After Being Scummed – Chapter 83
by Little PandaFortunately, in the rest of their lives, they will have no more intersections.
The two of them hadn’t seen each other for a long time. After returning to the hotel and eating dinner, and washing away a body full of fatigue, they naturally returned to bed to build up their spirit and conserve their energy1.
Perhaps because they had been separated for too long, Yin Bai was exceptionally fierce tonight. Zuo Jingyou was worried about the next day’s filming and really couldn’t take it anymore before she grabbed her hand, bit her lip, and panted lightly, “Enoughโฆ Yin Baiโฆ enoughโฆ”
Enoughโฆ stop.
Yin Bai tilted her head up, pushed aside the stray hairs stuck to her forehead, leaned down to kiss her soft lips, and coaxed her, “Director Xu said your scenes are in the afternoon, so you can sleep in a little more tomorrow.”
But even a little more couldn’t make up for the sleep lost at night.
Zuo Jingyou had the heart to resist, but alas, Yin Bai was simply too good at kissing, so she just let her be.
A night of being tangled together. When she woke up the next day, it was already eleven in the morning. Sunlight shone into the room through the gauze curtains, filling the whole room with an ambiguous brightness.
Zuo Jingyou got out of bed wearing a thin shirt, went to rummage through the luggage Yin Bai had sent to the hotel earlier but hadn’t organized, and got her a clean shirt and trousers, all the while muttering, “All you know is how to fool around, you don’t even unpack your luggage.”
Yin Bai sat on the bed hugging the quilt, tilting her head to watch Zuo Jingyou walk towards her with the shirt, and said with a grin, “I just want to fool around, I just won’t unpack. Teacher Zuo will help me unpack anyway.”
Zuo Jingyou came to the bedside, unfolded the shirt, and chided, “You’re spoiled. Is your underwear on properly?”
Yin Bai spread her hands and said with a grin, “It’s on!”
“Then hold out your arms, put the shirt on properly, change your clothes, and hurry up and get out of bed for brunch.”
Zuo Jingyou held the shirt and put it over Yin Bai’s head. Yin Bai reached out her arms, very cooperatively put on the clothes, and looked up at Zuo Jingyou with sparkling eyes, “Teacher Zuo, you are so considerate.”
Zuo Jingyou reached out and pulled her long, shiny black hair out from inside the shirt. Lowering her eyes to button up her shirt, she said with a half-smile, “Very considerate? Feels like your mother, right?”
After Zuo Jingyou spoke, she sighed and said, “Sigh, when I’m with you, I always feel like I have one more little kid.”
Yin Bai pulled her hand and said very proudly, “Who told you to date your own daughter’s little companion? But Teacher Zuo, if you want to dump me now, you won’t be able to.”
Yin Bai reached out, clasped Zuo Jingyou’s waist, and brought her into her embrace, rubbing their temples together intimately. “I am now a mangy dog2. Once I’m stuck to you, I will never go anywhere else.”
After the “mangy dog” finished speaking, she even stuck out the tip of her tongue, licked Zuo Jingyou’s earlobe, and let out an awoo.
A slight pinkness instantly appeared on Zuo Jingyou’s cheeks. She extended a finger, pressed it against Yin Bai’s forehead, and gently pushed her away. “Don’t awoo. Hurry up and get up to eat. I really have to go to work.”
“Alright.” Yin Bai poked and poked Zuo Jingyou’s shoulder with her sharp chin and said in a relaxed tone, “Then let me help Teacher Zuo change her clothes too.”
Next, Yin Bai sent Zuo Jingyou to the film set.
She said she was a “mangy dog,” and she really was as clingy as a “mangy dog.” While Zuo Jingyou was having her makeup done in the dressing room, she would stand to the side with her cane, watching eagerly.
When Zuo Jingyou was about to film, she would squat next to Xu Shishi like a little pug, watching.
After a whole day, all the staff present were sick to death of her infatuated gaze towards Zuo Jingyou.
Ah, people who have fallen in love are really so annoying!
Although Yin Bai did nothing but watch Zuo Jingyou work from the side, her presence was also very high. Even though Zuo Jingyou was professional, every time she had just gotten into character, she would look up and see Yin Bai, and her emotions would suddenly be pulled away, her entire state a little off.
Zuo Jingyou’s state also affected the person acting opposite her. After being stared at by Yin Bai for a while, Xu Shishi temporarily had Zuo Jingyou stop to adjust her state, and then tactfully invited Yin Bai to a place outside Zuo Jingyou’s line of sight.
