After Being Scummed – Chapter 81
by Little PandaI Want to See You.
After finishing work on time in the evening, Zuo Jingyou returned to the hotel and washed up, then received a video call from Yin Bai. Zuo Jingyou tapped open the video, and Yin Bai’s face, written full of happiness, appeared in her line of sight: “Teacher Zuo, Teacher Zuo! How was work today?”
Yin Bai was chattering1, just like a little puppy that had waited for you at home all day, finally saw you come home from work, and was circling your feet, barking woof-woof at you.
Zuo Jingyou’s eyes curved into a smile. “Very goodβ¦ The director is a person who gets off work on time. It’s not as urgent as other film crews, where you’re busy until very late before you can finish work.”
Yin Bai clapped her hands and said with a grin, “Director Xu? She also came from shooting independent films herself while carrying a camera, so she really cherishes her own and other people’s time.”
Zuo Jingyou nodded, agreeing, “Yes, so filming with her, I don’t have to work overtime. I feel very relaxed.”
Yin Bai giggled. “It’s good that you feel relaxed. It’s rare to see you come back not looking very tired. I’m relieved.”
The sharp-eyed Yin Bai quickly noticed the slight wound on the corner of Zuo Jingyou’s mouth. She raised her hand to point at the corner of her own mouth and asked with some curiosity, “Teacher Zuo, what happened here? Is it that the weather has been too hot and dry recently? It feels like your skin is peeling.”
“Oh? Is that so?” Zuo Jingyou raised her hand, stroking her own lip as if she hadn’t noticed, and said with a slight frown, “It probably isn’t peeling. It must have been bitten by Teacher Xiao.”
Xiao Nian? Bitten?
Yin Bai only felt a rush of hot blood go straight to her celestial spirit cover2, stimulating her mind into chaos. She pointed at the corner of Zuo Jingyou’s lip, her eyes widening in shock, and raised her voice, “Xiao Nian? What did you two film? Why would she bite you?”
And in that kind of place! One look and you could tell it wasn’t a very proper scene!
Zuo Jingyou looked at her over-the-top reaction and curved her lips into a smile. “What else could it be? A kiss scene, of course. Haven’t you seen it on set before? Most directors, when they want to cultivate a screen couple, will first film an intimate scene to break the ice, to make the two people’s emotions heat up rapidly⦔
“Wait, wait, wait!” Yin Bai interrupted Zuo Jingyou angrily, her brows knitted in great displeasure. “Even if it’s filming a kiss scene, it can’t be filmed like this! You were bitten and injured! What’s wrong with Xiao Nian, doesn’t she know an actress’s lips are very important?”
Zuo Jingyou blinked in surprise and said aiya in her heart. It seemed Yin Bai wasn’t jealous.
Zuo Jingyou hooked her lips into a faint smile, her eyes filled with an ambiguous light. “It’s okay, I bit her back too. Teacher Xiao’s lips are probably also very spectacular.”
Wait⦠bit her back?
Yin Bai blinked, only feeling another fire burning in her heart. She took a deep breath, looked at Zuo Jingyou, and asked very seriously, “Did you two kiss very fiercely?”
Zuo Jingyou frowned and thought for a moment, then said, “It was alright, we just got into characterβ¦ In that kind of situation, it’s hard not to react fiercely⦔
Yin Bai took a deep breath, then exhaled it heavily, her face puffing up like a pufferfish.
She looked at Zuo Jingyou with puffed cheeks and said very seriously, “Zuo Jingyou, you wait for me a moment.”
“Hm? What are you going to do?”
What else could she do! So angry, so angry!
Yin Bai put down her phone, picked up the cane beside her, went to the cloakroom and found a jade-green formal hat. After putting it on, she returned to the sofa, picked up her phone, and looked at Zuo Jingyou again.
She put on a straight face, looked at Zuo Jingyou with puffed cheeks, pointed to the hat on her head, and said very angrily, “Do you know what kind of feeling I have right now! This is the feeling I have right now!”
She was wearing a green hat3 on her head!
Zuo Jingyou let out a puchi sound of laughter. With light in her eyes, she looked at her with a grin and said, “How can it be so exaggerated? There’s no such thing.”
