After Being Scummed – Chapter 7
by Little PandaDirector Yin, Long Time No See.
Yin Bai, leaning on her cane, came over to the sofa and sat down. She turned on the television for the two children, then turned her head to ask them what they wanted to watch.
Wenwen was still a little afraid of her. She huddled close to Tongtong and stammered that she wanted to watch Peppa Pig. Yin Bai nodded knowingly and turned to ask Tongtong, “What about you? Peppa Pig too?”
Tongtong nodded, indicating her choice was the same as her older sister’s. Yin Bai followed the children’s instructions and put on Peppa Pig for them.
Seeing the two little ones already watching TV with great interest1, Yin Bai took out her phone and sent a message to her secretary. The neighbor’s child had fallen and gotten hurt; she couldn’t just leave2. That would be too unreasonable3.
Although Yin Bai didn’t consider herself a good person, she wouldn’t evade responsibilities that were hers to bear. The team led by Jin Xiangyu was already used to her going back on her word4. After receiving Yin Bai’s message, the secretary simply replied with an “Okay.”
She even thoughtfully asked about Yin Bai’s subsequent plans—for instance, since she wasn’t going abroad anymore, did she want to relax somewhere domestically?
Relax? What relaxation? Seeing these two kids, any mood of “facing the sea, with spring blossoms”5 had vanished. All she could think about was hoping this child would get better quickly, and that her parents wouldn’t show up demanding compensation.
Yin Bai replied vaguely, “We’ll see.”
Yin Bai had her secretary buy some fruits and nutritional supplements that children liked, considering them her apology gifts, and then ended the conversation.
The secretary acted quickly. Soon after, a delivery guy6 brought over a pile of fruit. These fruits arrived even before the Auntie’s lunch. Seeing there was food, the hungry children couldn’t help but cheer.
Seeing them happy, Yin Bai herself smiled slightly. She placed the fruit basket on the table and said generously to the two children, “These are for you, eat whatever you want. If you want to eat something, just go wash it yourself.”
Tongtong, sitting on the bed, said sweetly, “Thank you, Fairy Sister!”
Wenwen, standing beside her, still seemed slightly incredulous. She looked up at Yin Bai, her eyes wide: “Really?”
Yin Bai, not minding her fear and wariness at this moment, smiled and nodded. “Really, go ahead and eat. I’m not some evil queen; the food I give you isn’t poisoned!”
Tongtong and Wenwen had both heard the story of Snow White and the evil queen, and they laughed at her words. Wenwen especially cheered, “Sister isn’t an evil queen, she’s a fairy godmother!”
She pattered over to the coffee table, opened the fruit basket, and chattered away, asking Tongtong what she wanted to eat. Tongtong said she wanted grapes, so Wenwen carried the grapes off to wash them.
As an adult with limited mobility, ordering a small child around didn’t give her the slightest sense of guilt. Seeing Wenwen run off to the bathroom to wash fruit, Yin Bai casually asked her to wash an apple for her too.
Soon, Wenwen came out of the bathroom, wobbling slightly as she carried a plate of fruit.
She placed the fruit plate on the coffee table next to Tongtong’s sickbed and started peeling grapes for Tongtong with a grin. Seeing the two children talking and laughing, Yin Bai leaned on her cane, walked over, picked up a fruit knife, and began peeling an apple.
Although she was born with a golden key7 in her mouth, Yin Bai wasn’t some useless young mistress8 who couldn’t do anything. This apple-peeling skill was something she had painstakingly practiced years ago when Xiao Nian was hospitalized, secretly ruining over a dozen apples in the process.
Of course, her technique was much more refined now. Soon, little vibrant “red rabbits” hopped out from under Yin Bai’s knife.
Yin Bai placed the little “red rabbits” in front of the children, earning a gasp of surprise: “Wow, they’re rabbits! So cute!”
Tongtong looked up, giving Yin Bai a big smile: “Fairy Sister, you’re amazing!”
Wenwen beside her picked up a little rabbit, examining it from left and right, overjoyed: “You really are amazing, Fairy Sister! Did you make them with magic?”
Yin Bai put her hand to her lips, coughed lightly, and suppressed a laugh, pretending to be calm. “That’s right, these are little rabbits imbued with healing magic!”
