Early Friday morning, Xu Lin was awakened again by knocking on the door. When he opened it, he saw Li Bin, dressed in his school uniform and wearing a strange sports cap.
"Li Bin, I've told you, you can come at 6 o'clock, no need to come so early, okay?"
"I can't sleep."
"What does your sleeplessness have to do with me? Come at 6, it's only 5 now. Go grab some breakfast and come back."
With that, Xu Lin pushed Li Bin out, who couldn't resist at all.
"Xu Lin, you're so strong, did you train for it?"
"No, I was born with this strength."
Then Xu Lin shut the door. It wasn't that he was bullying him, but Li Bin had gone too far.
For three consecutive days, he showed up at 5 a.m. No one could tolerate that. Maybe if he was sent out to wander for a while and not let in, he'd come at the right time in the future.
Back in bed, Xu Lin's drowsiness was completely gone. He picked up his phone and checked the view count on his videos.
The first croquette video had already reached 700,000 views, and the second one had hit 500,000 but wasn't gaining much more. After all, the user base of this small platform was limited. The era of copyrighted content had just begun. Next year, when the "uncle" comes into power, the platform's development would start to speed up.
Of course, many would say that this was when it started losing its original flavor. This was a commercial choice. If you didn't change, you might starve; if you did, you could survive, but it wouldn't be a purely ACG platform anymore.
But after a dozen minutes, there was knocking again. Xu Lin opened the door to find Li Bin had returned.
"What's up now?"
"I had breakfast. I ate two buns outside the neighborhood."
"Alright then, come in and hang out for a bit."
Xu Lin couldn't bear to chase him away again. He led him into the bedroom and turned on the computer.
"I have League of Legends on my computer. You can play a match."
"No, there's not enough time. I'll just watch some videos. Can I log out of your Bilibili account?"
"I haven't logged in on this computer. Just log in directly."
Li Bin saw Xu Lin sitting down at the small table and opening his laptop, and was taken aback.
"Wow, you've upgraded to a fancy one? It's an Apple, must be over 10,000 yuan, right?"
"I bought it with money from writing novels. I'm making videos lately, so I need better performance, and it's also more convenient to take around."
"So profitable, huh? Maybe I should try writing too."
"Of course you can. But as I always say, it's open to everyone, but you need long-term commitment. And most importantly, write. Just write and see."
"Xu Lin, I've noticed that in the past six months, you've become more mature. No wonder you have a girlfriend."
"I don't have a girlfriend."
In a sense, he was indeed single, thanks to everyone's kindness.
When Ji Yun confessed, he wanted to accept, but she refused, thinking he hadn't completely let go yet. After what happened with Qin Yunhe, he wanted to take responsibility and be brave for once if she wanted him to. He was even ready to be honest with the other girls, but she kindly thought of him and said there was no need, telling him to wait until he grew up.
"Hey, hey, what kind of videos are you making? Gaming? Let me see."
"Just search for 'Traveling Gourmet Chronicles.'"
"Alright." Li Bin nodded, and five seconds later.
"Whoa! 700,000 views?"
"Yeah, but it won't hit a million."
"This is amazing! Let me take a look."
A few minutes later, Li Bin looked at Xu Lin seriously once more. "I think I'm more suited to cooking and making videos."
"You are always coming up with new ideas. But you do need to start thinking about the future. After all, high school is ending soon. You need to choose a school, a major, and think about employment."
"There's still plenty of time for that."
"You still need to think ahead. By the way, Li Bin, I heard you got into a fight with a senior from the third year? What happened?"
"Uh..."
Li Bin scratched his head and recounted what had happened that day. Xu Lin burst into laughter.
"Hahaha, well... I'm not mocking you, but why did you trust her, that little green tea, and just follow her?"
"I didn't..."
"Is Ji Yun good-looking?"
"Good-looking."
"Is Teacher Su good-looking?"
"Good-looking."
"Forget about others, don't you see these two every day? How could you fall for a girl who looks like that?"
"..."
"And besides, you've watched those dramas, you can't mistake identities, right?"
Initially, Xu Lin thought Li Bin was an honest guy, but now he seemed a bit naive.
"I'll be more careful in the future. About Miss Qin..."
"Don't even think about it. She..."
Xu Lin didn't want to expose someone's private life. Despite her efforts to find a boyfriend in the industry and using her body to climb up.
In the end, she didn't gain anything, got dumped, had her photos leaked, and ended up all over the internet. It's quite pitiful.
"What's wrong?"
"Let me tell you a story. After hearing it, if you still think she's nice, then that's your choice."
In the interest of his friend's well-being, Xu Lin briefly mentioned what happened to Qin Tiantian.
After listening, Li Bin clenched his fists. Xu Lin thought he seemed uncomfortable, but Li Bin spoke up.
"That guy is despicable!"
"And then?"
"What 'and then'?" Li Bin looked at him with wide eyes.
"Ah~ with a woman like that, do you think you could handle her?"
"I never said I was going to pursue her. I'm just a kid, she just looked pretty to me. She's not as stunning as your Ji Yun, but she's still a bit out of my league."
"Okay then."
After Li Bin said that, Xu Lin didn't say much more. Self-awareness was enough. He feared Li Bin might rush in and end up disappointed.
"Xu Lin, you just mentioned Yu Ju being a Green Tea, how come there is also a Green Tea on your phone?"
With one sentence, Li Bin startled Xu Lin, who quickly snatched his phone back.
He realized Li Bin hadn't opened his phone; there was just a message on the standby screen showing a little green tea icon.
Liu Qinnuan sent me a message. Oh, almost forgot, she's coming this weekend!
"Who's that, Xu Lin? Are you dating someone outside? I should tell Ji Yun~"
"No, it's a friend from work, from the neighboring county. She is passing through Linshui and will come to visit me."
"A woman?"
"Yeah."
"Why'd you call her little green tea?"
"Um, just joking around."
"Since you gave her this name, I don't doubt that you have something with her. After all, who would call the girl you like Little Green Tea."
"Yeah." Xu Lin awkwardly chuckled.
Then he unlocked his phone and checked the message. Liu Qinnuan had said, "Okay, big brother~ I'll be there tomorrow."
Xu Lin smiled. 'This guy,' then he replied, "I have class tomorrow, I only have the weekend off."
"No worries, I'll go home first and arrive in Linshui in the afternoon."
"Alright, will you come by bus? Give me a time, I'll come pick you up or arrange for someone to."
"ok, big brother~"
"Don't disgust me, little green tea. Remember to bring a gift, my mom likes them."
Xu Lin joked, and she quickly replied, "Haha, sure thing!"