Yin Bai was furious and couldn’t listen to anything. She just wore that hat and looked at Zuo Jingyou very seriously, asking, “Then you tell me, is she better to kiss or am I better to kiss! Why did you have to kiss her so fiercely for a kiss scene!”
Her lips were even peeling! She herself couldn’t bear to kiss that fiercely!
The corners of Zuo Jingyou’s mouth couldn’t help but lift. She looked at her gently and tenderly. “Yin Bai, you are so cute.”
“Don’t think that by saying I’m cute, this matter can just pass! You tell me, isn’t it like this! Will you dare to kiss her like that again in the future?”
Zuo Jingyou’s face was full of smiles. She sighed and said, “Alright, alright, it’s just filming. Of course our family’s baby is the best to kiss. Our family’s baby’s lips are softer than rose petals, and her body is also delicate. Everywhere is so soft, everywhere is very good to kiss.”
Yin Bai was still unconvinced. “Really?”
Zuo Jingyou nodded. “Really. Why would I lie to you?”
Zuo Jingyou sighed and looked at Yin Bai dotingly. “Alright, quickly take your hat off. I won’t accept this kind of accusation from you. You’re slandering me.”
“Okay, I’m sorry.” Yin Bai took off the hat on her head and shrugged. “You know, it’s not that I’m blaming you or don’t trust you or anything. I’m justβ¦ being jealous.”
Zuo Jingyou looked at her softly. “Mm, I know. Our Xiao Bai is vinegar-sautΓ©ed cabbage4, so sour.”
Yin Bai snorted and looked at Zuo Jingyou with puffed cheeks. “You’re not allowed to talk about me like that. Do you not think I’m cute anymore?”
“Cute, cute.” Zuo Jingyou placated her perfunctorily, then sighed and said to Yin Bai, “Actually, you also shouldn’t always think of it as me kissing Teacher Xiao. If you think of it this way: I was just taking back the kisses you gave Teacher Xiao from her lips. Aren’t you a little happier then?”
The back of Yin Bai’s head suddenly tensed up. She looked at the serious-faced Zuo Jingyou and shook her head frantically. “No, no, no, it doesn’t have to be like this, you don’t have to think like that either⦔
Good heavens, if it was like this, who was the jealous one! Would she still dare to be jealous? She was afraid Zuo Jingyou would be even more jealous!
Zuo Jingyou lay sideways on the sofa, revealing a large patch of spring scenery5 on her chest, and looked at Yin Bai with a half-smile. “Why shouldn’t I think like that? I feel this is a way of thinking that is good for both you and me⦔
“Otherwise, I’m very worried that the look in my eyes when I look at Teacher Xiao Nian will be full of jealousy. You have no idea how much her feeling when she gets into character reminds me of you.”
Zuo Jingyou bit her lip slightly and said with some displeasure, “I really amβ¦ the more I think about it, the angrier I get, the more I think about it, the angrier I get⦔
This time, Yin Bai was thoroughly cowed. She shrank her neck and said with a very guilty conscience, “Teacher Zuo, calm down, calm downβ¦ It’s all for workβ¦ If it really doesn’t work, we won’t film it⦔
Zuo Jingyou shot her a look6. “You say it so easily. How could we not film it? Work, you always have to overcome all sorts of difficulties. Acting opposite Teacher Xiao Nian is already a very small difficulty⦔
Other than her in-character state being affected, there was actually nothing else.
After Zuo Jingyou finished speaking, she sighed and looked at Yin Bai. “So you be a little more obedient recently. Don’t randomly eat flying vinegar7, talk nonsense8, and things like that, understand?”
Yin Bai made an OK gesture and said very obediently, “I’ll be good. I definitely won’t let Teacher Zuo worry about me.”
After warning Yin Bai, Zuo Jingyou couldn’t help but add, “Also, don’t come visit the set9 casually. You have to give me a heads-up. I’m afraid you’ll affect my state.”
“Okay, okay, okay, I won’t go casually. When Teacher Zuo misses me, I will run over without stopping my horse’s hooves10.”
Her attitude was good, which made the stuffy anger that had risen in Zuo Jingyou for no reason slowly dissipate.
