Why bother with dating when you already have a cat?

Ai Qing's phone card has not been registered with WeChat yet.

After helping Xiaoyu register, Ai Qing used her own ID card to complete the real-name authentication for her, and then asked, "What nickname do you want to use, and what kind of profile picture do you want to use?"

"Nick name?"

"It's how people address you online."

"What's 'brother'?" Xiaoyu curiously glanced at Ai Qing's WeChat on her phone. "Rise, my dear subject?"

"Ahem..." It's always a little embarrassing to have someone call out your online nickname in real life. "Don't read it aloud, just look at it."

"I was just using a pun. My name sounds the same as my subject's name, but it actually refers to how ancient monarchs addressed their subjects."

"It's okay if you don't understand. Just do whatever is fun. Just pick something that interests you."

"Oh~" Xiaoyu nodded in understanding, then held her phone and began to think hard. Finally, she tapped the screen and a smile spread across her face. She seemed very satisfied with her nickname.

Ai Qing glanced at it, then twitched her lips.

—Ai eats fish.

This nickname can be considered a continuation of Ai Qing's tradition of using puns, and it also happens to be related to Xiao Yu's name.

"Okay." Ai Qing nodded, then asked, "So, what kind of profile picture do you want?"

"Profile picture? Is it the image inside this box?"

“Yes, look.” Ai Qing showed Xiaoyu her WeChat profile picture, “My profile picture is you.”

However, it's not the human form of a small fish.

Ai Qing had always used a cute cat face in the shape of a little fish and a cat.

With her head tilted to the side, looking innocent and clueless, she was exquisite and beautiful, yet also a little bit silly and cute.

Xiaoyu looked at the profile picture above, then scrolled through the various profile pictures in Ai Qing's contacts. After thinking for a moment, she asked, "Can I use a photo too?"

“Sure, what kind of photo do you want to use?” Ai Qing asked. “Just take a picture with your phone.”

How do you take the photos?

"Here, first exit WeChat, then find the camera app, yes, tap it."

"Take a picture of yourself? It's too much trouble to have your back to me."

"You can press here to switch to selfie mode."

"Amazing!"

Xiaoyu exclaimed in surprise, then stood up, jogged over to Ai Qing's side, sat down next to him, snuggled closer to him, and raised her phone to point at the two of them.

"you……"

"Shh, brother, don't talk, look at your phone." Xiaoyu held up her phone, capturing both of their heads in the camera's frame, and took a close-up photo of them together.

Girls probably all have an innate talent for taking photos.

Ai Qing herself doesn't take many selfies, so she doesn't know how Xiao Yu got used to taking selfies with her phone so quickly.

Soon after the photos were taken, Xiaoyu, under Ai Qing's guidance, turned the two headshots into her own profile picture.

Looking at her gradually improving WeChat profile, Xiaoyu smiled happily and quickly asked, "How do I chat with you?"

"We need to add each other as friends first." Ai Qing searched for Xiaoyu's phone number on her WeChat and sent her a friend request.

After receiving the message, Xiaoyu clicked "accept".

[Ai Chi Yu]: I have accepted your friend request. We can start chatting now.

[Rise, my dear subject]: You can type now, just use pinyin.

Upon receiving the message from Ai Qing, Xiao Yu's eyes widened in surprise.

Although I had seen the amazing features of WeChat before, I was still incredibly excited to receive my first WeChat message.

She quickly followed suit, opening the chat input box, thinking about what she wanted to say, what the pinyin of each word was, and then clumsily typing it out one by one with her fingers.

No wonder Ai Qing always tells her to study hard. If she doesn't know pinyin, she won't even be able to chat on WeChat!

Just as Xiaoyu was thinking this, Ai Qing next to her picked up her phone and sent her another voice message: "You can also speak directly using voice like this."

[Rise, my subject]: (3-second voice message)

"Try clicking and listen," Ai Qing suggested.

After he said that, Xiaoyu temporarily stopped her clumsy little hands and tapped the voice message.

Then she heard her phone make a familiar sound.

"You can also speak directly using voice."

"Wow! This...this is what you just said!"

Xiao Yu was shocked; she never imagined a phone could be used like that.

However, after her initial shock, she still managed to lower her head, finish typing what she was about to type, and send it to Ai Qing.

[Ai Chi Yu]: Hello brother, I'm Xiao Yu. Thank you for buying me a phone.

