Why bother with dating when you already have a cat?

Balance: 8704 yuan.

……

Balance at the end of April: 6401 yuan.

……

Balance at the end of April: 3404 yuan.

……

May has arrived.

Although she only had a little over three thousand yuan left, Ai Qing was no longer worried.

With the boost in traffic following the release of his new book, his average subscriptions surged to 3000, breaking through the mark for top-quality books.

At Qidian Reading, an average subscription of 3000 is an achievement that most authors can only dream of.

Above that, there are even rarer premium items with an average order value of 6000, and items with an average order value of 10000.

Further up, there are even more divine books with average subscriptions of 20,000, 30,000, 50,000, and even 100,000 and 200,000.

If Ai Qing can easily earn over 10,000 yuan a month with her new book, which has an average of 3000 subscriptions, then the aforementioned "top-tier" book is like a money-printing machine.

Even saying "a word is worth a thousand pieces of gold" is an understatement.

Unfortunately, for every general's success, countless others perish; the top of the pyramid is destined to be reached by only a very few.

Most online novel authors are nothing more than the piles of bones beneath the feet of the big shots.

Ai Qing was lucky; she didn't have to endure a long period of hardship as a newcomer.

With just the second book, he easily met the conditions to work full-time.

Even after achieving success, Ai Qing constantly reminded herself not to lose herself like Qing Shan Xu.

You still need to know your own limitations.

He knew very well that the reason his book was so popular with readers was largely due to the rich inspiration provided by Xiaoyu.

To be honest, looking back at the plot before the book went on sale, it deviated quite a bit from the direction he conceived when he first started writing the book.

At that time, he took it for granted and just thought it was interesting that his childhood sweetheart would turn into a cat.

However, after experiencing what happened after the little fish turned into a human, Ai Qing gradually realized just how big the difference was between humans and cats.

This allowed him to grasp many subtle differences and translate them into concrete content.

So much so that readers actually wondered if this kid could turn into a cat.

In reality, it's impossible for a childhood sweetheart to turn into a cat and then come looking for the author of the dog story to stick with her.

Unfortunately, Ai Qing's readers would never have imagined that the truth was exactly the opposite.

It wasn't that the childhood sweetheart turned into a cat, but rather that the cat turned into a beautiful girl.

Even now, when she thinks back on it, Ai Qing still feels like she's dreaming.

However, when he turned his head and saw the little fish, now human, sitting beside him, obediently holding a pen and diligently doing her homework, Ai Qing was instantly pulled back to reality.

He glanced at Xiaoyu's profile a few times, then lowered his head again to look at the billing information recorded on his phone over the past few months.

There are still more than three thousand yuan left in the account.

If he doesn't have any income this month, by the middle of the month, after paying the 2,000 yuan rent, the remaining money will only be enough for him and Xiaoyu to survive for another month.

However, he was not flustered at all. He watched the time on his phone tick by until it finally reached 10:00 AM.

The 3rd is one of two incredibly special days for all Qidian authors.

Once 10 o'clock arrives, that's the day last month's royalties will be paid out.

On the 12th of the same month, the corresponding royalties will be sent to the author's bank card.

Seeing that the time had come, Ai Qing took a deep breath.

He opened the author assistant app on his phone and went to the statistics page.

Now, with just a click on the "Income" button above, he can immediately see how much he earned in royalties last month.

"Xiaoyu." Ai Qing looked at Xiaoyu beside her and handed her the phone. "You press the income button in the upper right corner."

Xiao Yu, who was frowning with delicate brows, put down her pen with a happy expression when she heard Ai Qing call her name.

In short, as long as she doesn't have to do homework, she can do anything else.

It's just a simple tap on a phone; Xiaoyu is happy to oblige.

Thinking this, she touched it with her slender fingers as Ai Qing had instructed.

Soon, the screen started to change.

Although it wasn't the first time Ai Qing had checked her royalties, her heart still pounded with the same nervous anticipation as when she first checked them.

Finally, the page loaded.

Ai Qing looked away and asked Xiao Yu, "What are the numbers on it?"

"Hmm..." Little Fish looked at the numbers on it, opened her mouth, and then said, "One, five, nine, five, three, point, seven, five?"