Because of Xu Shishi’s ice-breaking beginning, in the subsequent filming, Zuo Jingyou and Xiao Nian almost both found their states. They were having acting showdowns11 on set almost every day.
In her career, Zuo Jingyou was an extremely ambitious person. Acting opposite Xiao Nian, whose skill was not much different and who was equivalent to an acting lunatic12, this feeling of meeting one’s match13 let her feel an exhilarating14 pleasure in her work.
Although Zuo Jingyou ordered Yin Bai not to come visit the set, she still contracted for the film crew’s meals, having the hotel send a food truck over every day, making her presence strongly felt on the set.
After the filming progress reached one-third, Lu Qing’s film crew also arrived at this film and television city to carry out subsequent filming. With the wife-wife pair in the same film city, they would naturally visit each other’s sets.
Xiao Nian found time to go to Lu Qing’s crew to guest-star in a role with few scenes, and Lu Qing was also invited by Xu Shishi to make a cameo in her crew.
One time after Zuo Jingyou and Xiao Nian finished filming a scene, she saw Lu Qing holding Xiao Nian’s jacket, waiting outside the camera’s view. As soon as Xiao Nian came out, Lu Qing draped the clothes over her, asked about her condition in a gentle voice, and also discussed with Xiao Nian how her performance just now was, and so onβ¦
Zuo Jingyou saw the gentleness in Lu Qing’s eyes. It was hard to imagine that a person who looked so prim and serious on the outside would be full of deep affection when peeled open on the inside. It was strangely movingβ¦
Zuo Jingyou thought to herself, she missed Yin Bai a little.
Just as she was thinking this, Yin Bai’s call came in. Zuo Jingyou smiled, picked up Yin Bai’s call, and Yin Bai’s cheerful voice came through: “Teacher Zuo, Teacher Zuo, are you done with work and preparing for lunch?”
Zuo Jingyou nodded and said, “Mm, I’m preparing.”
At this very moment, Yin Bai was nestled in the office chair in the study, spinning in circles and speaking to Zuo Jingyou in a soft voice, “Today I had someone prepare super delicious steak for you, and also the champagne you love to drink. You will definitely like it.”
Although she couldn’t come in person, she would prepare some delicious food for Zuo Jingyou every day, trying hard to assert her presence as the official girlfriend.
Speaking of this, Yin Bai’s lips curved, and she said to Zuo Jingyou softly, “Teacher Zuo, you’ve been filming for a month already. I miss you so muchβ¦ Can I go see you? I will be well-behaved and definitely won’t cause you any trouble.”
Like a child, she sounded pitiful.
Zuo Jingyou hesitated for a moment and said, “You really want to come see me?”
As soon as Yin Bai heard there was a chance, she immediately sat up straight and said excitedly, “I really want to! Every moment of every hour, I want to see you, only want to see you! You have no idea how much I miss you, I’m about to evolve into a lovesickness monster!”
Lovesickness monster, what kind of strange thing was this?
Zuo Jingyou smiled faintly. “You can, but I have to give you a vaccination shot15 first. Director Lu is also filming next to our set, and she occasionally comes over⦔
Meow meow meow? Lu Qing often comes over to show off her affection with Xiao Nian?
Yin Bai said anxiously, “Teacher Zuo, wait for me, I’ll pack my luggage and fly over immediately!”
How could this be! This was too arrogant! How could Teacher Zuo bear it all alone?
Yin Bai immediately summoned Zhang Yu, had her pack her luggage, and half an hour later, set off for Haicheng Airport, charging straight towards the film city where Zuo Jingyou was.
The author has something to say:
Second update if comments break two hundred16. (I’m tired of saying it.)
Re-translated on August 23, 2025
Footnotes
- ε§ε§ε³ε³ | jΔ«jichΔchΔ | An onomatopoeia for the sound of birds chirping. It is used to describe someone, often a woman or child, talking or chattering in a lively, incessant, and high-pitched manner.
- 倩η΅η | tiΔnlΓnggΓ i | Literally βcelestial spirit cover.β In traditional Chinese medicine and culture, this refers to the fontanelle or the very top of the skull. Metaphorically, a βrush of blood to the tianlinggaiβ is a vivid expression for becoming suddenly and intensely angry or flustered.