She lowered her gaze, looked at the child lying in the hospital bed, and said somewhat sheepishly, “If Tongtong eats them, her foot will get better quickly.”
Hearing this, Wenwen quickly offered the little rabbit to Tongtong’s mouth, saying happily, “Tongtong, hurry and eat, hurry! After eating the magic rabbit, tomorrow—no, maybe tonight—we can go home and play!”
Tongtong took the apple slice her sister handed her, held it with both hands, took a small bite, and said with a grin, “Okay, I’ll eat lots then.”
The way the little child nibbled on the small apple slice made her look like a little hamster, lively and adorable. Seeing her like this, Yin Bai’s lips curved slightly, and she couldn’t help but smile.
But the little one eating the apple on the bed hadn’t forgotten her. While eating, she also offered a piece to Yin Bai: “Fairy Sister should eat too. After you eat it, your foot will get better!”
Yin Bai was taken aback for a moment. She lowered her eyes and saw Tongtong on the bed holding the apple, looking at her with sparkling eyes: “Hurry and eat. After you eat it, maybe Fairy Sister won’t need the cane anymore.”
Yin Bai stood by the bed, leaning on her cane, looking at the child’s innocent and pure9 smile, and couldn’t help laughing out loud. “Ah… this magic doesn’t work on me anymore because I’m an adult. Only cute children are favored by magic.”
Yin Bai waved the cane in her hand. “Also, this isn’t just any cane; it’s my magic wand.” Yin Bai looked down at the two children, her face completely serious. “To become a beautiful fairy like me, you have to go through very cruel trials.”
“Do you know why my leg is crippled? It’s because I used my own leg bone to make this magic wand. That’s how I became the fairy I am today.”
Facing these innocent children, unfamiliar with the ways of the world, was much easier than dealing with adults. Yin Bai rarely spoke so much, even cracking an irrelevant joke.
Hearing her words, Wenwen and Tongtong looked at Yin Bai’s leg in shock, simultaneously sucking in a breath of cold air.
Wenwen, nibbling on her apple, stared at Yin Bai’s leg, dumbstruck: “Becoming a fairy really requires experiencing incredible things!”
That’s… that’s too amazing! Using her own leg bone to make a magic wand, that must have hurt so, so much!
Yin Bai saw the children’s shocked expressions and raised an eyebrow with a smile. “Of course. If it weren’t difficult, how could I be the only fairy in the world who’s this beautiful?”
She spoke with such confidence that the children believed her completely. Tongtong, sitting on the bed eating her apple, humbly sought guidance: “Fairy Sister, can you tell us the story of how you became a fairy?”
Yin Bai raised her eyebrows. “You want to hear a story?”
Wenwen nodded vigorously: “Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, yes, yes!”
Yin Bai lifted her cane, tapped the foot of the bed, and said with a smile, “Then should I sit down and tell you?”
“Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh!” Tongtong reached out, patted the spot beside her, and said happily, “Fairy Sister, quickly sit down and tell us!”
Yin Bai readily sat down on the edge of the bed. Wenwen, beside her, fawningly10 offered her a bunch of grapes. Yin Bai accepted them, slowly and methodically peeling a grape while pondering, “This is a story from a long, long time ago…”
Under the children’s eager gazes, Yin Bai casually made up a story: “A long, long time ago, when I was only twelve, I lived with my mom and dad in a small castle facing the sea, where spring was warm and flowers bloomed…”
Hearing “castle,” Wenwen clapped her hands and exclaimed in admiration, “Wow, a castle! Fairy Sister, were you a princess before?”
Yin Bai glanced at her and said without batting an eyelid, “Mm, sort of. Okay, be good and don’t talk. Do you still want to hear the story or not!”
Wenwen immediately11 raised her hand to cover her mouth, looking at her carefully: “You tell it, hurry up and tell it.”
Yin Bai turned her gaze, glanced at Tongtong who was listening with rapt attention, saw her attention was completely focused on the story, and continued, “Then one day, I received a letter from the Fairy Council, saying that since I was twelve, I had to prepare to take the trial to become a fairy.”
