, a sudden love, a sudden announcement… isn’t this very fitting for an unreasonable emotion like love?”
So reasonable, it was impossible to refute.
Yin Bai thought for a moment, then went to pick a photo with delight. After picking a group photo where Zuo Jingyou’s smile was exceptionally beautiful, a happy Yin Bai said, “This one is good!”
Zuo Jingyou glanced at it and discovered that in that photo, Yin Bai was smiling shyly with a very bashful expression. She also nodded her head in full agreement and said, “Okay, let’s do it like this then.”
Zuo Jingyou tapped open her Weibo page, edited a post, and sent it out: “Official Announcement 【Heart】 【Picture】”.
After posting on Weibo, she then pinned the post to the top of her page. After doing all this, she didn’t bother with her excited fans, but instead put down her phone and looked at Yin Bai very seriously, saying, “Alright, now everyone knows you are my lover.”
Everyone knows that I am in love with you.
Yin Bai lowered her eyes to look at her and called out, “Teacher Zuo…”
Zuo Jingyou tilted her head up, seeing her eyes sparkling as she looked at her, and replied with a smile, “What is it?”
What was it? What else could it be… Of course, she wanted to kiss her.
Yin Bai reached out and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, leaning down to brand a kiss on her eyes that were always full of gentleness, on her face that was written full of love, on her lips that spoke sweet nothings…
Only with a gentle kiss could she respond to this feeling full of respect and love that Zuo Jingyou had given her.
This official announcement from Yin Bai and Zuo Jingyou, while somewhat surprising, was also within expectations. After stirring up a small wave on Weibo, for a long time afterward, Yin Bai openly accompanied Zuo Jingyou, attending work with her.
In the blink of an eye, it was summer vacation. After a semester of hard study, Yin Bai decided to take the children to the seaside for a trip before summer classes began.
After a week of sun, the two monkey children11 were tanned into little earth monkeys, their white teeth frighteningly bright. Yet, upon seeing the two children looking like this, Zuo Jingyou could still go against her conscience and say, “A healthy skin tone, it’s quite good.”
Perhaps this was a mother’s filter12. After all, as their little companion, Yin Bai still felt that being fair and tender was cuter!
After the short vacation ended, it was August in the blink of an eye.
On August 12th, the urban film 《Give Me a Hug》, directed by Xu Shishi and starring Zuo Jingyou and Xiao Nian, officially began filming13.
After the official announcement news was released, it instantly exploded across the internet.
LP: Happy holidays and new year!!! Long time, no see too :)
Re-translated on August 20, 2025
Footnotes
- 黑子 | hēizi | Literally “blackie” or “black person/thing.” A common internet slang term for anti-fans or online trolls who maliciously attack a public figure.
- 聖光籠罩 | shèng guāng lǒng zhào | Literally “enveloped by holy light.” An expression used to describe someone as being saintly, pure, or having a halo effect, often with a slightly teasing or exaggerated tone.
- 大愛普世 | dà ài pǔ shì | Literally “great love is universal.” A phrase describing a selfless, unconditional, and universal love for all humanity (agape). Here, it’s used with a sense of awe and slight hyperbole.
- 路人粉 | lùrén fěn | Literally “passerby fan.” Internet slang for a casual fan or member of the general public who has a favorable impression of a celebrity but is not a dedicated, hardcore follower.
- 鹹吃蘿蔔淡操心 | xián chī luóbo dàn cāo xīn | Literally “eating salty radishes and worrying about bland things.” A folk saying that means meddling in others’ affairs for no reason or worrying about things that are not one’s business. It implies that the person’s concern is unwarranted and useless.
- 白鶴山莊 | Báihè Shānzhuāng | A place name. Literally “Baihe Mountain Villa.”
- 狗仔 | gǒuzǎi | Literally “puppy.” A Cantonese slang term that became widely used in Mandarin for “papparazi.”
- 營銷通稿 | yíngxiāo tōnggǎo | Literally “marketing press release.” Refers to sponsored articles or promotional content disguised as news, often used by celebrities or companies for public relations and to shape public opinion.
- 開車 | kāichē | Literally “to drive a car.” A popular internet slang term for making suggestive or risqué jokes (i.e., “driving” the conversation into adult territory).
- 茄子 | qiézi | Literally “eggplant.” It is the Chinese equivalent of saying “cheese” when taking a picture, as the shape the mouth makes when saying “qié” resembles a smile.
- 猴孩子 | hóu háizi | Literally “monkey child.” An affectionate and common term for a mischievous, energetic, or naughty child.
- 濾鏡 | lǜjìng | Literally “filter,” as in a camera filter. In this context, it’s used metaphorically to mean a biased perspective, like seeing one’s own children through “rose-colored glasses,” making them seem perfect regardless of reality.
- 開機 | kāijī | Literally “to start the machine.” In the film and television industry, this term refers to the official commencement of shooting, often marked by a ceremony.
I can’t 😂😂😂
“we are officially dating! …Oh and btw im also gonna be in a movie now making out with my gf’s ex”
“we are officially dating! …Oh and btw im also gonna be in a movie now making out with my gf’s ex”