System Only Gives Me Useless Gifts

"Little Ling, it's your big brother," Li Yun greeted Wu Ling over the phone, who obviously knew who it was, but he liked to rub it in.

"Yeah, yeah, what do you want?" Wu Ling was out eating with her friends at the University's dining hall. It was strange that her cousin was calling her at the time.

"Has anyone contacted you lately about the Taoist texts on TeeBee Shop?".

She thought about all the recent inquiries. There were the usual requests from clients who wanted custom scrolls or texts. Li Yun didn't take custom orders for texts, but once in a while, he would make custom calligraphy scrolls for birthdays and anniversaries as they weren't as time-consuming.

"I think I have already sent over all the requests to you," Wu Ling replied.

"So nothing unusual?" Li Yun asked.

She remembered a request from a few weeks ago. "A company called Fuzhi Inc. sent me a message for a special partnership. I wanted to ask you if you're interested, but brother said not to bother you since it sounds like one of those spams."

"Did they ask for anything unusual?"

"No, not really. They were impressed by the level of details in your copies, and would like to invest money for you to scale up the operation. All they requested was a meeting, but I never responded to them. I can forward you the message, but there's no contact information about them, and even the information about the company online is nonexistent."

"Okay, that should be fine," Li Yun nodded. "Everything okay with you on campus?"

Wu Ling thought it was an odd question. "Everything is fine, what's up?"

"Nothing much, the items on TeeBee Shop look like it's running low. I'll send you a couple of calligraphy scrolls later."

Wu Ling brightened up, more money for her. "Alright! Sounds good."

Wu Ling hung up, and her friend curiously wondered who was on the phone.

"You sound awfully happy," Zhu Ah Nin remarked.

"Ah, the fresh smell of money always makes me happy," Wu Ling responded.

"Is that why you started streaming with Song Meilin?'' asked Li Ching.

"How do you know?" asked Wu Ling.

"Ms. Wu Ling, it's on the internet, and you happened to be the campus goddess, of course everyone knows," said An Zhang Mi.

"It was really accidental. I bumped into her while I was shopping at the mall. She said I was a special guest, so I didn't want to ruin her stream."

"If it was me, I would have tried to ruin her stream," Zhu Ah Nin sneered. "Why doesn't she ask me?"

"Because your boyfriend would kill me," Song Meilin, a barbie-like young woman, interrupted them as she approached their table and hugged Wu Ling excitedly from the back. "Thanks to Lingling, I have officially hit fifty thousand subscribers! Let's go out again this weekend."

"Again?" Wu Ling wasn't comfortable with live streaming.

"It's my 50k special. But you don't have to be on stream. I'm just treating you to dinner as a thank you."

"How much did you guys make last week?" asked Li Ching.

"9,000 yuan, minus 1,000 yuan for the food and fees, so 4,000 yuan between us," Song Meilin replied. "At the special, I can see fans giving upward to 20,000."

Wu Ling's eyes lit up.

"Seriously? That much for a 2-hours broadcast?" An Zhang Mi counted with her fingers.

"It's not like any regular broadcast you can see on TV. Where can you find two cute girls eating and critiquing different cuisines?" Song Meilin corrected her.

"Everywhere on the internet," Zhu Ah Nin pointed out.

"A bunch of fake filters and plastic surgery."

"Some people are crazy," the girls all thought.

"Yeah, don't you just love crazy people?" Song Meilin grabbed a spare seat and sat behind Wu Ling. "My dearest Little Ling, so are you are free this weekend?"

Wu Ling thought about it. "I might have to help out my cousin with something."

"With what?"

"Little Ling runs a TeeBee Shop store for her cousin," An Zhang Mi mentioned. "I still remember packaging and carrying out all those boxes in middle school. I can't believe it's almost sold out. Speaking of which, I saw your cousin on the news the other day."

"Yeah, that troublemaker. He made my aunty and uncle so worried."

"But you have to admit he was really cool when he threw down the criminal," Zhu Ah Nin said.

"Your cousin threw down a criminal?" Asked Song Meilin.

"The one at Qinbei Hospital, I can't believe you didn't see it on the news," Zhu Ah Nin jabbed.

"I was busy, it's hard work to be a steamer... Qinbei Hospital, is it?" Asked Song Meilin as she searched on her phone. "Oh ho, the video has 50k likes already."

She watched the video that showed a patient standing between the doctor and the door. Instead of heading out, the patient quickly approached the doctor as though ready to attack.

Unexpectedly, the doctor grabbed the patient's arm and flung the patient over 360 in the air and onto the floor. The clip ended in less than 10 seconds, but there were floods of comments running across the video:

"Is that a real doctor? Why isn't mine as handsome? This has got to be some fake promotion. Doc should quit and join the wushu national team. Is the criminal okay? Does anyone have the doctor's number? I'm not feeling well."

Comments were fun to read, but not when it blocked the entire footage. Song Meilin zoomed in on the doctor.

"Why didn't you tell me he was hot?" Song Meilin gawked.

Wu Ling glared at her. "Peh! Yuk! Your head with hot guys. Stick to your boy bands!"

Song Meilin slyly batted her eyes. "Why don't you introduce us?"

"What happened to the previous boyfriend?" asked Wu Ling.

Zhu Ah Nin broke out laughing. "Ms. Little Ling, don't you read the college forum?"

Wu Ling shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Do I look like I have time to gossip?"

The college forum was operated by the students and had a wealth of information and gossips, but Wu Ling avoided the site because she was usually the subject of gossip. Reading about herself was uncomfortable.

****

While they continued gossiping, Li Yun continued with his work.

He wasn't sure how dangerous the monk or the organization he worked for were, but he had to be cautious since the monk did not seem like a typical grifter. Although the monk had a relaxed facade, he was watching Li Yun's expression very carefully. This was someone who was also trained in face reading and micro-expressions.

Li Yun was also careful with his words. He said a lot of things that were half-truths to throw off Luba, like being stuck in a bottleneck. Luckily, the things he had said also made him look like someone who had fifth grade syndrome or a bit delusional. He wondered how much the monk had investigated him.

"Doctor Li, the monk you just saw, he didn't fill out any paperwork," said Nurse Yuen. "Is it all right for him to leave like that?"

Li Yun nodded. "He wasn't here to see a doctor," said Li Yun. "He was just looking for me."

"Oh, I see. He could have called you first?"

"Monks are weird, they are like that," said Li Yun. "If you see him again, can you page me?"

Nurse Yuen nodded.