Why bother with dating when you already have a cat?

"You're already living together?" Ai Zhongguo asked cautiously. "How long have you been living together?"

"Um..." Ai Qing hesitated for a moment when she heard the question, then said, "Probably around April or May?"

That means it's been three or four months!

Ai Zhongguo gasped, surprised that so much time had passed.

He thought the guy was just having a simple relationship with the girl.

They ended up living together!

and many more.

"You little rascal," Ai Zhongguo said in a low voice, glancing towards the kitchen before unable to resist asking, "You didn't really get her pregnant, did you? Otherwise, why would you suddenly decide to bring her home?"

After hearing this, Ai Qing's face immediately darkened: "...What are you thinking?"

"I brought her back this month for two main reasons."

"On the one hand, my novel performed quite well. After it was published in April, the royalties for May, June and July averaged over 20,000 yuan."

"On the other hand, Xiaoyu now does some game live streaming content every day, and she can earn about 10,000 yuan a month."

Actually, Xiaoyu earned 20,000 yuan last month, but since part of it came from the support of others, Aiqing didn't include it in the calculation.

Even so, this income is still very high.

He's at least better than Ai Zhongguo... Ever since he resigned last time, he hasn't been able to find a job and is now living off rent.

"So we're now certain that we can support ourselves in the future, which is why we decided to bring her home to tell you about it."

Ai Qing was quite confident.

After all, a monthly royalty of 20,000 yuan, even though his novel was nearing completion, still provided him with considerable training.

With the little fish providing warmth every day, ensuring he can enter a state of flow at any time, he is now quite confident about the success of his next book.

However, he originally planned to finish it at the end of July.

However, because of the warmth provided by the little fish, he was constantly inspired and ended up writing a follow-up subscription.

Furthermore, it successfully spawned some subsequent storylines.

Judging from the current progress, I estimate that it will take another month or two to write.

I'll take this opportunity to think about my next book and brainstorm ideas in advance.

But Ai Zhongguo didn't care about any of that; what he cared about more was...

"Twenty thousand in royalties?!"

Ai Zhongguo almost jumped off the sofa.

He thought of his wife, who was doing very well at her company, earning about 300,000 to 400,000 yuan a year.

If we don't count year-end bonuses and subsidies, and just look at the salary alone, it's actually around 20,000 yuan.

If he weren't like his relatives, running his own business and bearing all the profits and losses, earning over 20,000 yuan a month just by working would be considered quite good.

But at this moment, Ai Qing said that he now earns 20,000 yuan a month in royalties.

"What the hell are you writing?" Ai Zhongguo looked at him suspiciously. "Is it something illegal? How can it make so much money?"

"Illegal my foot! This is a legitimate website!" Ai Qing almost got angry at her father. "What are you thinking? You can't stand to see your son doing well, can you?"

"Well, I'm a little hesitant to believe it..." Ai Zhongguo coughed twice, then couldn't help but say, "Didn't you say before that you'd tell us what kind of book you were writing if you earned 10,000 a month? You didn't say that."

“Um… this…” Ai Qing was speechless for a moment.

He originally just wanted to give himself and Xiaoyu some confidence so that they wouldn't act like children in front of their parents.

The best way is to tell them that you are financially independent now.

But Ai Qing herself had long forgotten about the promise to "tell them the book title if they earn 10,000 yuan a month"!

Who knew Ai Zhongguo could remember it so clearly?

"See, see, I told you there was something fishy going on!" Ai Zhongguo narrowed his eyes, trying to provoke him. "Did you write something inappropriate? Otherwise, why would you be too embarrassed to show it to your family?"

Ai Qing: "..."

Ai Qing glanced at Xiao Yu's back in the kitchen and took a deep breath.

He then looked at his father and said in a low voice, "Then I can tell you, but after you know, you can't tell Mom, and you can't tell Grandpa and Grandma either."

“Okay.” Ai Zhongguo readily agreed. “I’ll just take a look. As long as it’s legal, it’s fine. You can’t make me worry, can you?”

"Okay, okay." Ai Qing clicked her tongue, reluctantly took out her phone, and tapped the Dian Du Shu (Reading) app with trembling fingers.

"Look at this, it's a domestic software. You can find it by searching in the app store," Ai Qing said as she opened the app.

"Wait, wait, don't rush." ​​Ai Zhongguo certainly couldn't just glance at it. He immediately opened the app store on his phone, followed Ai Qing's instructions, searched for the Qidian Reading APP, and then clicked to download it.

The software is small; it only takes about ten seconds to download.

Ai Zhongguo clicked on the link, logged in with WeChat, and said to Ai Qing, "It looks pretty legitimate, like one of those websites for reading online novels, right?"

“Of course.” Ai Qing nodded repeatedly. “Any content involving politics or pornography will be blocked by websites faster than anyone else. There’s simply no way there could be any illegal content.”