At first, Yin Bai even protested, “Why? I’m not making any noise, nor am I doing any strange movements to attract everyone’s attention. This doesn’t count as disturbing the set, right?”
Xu Shishi pushed up her glasses and said with a very serious expression, “Director Yin, you need to know that your existence is a very big disturbance for the actors themselves. I don’t want my crew’s actors to be distracted because of you.”
Alright, alright, the director had spoken. What else could Yin Bai do? She could only obediently follow the other’s wishes, find a corner of the set where others couldn’t see her to sit down, and eat fruit while playing Gomoku with Zhang Yu, looking forward to Zuo Jingyou getting off work.
Whenever Zuo Jingyou had a break in the middle, Yin Bai would walk over with her cane tapping tok tok tok, diligently massaging Zuo Jingyou’s legs and shoulders, feeding her food and drink.
This kind of fervent behavior directly shattered the iceberg domineering CEO image from the day she first appeared. Perhaps she was never a cold and aloof domineering CEO to begin with, but just a cute, clingy little milk dog3.
After all, in front of Zuo Jingyou, she was really too well-behaved.
Yin Bai stayed on the set for four or five days, and gradually, many staff members began to say she was generous and cute. She practically covered the meals for the entire crew, and there would be afternoon tea and the like every day. After spending a long time together, everyone also discovered that this person was really very cute.
A little bad with words, but when facing Zuo Jingyou, she would chatter like a small child. A bit of a clean freak, she would almost always walk around dirty places. But this mysophobia was very tolerant when it came to Zuo Jingyou. For example, during the scene where Zuo Jingyou was dragged out the door, Zuo Jingyou’s clothes were disheveled, and she was also a bit gray-headed and dirty-faced4 because of the makeup, but when work ended, Yin Bai still pounced on her like a little puppy.
In short, this domineering CEO was extremely cute, and also extremely double-standard. She was a very reliable dog-type lover5.
Xiao Nian, who worked with Zuo Jingyou, would occasionally hear others in the crew discussing Yin Bai in low voices. In the past on set, what Xiao Nian heard were some gossipy criticisms, all discussing the ambiguous matters between her and Yin Bai. But what she heard this time was about Yin Bai herself.
For example, her gray-blue eyes, her fair and innocent face like a Barbie doll, and her height that was the envy of everyone. Even the disability that was criticized in the past for affecting her mental state had now become a kind of “the Creator’s stinginess in giving the world a perfect regret.”
She really has changed so muchโฆ Xiao Nian thought.
Perhaps in the past, she should have tried harder to encourage her to come out and socialize. A person like this, after getting to know them sincerely, how could one bear to be prejudiced against her? It was more likely that it would all be partial love.
But the thing she couldn’t do, Zuo Jingyou did it easily. Sure enough, it was most suitable for Yin Bai to be with a more mature person.
In the blink of an eye, it was early September. The 6th of September was Zuo Jingyou’s birthday. On this day, Xu Shishi and the crew members gave Zuo Jingyou a surprise. They adjusted the filming schedule and told Zuo Jingyou in the morning that she only needed to film one scene todayโthat was the only intimate scene between Du Minyan and He Wan, commonly known as a bed scene.
Xu Shishi even said very happily, “Teacher Zuo, today happens to be your birthday. Our crew doesn’t have any surprise for you, so we’ll just give you an unforgettable experience!”
It had to be said, the experience of filming a bed scene on one’s birthday with the ex-girlfriend of one’s current girlfriend was really unforgettable enough.
Zuo Jingyou was a considerably dedicated person and also felt that the opportunity was rare, so she agreed to Xu Shishi’s adjustment plan. After chasing Yin Bai out of the set to wait for her to finish work, the crew members, following Xu Shishi’s request, quickly adjusted the set, let the actors get in position, and started filming.
This bed scene was actually after Du Minyan and He Wan’s first dispute and kiss, when their lives began to fracture. Their lives became awkward. At the same time, Du Minyan met a new suitor and was seen by He Wan when she was being sent home by him.
In the process of being pursued, Du Minyan gradually discovered her true heart. In the process of co-depending with He Wan, her withered soul was healed. She was moved by this warmth from He Wan.
At the same time, He Wan also began to pull herself together. After reporting to the police with Du Minyan to resolve the previous mistress issue, she found a job that suited her.
