System Only Gives Me Useless Gifts

"Lingling, why are you in a rush to get money?" Zhu Ah Nin asked her good friend as they passed by the campus's stone gateway.

The second semester was about to start in a few days, but a lot of students had already returned to campus. Zhu Ah Nin wasn't particularly close with her family, so she stayed in Binchu with her boyfriend.

"I want to repay my step-parents as soon as possible," Wu Ling replied. "I'm paying a good portion of my tuition with the money from cousin's TeeBee Shop, but it's not going to be enough."

"If your brother finds out you're streaming, he's going to kill you."

"Hopefully he doesn't."

"I'm surprised no one busted you yet," Zhu Ah Nin shook her head in disapproval. The live stream was accessible to anyone with an internet connection. There were bound to be people who had seen it amongst Wu Bin's group of friends.

"I haven't streamed with her during our break, and it's only once a week on Meilin's account. I also told all my friends who know him to stay silent."

Once they arrived at the campus gate, Wu Ling saw Song Meilin in a red domestic car. They were heading out to dinner for a streaming session.

"Hi Lingling, ready to leave?" asked Song Meilin as she rolled down the window door.

Wu Ling quickly waved goodbye to Ah Zhu Nin, and hopped into the passenger's seat. Song Meilin drove them to a fancy restaurant downtown. In the beginning, they paid for the meals but as they gathered more fans, the fans paid for the meal directly.

At first, Wu Ling felt a bit uncomfortable in front of the camera. Song Meilin told her to be herself, which meant being brash and straight to the point. Wu Ling could be overly sarcastic, but had a sense of wit, so a lot of the audience found her charming.

As for Song Meilin, her barbie-like appearance made her seem a bit dense on screen. However, she had the girl next door vibe and a bit of a klutz that made people want to protect her. The netizens swore it wasn't a normal day until Song Meilin tripped on herself.

During random weekdays, she would live stream the typical day of a college student and her daily trips around Yide. Being an archaeology major, she could describe elaborate stories of places she had visited and their history. That was the beauty of China, every city and town had stories from as far back as three millennia ago.

"You didn't stream much during break," said Wu Ling.

"I was busy," Song Meilin replied while setting up the camera equipment.

They had already informed the restaurant staff, who didn't mind food broadcasting. Streamers didn't have a huge influence, but they provided a form of free advertisements. Looking at the two beautiful girls, it was easy to guess that they had a lot of fans.

Meimei#1fan: Meimei looks like a doll today! You should always style your hair to have bangs. *gift*

Lingling#1FemaleFan: Lingling looks so cool today. I didn't know a girl can look this stylist in jeans.

SaneFan: You guys shut up. These two beauties are more than just looks.

XiaoMeiGrandpa: *give gifts*

MeiLingOTP: Click here to see my fanart of MeiLing duo. Warning 18+ only.

After a few months, Wu Ling thought she would have gotten used to the comments, but it still felt weird. It was better not to read the comments.

"What do you think of the sour soup?" Song Meilin asked.

Wu Ling's face scrunched up, causing Song Meilin to laugh.

"I guess it's sour," Song Meilin said and turned to the camera. "They use fresh wood ears mushroom from the forest up north and their white wine vinegar is made in their back room. If you're making it at home, I suggest using the Jiangshi Town vinegar as it has more depth and less sour."

Wu Ling nodded along as Song Meilin explained the dishes. She wasn't a foodie like Song Meilin, but she was much more critical about the flavors so more people valued her ratings. They finished their meal and then wished everyone a good night.

"Thank you for watching our weekly Chibo everyone! I'll see you Monday." Song Meilin waved and then turned the camera off with her phone.

"That wasn't too bad. 8,000 yuan," Song Meilin remarked as she transferred half to Wu Ling and then placed her phone back on the table.

After the streaming, Song Meilin gossiped about everyone in the class. She knew a lot of gossips about the professors and students, probably second after Zhu Ah Nin. Wu Ling didn't particularly care, but she thought it was funny how involved Song Meilin gets.

Wu Ling would share stories of her family. In the apartment, she had her stepparents, brother, grandfather Lu Yan, grandmother Lu Nai, the two aunts, and her uncle's family. The Lu family relocated from the rural area thirty years ago and they chose the apartment as their base. Although Wu Ling had bad things to say about everyone in the family, deep down, she really cared for all of them.

"I can't tell who's worse in the apartment between Bufu and Xiao Yun," Wu Ling complained.

"What's wrong with senior Fuzheng?"

"He has so many issues, fickle and arrogant being the top. You should already know about how much drama that guy caused on campus. You see different girls crying every month."

"And senior Yun?"

"He's not as naggy as Old Bin, but he's scary! He was so much better when we were little. He was always saying he was the chosen one, but then cry every time he got beaten up."

Song Meilin laughed. "Your little cousin sounds hilarious. I really didn't hear much about him until recently. Was he always sleeping in class?"

"He was a delinquent in high school and always a bit weird." Wu Ling's lips puckered up; she was in thinking mode. "He's also a bit weirder lately. I haven't seen him complaining to my brother in quite some time."

"How is that weird?"

"He treats my brother as a personal therapist, so he goes to see my brother often."

Song Meilin laughed. "Why do you think that is?"

Wu Ling thought about it. "Oh, I know, it's probably about a break up with this girl named Wen Nali. I heard my mom say he was so close to introducing them, but they broke up after he started working. Ever since then, he hasn't dated anyone."

"Are you serious?"

Before Wu Ling could answer, Song Meilin's phone rang. Song Meilin ignored it and placed it on silent.

"Boyfriend #4?" asked Wu Ling looking at the descriptor that appeared on the phone. Wu Ling knew that Song Meilin's had a habit of putting descriptors and numbers in her phone in place of names. She was BFF #1. However, she wasn't aware that the number count for the boyfriend was 4. "Who's #4?"

"The guy that cheated on me with the cheerleader," said Song Meilin.

"Lan Geng, the guy with multiple cheating records? Geez, why don't you just label him 'douchebag#4'?"

"Why aren't you consoling me?"

"Because you get paid by their exes to deal with them. I wouldn't exactly call that a boyfriend."

Song Meilin had live-streamed the event where she accidentally uncovered her boyfriend's cheating behavior. Everyone at the university was aware of the incident. Boyfriend #3 was dropped from his basketball team and had to transfer out. Boyfriend #4's videotape with a hooker was exposed on the university forum two months ago.

Wu Ling wasn't sure what happened to #1 and #2, but according to Zhu Ah Nin, they all transferred out. None of Song Meilin's so-called boyfriends had a happy ending. Wu Ling realized a long ago that Song Meilin was the worst sort of person to mess with.

"I'm going to text back to #4 and let him know I was the one who uploaded the video and then block him. Do you think he'll call again?"

"It's obviously you, why didn't he realize that by now?"

"Because he's dumb," Song Meilin waved her hand. "Enough about him, we need to talk about you."

"What about me?" Wu Ling tilted her head to the side, it was rare to hear Song Meilin's serious tone.

"We can't continue to stream together."

Wu Ling couldn't imagine why Song Meilin was cutting her out. Was it because they were gaining more fans and she would have a bigger cut of the money? When Wu Ling started streaming, they were 50k, but in just a few months, it had grown to 200k.

"Lingling, your brother messaged me yesterday and requested this. You should talk it over with him."