“But passing the trial to become a fairy is very difficult. Mom and Dad were worried about me, afraid I would get hurt, so they refused the Fairy Council’s request. But since the Fairy Council had chosen me to become a fairy, my mom and dad definitely couldn’t refuse…”
“So one afternoon, Mom and Dad drove a huge carriage, like Totoro12, and ran away with me.”
Wenwen gasped again, “Wow, what does a Totoro carriage look like?”
Yin Bai paused, then told her, “Well, I’ll describe it in detail later. Anyway, it was very, very fast, and looked very cute.”
Yin Bai continued, “Mom and Dad drove the carriage, following the wind eastward. But when we passed through the forest where the witch lived, we got caught in a trap she had set.”
“The witch’s tree spirits entangled my Totoro carriage. Just then, a pitch-black dragon with enormous wings descended from the sky, snatched my carriage in one bite, and swallowed us whole…”
“The carriage rolled rumble-rumble down the dragon’s dark throat, all the way into its stomach…”
Wenwen was so scared her eyes widened. She swallowed hard and, after a moment, patted her chest, saying, “Aiya, so scary, so scary!”
Yin Bai smiled slightly, turned to see Tongtong staring at her with wide eyes, and continued, “Scary, right? Do you know what’s inside a dragon’s stomach?”
Tongtong immediately got excited, grabbing Yin Bai’s hand and asking, “What is it, what is it? Could it be people? Did the dragon eat lots and lots of people? Fairy Sister, were you almost eaten?”
Yin Bai reached out and pinched Tongtong’s pink little cheek. “You guessed right.”
She lowered her hand and continued with a smile, “Inside the dragon’s stomach, there are vast, vast fields of lava!”
Tongtong was confused. “Fairy Sister, what’s lava?”
Wenwen beside her enthusiastically raised her hand. “I know, I know! I know this one! It’s like liquid rock that’s super, super hot.”
What kind of nonsensical13 explanation was that!
Yin Bai fell silent for a moment, then rephrased, “You can imagine it as vast, vast fields of blazing fire.”
Tongtong looked worried. “Then was Fairy Sister going to be burned to death?”
Yin Bai shook her head. “No! Although it was very hot inside, with lots of fire, Mom and Dad and the Totoro carriage protected me…”
“When the carriage overturned, Mom and Dad shielded me beneath them. Just as the fire in the dragon’s stomach was about to consume me, I heard the fairies’ voices…”
“She said: Pull out your leg bone, believe in the power of love, and become a magic fairy!”
Actually, that wasn’t right. Back then, Yin Bai hadn’t heard anything. Her eyes were seared by intense light, her ears assaulted by the deafening roar of explosions. The only real sensation was the thick scent of blood spreading in the air.
It wasn’t actually such a thrilling fantasy fairy tale. For her, it was the nightmare that haunted her entire adolescence.
But nightmares always end.
Yin Bai raised her hand, pointing the cane towards the ceiling. “And then I pulled out my leg bone, chanted the spell of love, and turned it into a magic wand…”
Just then, unnoticed by anyone, the handle of the hospital room door turned. A woman in high heels, looking hurried, led her assistant and pushed open the door.
The exquisitely made-up woman looked up, her gaze falling first on the hospital bed. She saw Yin Bai, dressed in a white suit, standing beside the bed, holding her cane high, declaring passionately, “The magic wand kept growing and growing, growing into a Sea-Fixing Divine Needle14, and pierced right through the dragon’s stomach!”
“A big hole opened up in the dragon’s stomach, lava flowed out gush-gush, and it spat me right out!”
Hearing this, the two children raised their hands and clapped clap-clap-clap: “Wow! Fairy Sister is awesome!”
Yin Bai lowered her cane, raised an eyebrow at the children with a smile. “Well? Am I not an amazing fairy!”
The children were very supportive, saying happily, “Yes, yes, yes! Fairy Sister is super awesome!”
The woman who had just entered looked at the joyful and harmonious scene of two small children and one adult in the room, feeling utterly confused15. Could someone tell her what was going on?
Just then, Tongtong, sitting on the bed, turned her head, caught sight of the woman standing at the door, her eyes lit up, and she shouted loudly, “Mommy!”
Mommy?
Yin Bai turned her head towards the door and her eyes met the woman standing there.
Their eyes locked. Yin Bai sucked in a breath of cold air, gripping the cane in her hand tightly.