Ai Qing smiled with relief upon seeing the news.

[Rise, my dear subject]: You're welcome. I'm glad you're happy.

【艾吃鱼】：Then teach me how to use voice commands.

【Rise, my subject】: Press the button in the lower left corner, and the input box below will turn into a voice input button. Press and hold the button to speak, and release it when you are done, and it will be sent.

The two of them stopped talking and started communicating face-to-face via WeChat.

The little fish was having a great time, so she quickly and carefully read Ai Qing's guide and followed it.

"I am Little Fish."

She spoke into her phone.

The voice message was successfully sent.

Soon, Xiaoyu heard her own voice coming from Ai Qing's phone: "This is Xiaoyu."

"Wow! It worked!" Xiaoyu leaned over to Ai Qing and tapped the voice message again.

"I am Little Fish."

"It can even be lit?!"

"Yes, you can listen to the same voice message countless times."

"Then brother, please use this more often and talk to me using voice, okay?"

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

"In that case," Little Fish said with anticipation and joy, "I can hear you talking to me even when you're not home."

Ai Qing: "..."

Chapter 84 Little Fish Buys Coffee

Some things, once said, are simply considered against the rules.

As soon as Xiaoyu said that, Ai Qing was immediately silenced.

He recalled the few times he had gone out before, especially the last time Kong Fugui invited him to a bar for drinks, and he even received a call from Xiaoyu using a children's smartwatch.

When Xiaoyu was unable to leave the house, she could only watch Aiqing leave.

She might not have been able to fully understand what Ai Qing was saying at that time, and Ai Qing wouldn't always tell her clearly when she would be going home.

For Xiaoyu, every time Aiqing went out, it meant that she would have to stay in her room alone and silently experience loneliness.

The duration of loneliness has no fixed timeframe.

Sometimes Ai Qing would just go downstairs to pick up a package or go home to get something, and she would be back in ten or twenty minutes.

Sometimes I get invited out by friends to go to internet cafes or bars, and it can easily last for several hours.

When Ai Qing wasn't home, Xiao Yu would always rest on the sofa in the living room, and time would pass quickly once she fell asleep.

If I'm awake, I'll squat by the door from time to time and listen to the sound of the elevator.

No matter what shoes Ai Qing was wearing, Xiao Yu could always recognize his footsteps immediately.

"If you miss me while I'm out, you can contact me anytime via WeChat. Don't worry about not being able to hear my voice." Ai Qing's tone softened. "Besides, you can come out with me now, can't you?"

"Hehe, well, I'm a little embarrassed." Xiaoyu scratched her cheek and said softly, "I just wanted to hear your voice, but I didn't need to bother you."

"Anyway, as long as you like it." Ai Qing smiled helplessly and didn't insist. She just looked down, opened WeChat, and sent Xiao Yu a red envelope containing two hundred yuan.

"What is this?" Little Fish was surprised when she received the message.

"Please click it."

"I clicked it." Xiaoyu tapped her finger lightly and was notified that she had received a 200 yuan red envelope. "This is money?!"

"Okay, two hundred yuan," Ai Qing said simply. "This money is already in your WeChat account. You can buy anything you want directly using WeChat in the future. I'll take you to try it out in a bit."

"Mmm!" Little Fish nodded vigorously, then asked, "So, is it okay to have someone deliver things to my house?"

“Yes, you can. Just pull down the menu on WeChat, find Meituan, and you can order things and have them delivered to your door,” Ai Qing said. “But I’ll teach you how when we get home, no rush.”

After saying that, Ai Qing thought for a moment, turned her head and pointed to the Starbucks counter, saying, "Let's go buy a cup of coffee, you can try paying with WeChat."

"When you want to pay, click the plus sign in the upper right corner of WeChat, then click Receive/Pay, and a QR code will appear."

"You just scan the QR code with their scanner and the payment will be made automatically."

At this point, Ai Qing gestured for Xiao Yu to stand up, "Go over there now and tell her you'd like a medium latte to try."

"Hmm..." Xiaoyu stood up hesitantly, feeling a little reluctant when she heard that she was about to start practicing.

However, she eventually took two steps and moved towards the counter.

This was the first time she had been so far away from Ai Qing since leaving home and venturing into the outside world.

Halfway there, Xiaoyu couldn't help but turn around and look at Aiqing, much like a child being sent to primary school for the first time.

My eyes felt like they were about to well up with tears.