- η»ΏεΈ½ε | lΗ mΓ ozi | Literally βgreen hat.β A very common and potent cultural idiom in China. A man βwearing a green hatβ (ζ΄η»ΏεΈ½ε | dΓ i lΗ mΓ ozi) means his wife or girlfriend is cheating on him. | Historical Origins: The stigma has deep roots, with the most cited origin dating to the Yuan Dynasty (1271β1368). During this period, regulations mandated that the male relatives of prostitutes had to wear green headscarves or hats as a mark of shame, publicly identifying them as men connected to the sex trade. Over time, this association solidified, and green headwear became a powerful symbol for a man whose wife was unfaithful. It remains a serious cultural insult.
- ιζΊη½θ | cΓΉ liΕ« bΓ‘icΓ i | A popular Chinese dish of stir-fried cabbage with vinegar. This is a pun. βειβ (chΔ« cΓΉ) means βto eat vinegar,β the common phrase for being jealous. The characterβs name is Yin Bai (ε°Ήη½), and βη½θβ (bΓ‘icΓ i) means cabbage. Zuo Jingyou is affectionately teasing the jealous Yin Bai by calling her βVinegar-SautΓ©ed (Yin) Bai-cai.β
- ζ₯ε | chΕ«nguΔng | Literally βspring lightβ or βspring scenery.β It is often used euphemistically to refer to a glimpse of a womanβs skin or body, particularly the chest or cleavage area.
- ε | chΔn | A look or word of mild, feigned anger or reproach, often used flirtatiously or affectionately.
- ι£ι | fΔi cΓΉ | Literally βflying vinegar.β An expression for jealousy, often implying that the jealousy is baseless, sudden, or directed at an inappropriate target.
- θ‘θ―΄ε «ι | hΓΊshuΕbΔdΓ o | An idiom literally meaning βto talk nonsense in eight ways.β It is a very common phrase for speaking rubbish, drivel, or lies.
- ζ’η | tΓ n bΔn | Literally βto visit the class/team.β A common term in the entertainment industry for visiting an actor or crew member on a film or TV set during production.
- 马δΈεθΉ | mΗbΓΉtΓngtΓ | An idiom that literally means βhorse not stopping its hooves.β It describes moving or working at a relentless pace without any rest, non-stop.
- ι£ζ | biΔo xΓ¬ | Literally βto race acting.β A slang term describing a scene where two or more skilled actors perform together with great intensity, competing to deliver the best performance. It implies a high-stakes, electrifying display of acting talent.
- ζη―ε | xΓ¬ fΔngzi | Literally βacting lunaticβ or βdrama maniac.β A colloquial term for a person who is completely obsessed with and devoted to acting, similar to a βmethod actorβ or someone who lives and breathes their craft.
- ζ£ι’ε―Ήζ | qΓfΓ©ngduΓ¬shΗu | An idiom that literally means βin chess, one meets their opponent.β It is used to describe a situation where one encounters a competitor of equal skill or ability; to be evenly matched.
- ι £η ζ·ζΌ | hΔnchΓ nglΓnlΓ | An idiom that literally means βhearty and smooth, dripping wet.β It describes a feeling of utter satisfaction, freedom, and exhilaration, often after a vigorous activity like sports, creative work, or a hearty drink.
- ζδΈͺι’ι²ι | dΗ ge yΓΉfΓ‘ngzhΔn | An idiom that literally means βto give a vaccination shot.β It is used metaphorically to mean giving someone a heads-up, a warning, or preparing them for something potentially unpleasant in advance.
- δΊζ΄ | Γ¨r gΔng | Literally βsecond watchβ or βsecond update.β In the context of web novels, it means the author will release a second chapter on the same day, often as a bonus for reaching a certain goal (like a number of comments, votes, or gifts).
Hadn’t they made a condition for her acting in the film that Yin Bai could be present for all the intimate scenes? And that seems to have gone straight out the window? Not only was there a passionate kiss scene that she was only informed of after the fact, but that was followed up with being told not to come to the set without notice and permission?
Meow meow meow? Such a perfect line
Meow meow meow? Such a perfect line