Seeing that Du Minyan had a suitor, He Wan, whose life was improving, also began to suggest that she should leave. On this night of parting, the girl who had once stumbled began to bid farewell to her benefactor, while Du Minyan, who was gradually understanding what she needed, took a step towards the other.
“Can you give me a hug?”
Du Minyan stepped forward, looked at this woman whom she had saved and cared for for half a year, and pleaded softly. An expression of being at a loss immediately appeared on He Wan’s face. She stood in place without moving, but Du Minyan stepped forward and embraced her.
The two didn’t speak. Du Minyan held the other and began to thank He Wan. Thanked her for the meals she cooked every day, thanked her for tidying the house so clean and neat, thanked her for bringing her warmth through this steel forest.
The two poured out their hearts to each other, gave each other a kiss, and completed their reconciliation in the midst of intimacy.
This was a bed scene completed while crying. Xiao Nian, playing Du Minyan, when she saw Zuo Jingyou’s He Wan, found a trace of empathetic vulnerability in her.
He Wan also loved Du Minyan, but because of her own status, she ultimately did not cross that line of worldly self-abasement. Only when Du Minyan gave her a hug was she willing to recognize her own heart.
When she thought that the person who gave her help and craved her embrace was just bestowing a little grace, she didn’t know that the other person also wanted to get a pure embrace from her.
In this flashy city, they embraced each other, comforted each other.
This time, Xiao Nian rarely did not get into character. When she saw the bewildered and uneasy eyes of Zuo Jingyou beneath her, she also saw the self of her youth.
That fragileโฆ self who hoped for others to come and save her. But even a person like her, there would be people who craved the warmth from her body. But in the end, she was stingy in giving it.
The scene reached its most crucial part. Xiao Nian, stripped of Du Minyan’s identity, looked at the young “self” beneath her and, for the first time, cried uncontrollably.
I’m sorryโฆ I’m sorryโฆ You also justโฆ wanted a hug.
Her suddenly dripping tears pulled Zuo Jingyou out of the scene. Zuo Jingyou raised her eyes to look at Xiao Nian, who was pressed on top of her, crying like a child, and seemed to have an epiphany in her heart.
Zuo Jingyou sighed, got up and draped her clothes on, patted Xiao Nian’s shoulder, and offered silent comfort.
She suddenly remembered that night, the image of Yin Bai spread out on the floor, silently crying. She thought to herself, what goes around, really does come around.
If not here, then there.
Fortunately, in the rest of their lives, they will have no more intersections.
LP: Re-translated on March 22, 2024
Footnotes
- ๅ ป็ฒพ่้ | yวngjฤซngxรนruรฌ | An idiom that literally means โto nurture oneโs essence and accumulate sharpness.โ It means to rest and build up oneโs strength and energy in preparation for a future task or endeavor.
- ็็ฎ็ | lร ipรญgวu | Literally โmangy-skinned dog.โ A colloquial term for a shameless, thick-skinned person who clings to someone or something persistently, like a stray dog that wonโt leave.
- ๅฐๅฅถ็ | xiวo nวi gวu | Literally โlittle milk dog.โ A popular internet slang term for a younger, cute, innocent, and clingy boyfriend who is very obedient and devoted to his partner. Itโs the opposite of the โlittle wolf dogโ (ๅฐ็ผ็, xiวo lรกng gวu), who is more dominant.
- ็ฐๅคดๅ่ธ | huฤซtรณutวliวn | An idiom that literally means โgray head, earthy face.โ It describes someone looking dejected, disgraced, or covered in dust and dirt.
- ็ฌ็ณปๆไบบ | quวnxรฌ liร nrรฉn | Literally โdog-็ณป (system/type) lover.โ A term from Japanese pop culture, adopted into Chinese slang, to describe a personality type in a relationship. A โdog-typeโ partner is typically loyal, energetic, openly affectionate, and devoted, like a puppy.
Regrets do really linger. Swirling thoughts like if only you learned your lesson early, you could’ve treated her better in the past. You could’ve given her the things and treatment she deserves. Now, you will hope for that person that the pain you’ve caused won’t be an issue or obstacle that will hinder the development of the relationship with that person’s next significant other. You may not hold any romantic feelings for that person anymore, but the feeling of regrets stays and reminds you how flawed you were and that you don’t have enough abilities to protect her heart.
I feel so complicated. I like Xiao Nian’s character too. Can they just be a throuple or something T___T hahaha
I feel so complicated. I like Xiao Nian’s character too. Can they just be a throuple or something T___T hahaha