"So what exactly did you write?"

"Since you already know the website is fine, why don't you stop asking?" Ai Qing said shamelessly.

"Then I'll have your mom ask you at the dinner table later."

"No!" Ai Qing lowered her head helplessly, then reached out and took Ai Zhongguo's phone. "I'll search for you."

"I can do it myself. Just tell me the title of the book. It's not like I can't type."

"But I have to be able to say it out loud," Ai Qing said resentfully, having already typed "My childhood sweetheart will turn into a cat" into the search box, and the book was immediately found.

Ai Qing added it to the bookshelf of Ai Zhongguo's account before returning the phone to her father.

"Look, you see." Ai Qing turned her head away, unable to bear to look at this cruel scene.

Meanwhile, Ai Zhongguo was already looking at his phone screen with a face full of curiosity.

"Wow! This book title! My Childhood Sweethearts..."

"Don't read it out loud!!!"

Chapter 173 Family Banquet

Just as Ai Qing and his son Ai Zhongguo were staring at each other in the living room, Xiao Yu had already run to the kitchen door.

She nervously touched her clothes at the door, looked down at her outfit, and then touched her hat.

This hat was something she and Ai Qing had been looking at for a long time before buying. It was a rather small style, and when she wore it on her head, it looked more like an accessory.

Not only does it make the little fish look cuter, but it also avoids the feeling of being impolite to wear a hat indoors.

Ai Qing had put a lot of thought into this.

Even in ordinary public places, such as going to class in college, many girls will wear hats.

Some people simply wear hats to match their outfit, while others haven't washed their hair for days and didn't have time to style it after waking up late, so they just cover their messy hair with hats.

But now that Xiaoyu is coming to meet her parents, these reasons don't quite hold water.

However, in order to conserve the amount of warm air as much as possible, Ai Qing chose a cute little hat that was more "matching" to cover Xiao Yu's cat ears.

Let her take it off when it's time to eat.

After confirming that everything was alright at the kitchen doorway, Xiaoyu gently pushed the glass sliding door open.

Hearing the noise at the door, Lang Xiangying and Yao Qiang turned around, thinking it was Ai Zhongguo.

When I turned around, I saw a pretty and cute little girl standing at the door, looking very nervous.

"Hello, Grandma, Auntie... Ah!"

Little Fish hasn't forgotten.

I had already met Ai Qing's mother when we were at the movie theater last time.

At that time, she "didn't know" that this older sister was Ai Qing's mother, so now that she has met Yao Qiang, she has to pretend to be very surprised.

After all, it would be a bit unreasonable not to be surprised.

"Sister... oh no, Auntie... um... I should still call you sister... no, no..."

Xiaoyu originally intended to feign surprise, but as she talked, she got herself into a trap and became even more nervous.

Seeing her flustered appearance, Yao Qiang immediately laughed and took her hand: "Alright, alright, just call me Auntie. If you call me sister, then Ai Qing will have to call you auntie."

"Hehe..." Xiaoyu laughed a little shyly, then quickly added, "Um... Hello, Auntie!"

"Hmm, hello there too." Yao Qiang smiled and released her hand, looking her up and down before asking, "So, what's your name? What's your name?"

"Ah, my name is Ai Chiyu, but you can just call me Xiaoyu, Auntie."

"Little fish?" Yao Qiang was taken aback, as was Lang Xiangying next to her.

How come it has the same name as Ai Qing's cat?

However, they thought it was just a coincidence, so they didn't ask any further questions.

"We've already said hello. His grandma and I are busy cooking. Xiaoyu, go sit in the living room for a while. We can chat later."

"It's okay, Xiaoyu just wanted to see if she could help." Xiaoyu volunteered, "I usually cook, let me help out."

Lang Xiangying didn't want Xiaoyu to help.

After all, it's the young lady's first time visiting, and it's a bit unreasonable to ask her to do chores in the kitchen.

But Yao Qiang, who was standing next to her, nodded with a smile: "Sure, these dishes have just been served. Could you help us take them out and put them on the table?"

"Yes, no problem." Xiaoyu nodded vigorously, walked to the counter, and carried a dish out.

While Xiaoyu was walking out, Lang Xiangying immediately shook her head: "How could you have the nerve to ask someone for help?"

"Mom, you don't understand," Yao Qiang said softly with a smile. "When a young girl comes to our house, she hopes to gain our approval. She has already offered to help. If we refuse, it will make her think that we don't like her."

"Besides, I met her once at the movie theater last time. She's a very sensible girl. She took the initiative to come to the kitchen to help, which I think is quite normal."

“That’s true.” Hearing Yao Qiang say that, Lang Xiangying didn’t object anymore. “There are still a few dishes left, we’ll be done soon. Go to the supermarket and tell the old man to call Lao Li to help out.”