15953.75.

Ai Qing took her phone back and looked down at it.

This striking five-digit number caught his eye.

He broke through the 10,000 yuan income mark just like that...

Normally, it wouldn't be that much; at most, it would be just over ten thousand.

But last month, Xiao Youqian tipped him 10,000 yuan as a Silver Alliance member, which turned into 5,000 yuan in his hands.

That's why he received a royalties of over 15,000 yuan.

Looking at this string of numbers, Ai Qing vaguely remembered that when her last book was completed, it had 500 average subscriptions, and the total royalties were only a little over 10,000 yuan.

I earned the equivalent of a book's worth of money in half a month.

That's the power of quality.

Of course, it's also related to the fact that his previous book was too short.

However, Ai Qing is not sure how long she can write this book now.

Since its release, it has been updating with 6000 words per day, and now the word count has reached 27 words.

The plot has progressed to the point where the male and female leads are about to confess their feelings.

This is one of the reasons why the average number of orders was able to rise rapidly to 3000.

For romance novels, the most popular reading time is the period leading up to the confession.

After reaching a peak during the confession of feelings, it will immediately enter a stable downward phase.

Therefore, for some lengthy online novels, 27 words is just the beginning, and many protagonists haven't even left the beginner's village yet.

Ai Qing's book, having reached this word count, is already about to unleash its most powerful move.

"Is this a lot?" Xiaoyu asked curiously, leaning closer to look at the phone screen a few more times, showing concern for Ai Qing. "You can buy lots and lots of delicious food."

Hehe, if we talk a few more words, we won't have to do the questions.

“Yes, a lot.” Ai Qing nodded with a smile, then added, “Unfortunately, we can’t get it yet; the payment won’t be issued until the 12th.”

but……

Ai Qing glanced at her bank account. If the two of them wanted to live peacefully until the 12th, their living expenses would only amount to a few hundred yuan at most.

The rent is paid in the middle of the month, so there's plenty of time to wait for the royalties to be paid.

Currently, besides living expenses, there is actually quite a bit of money left over.

Thinking about this, Ai Qing's mind started to wander.

He looked at Xiaoyu, stroked his chin, and suggested, "How about we go out for lunch today?"

"Huh?" Xiaoyu paused for a moment, looked out the window, and then whispered, "But it's daytime outside, is that okay?"

"I should take you out during the day eventually, so let's do it today." Ai Qing nodded and said.

Upon hearing Ai Qing's affirmative reply, Xiao Yu jumped up from her chair with joy: "Yay! We can go out during the day now!"

"Hey, hey, don't get too excited yet." Ai Qing tapped her fingers on the desk, signaling Xiao Yu to calm down, and chuckled, "Finish today's problems first, and we'll leave when you're done."

"Huh?" Little Fish's initially excited expression instantly deflated upon hearing this. "Oh... I... I understand..."

I hate doing practice problems!

Chapter 74 Fully Armed

What is 17 plus 29?

“36,” Little Fish said, blinking as she looked at the answer she had written on the question.

“又忘记要进一位了？7加9是16，所以个位数上面是6，十位数上面是1加2再加上这个1，所以答案是46，不是36。”

"Oh dear, I forgot about it when I was doing it."

At the desk, Ai Qing was grading Xiao Yu's math homework that she had just finished.

After understanding the concept of two-digit numbers, Xiaoyu was finally able to do addition and subtraction within 100.

Even with simple addition operations, mistakes can still sometimes occur due to carelessness.

However, at least we've moved beyond the stage of counting on our fingers, which is something to celebrate.

Ai Qingli discovered that even a kitten turned into a human would find various ways to procrastinate on doing homework because it disliked studying.

Fortunately, Xiaoyu is quite well-behaved. At most, she will slack off when Ai Qing isn't paying attention, but most of the time she is quite serious.

Compared to Ai Qing's antics in class when she was a child, Xiao Yu is quite innocent.

“Here, I’ll give you one last question.” Ai Qing handed the workbook to Xiao Yu and said, “There are 37 questions in total, with a total score of 100 points. Calculate how many points you got.”

Little Fish took the workbook, its cat ears drooping, and looked at the pages and pages of red pen corrections, then sighed sadly.