F%ck!
It’s Zuo Jingyou again!
Yin Bai remembered the image of herself just moments ago, holding her cane high and pointing at the ceiling, and felt so embarrassed she wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into! She grabbed her cane and instinctively turned to run.
Just then, Zuo Jingyou, standing at the door with her assistant, raised a hand to smooth her slightly messy hair at her temples and gave Yin Bai a grateful smile. “Ah, Director Yin, I didn’t expect it to be you. Long time no see.”
Yin Bai twitched the corner of her mouth, forcing a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Heh heh, long time no see.”
I didn’t expect this kid was actually your daughter either.
If I had known she was Zuo Jingyou’s daughter, I wouldn’t have gotten involved in this matter no matter what.
The author has something to say:
Major scene of social death.16
Believe in the power of love, become a magic fairy!
Trust me, this time it really is a fairy-tale-like healing story, because there are angels!
To encourage everyone to leave more comments, I’ve decided to give out red envelopes!17
Those in the front row leaving comments can receive red envelopes!
LP: Re-translated on April 23, 2025
Footnotes
- 津津有味 | jīnjīn yǒu wèi | Lit. “dripping with flavor”; Meaning with great interest or relish.
- 一走了之 | yī zǒu liǎo zhī | Lit. “one walk finish it”; Meaning to evade responsibility by leaving.
- 不近人情 | bú jìn rén qíng | Lit. “not close to human feelings”; Meaning unreasonable, inconsiderate, lacking human warmth.
- 出爾反爾 | chū ěr fǎn ěr | Lit. “what comes from you returns to you”; Meaning to contradict oneself, go back on one’s word.
- 面朝大海，春暖花開 | miàn cháo dàhǎi, chūn nuǎn huā kāi | Lit. “Facing the sea, spring warmth, flowers bloom”; From a poem by Hai Zi, evoking peace and contentment.
- 外賣小哥 | wàimài xiǎogē | Lit. “takeout little brother”; A common, informal term for a food delivery driver.
- 含着金鑰匙出生 | hánzhe jīn yàoshi chūshēng | Lit. “born holding a golden key in the mouth”; Equivalent to “born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth,” meaning born into wealth.
- 大小姐 | Dàxiǎojiě | Lit. “Big Young Miss”; Can refer to the eldest daughter of a wealthy family, sometimes implying she is spoiled or delicate.
- 天真無邪 | tiān zhēn wú xié | Lit. “naive true no evil”; Meaning innocent, simple, and pure.
- 狗腿地 | gǒutuǐ de | Lit. “dog leg-ly”; Adverb meaning fawningly, obsequiously, like a lackey.
- 立馬 | lìmǎ | Colloquial term for “immediately,” often used in Northern China.
- 龍貓 | Lóngmāo | Lit. “dragon cat”; The Chinese name for Totoro, the titular character from the Studio Ghibli film “My Neighbor Totoro”.
- 亂七八糟 | luàn qī bā zāo | Lit. “chaotic seven eight messy”; Meaning in a mess, confused, nonsensical.
- 定海神針 | Dìng Hǎi Shén Zhēn | Lit. “Sea-Fixing Divine Needle”; The magical staff of Sun Wukong (the Monkey King) in the classic novel Journey to the West, capable of changing size.
- 一頭霧水 | yī tóu wùshuǐ | Lit. “one head fog water”; Meaning completely confused, baffled.
- 大型社會性死亡現場 | dàxíng shèhuì xìng sǐwáng xiànchǎng | Lit. “large-scale social nature death scene”; Modern slang for an extremely embarrassing public situation, often shortened to 社死 (shèsǐ).
- 紅包 | hóngbāo | Lit. “red envelope”; Traditionally contains gift money for special occasions. Online, it often refers to digital cash gifts or rewards given out in chat groups or promotions.
😂😂😂Okay now this a healing story unlike the other heartbreaking tearjerker story
The FL sure is interesting 😂
😂😂😂Okay now this a healing story unlike the other heartbreaking tearjerker story
The FL sure is interesting 😂
haahahahaha everytime something embarrassing happens YIN BAI’s wife is there
haahahahaha everytime something embarrassing happens YIN BAI’s wife is there