Chapter 73: Subscription Announcement

I’ve been writing for four years, and this is now my fourth subscription announcement—time really flies.

This book is also the best-performing one I’ve written so far; it’s truly cause for celebration.

In my freshman year, on a small website, I hit a million words with an average of 1,500.

In my sophomore year, I came to Qidian, where a million words averaged 2,000.

In my junior year, I wrote some pure literature, took the graduate entrance exam, and got in—but not fully. Some of my poems and novels found homes, published in a few provincial journals.

But now, though I personally cherish a few pieces, I still feel it would be too presumptuous to show them to many people.

Fortunately, there’s one novel I’m satisfied with—it’s the one I believe won’t make readers feel they wasted their time.

But this novel is still waiting in the queue at a provincial journal; it’ll probably take a few more months. When it’s published, I’ll post it for free in the related works section, and I hope everyone will criticize me—I welcome all opinions on this novel.

After all, I poured more than just entertainment into it; if I hold this mindset, then no matter what anyone says, it’s only right.

Of course, rest assured—it’s all story, not a single extra description (dog head).

(Complaint: the review and scheduling cycle for pure literature is truly long—I almost forgot it existed.)

In my senior year, I started another book—it flopped completely. I thought my web novel career was over, and I deeply doubted my abilities, but I couldn’t accept it, so I started this one.

Fortunately, the performance has been good; it seems I can still keep pushing forward on this path.

I always thought my web novel skills couldn’t improve—what I was before, I probably still am.

But while writing this book, I truly felt I reached a new level in pacing, the feel of showing off, and other areas—I hope to keep improving, to write better stories.

First and foremost, thank you all, my patrons—even with such a niche subject, you’ve brought me this far; I never expected it, and I’m truly grateful (bowing).

Next, thanks to Lao Tuo, Lao To, Lao Ju, Lao Qi, Lao Bie, Lao Nie, and probably many more people and their works—I’ve truly benefited from their light. Before, I was grateful for the spiritual inspiration I drew from them; now, I’m literally eating bread under their glow (dog head).

Also thanks to Lao Pa and his wife’s memoirs, to the letter collections of Lao Tuo, Lao Ju, Lao To, Lao Qi, to A-b’s knowledge bloggers, and to all the papers and materials I’ve dug up—they’ve given me clearer and clearer understanding of certain things.

Lastly, thanks to my editor Jia Nan and all the big names who gave me chapter recommendations, and to my operations officer Flame Star—though he sometimes acts on his own (dog head), without his help, this book wouldn’t have taken off so strongly in its early days. Thank you very much.

Finally, I’ll give a small thanks to myself—I like the stories I write, and sometimes when I look back, I even feel a bit proud of myself, even though many times when stuck, I think I’ve written garbage (sad).

Now, for the subscription boost: it launches on May 1st, with a minimum of five chapters, and after that I’ll strive for at least four thousand words daily—I must work hard to repay your kindness.

Bonus chapter rules: one extra chapter for every 1,000 monthly votes, one extra chapter for every alliance leader or a single reward of 100,000 Qidian coins. Current total: 36,984.

I’m not being brazen by asking for so much—I spend huge amounts of time daily researching, reading letter collections, devouring classic literature, plus internships and my graduation thesis—I simply can’t squeeze out much more.

At the current rate of monthly votes and rewards, I’ll likely add three to four extra chapters per month? For me, that’s still achievable with effort.

So again, thank you all—Mikhail’s story has only just begun; he still has so much ahead of him. This will be an exceptionally long journey, and no one knows what lies at the end.

I look forward to walking this path with you all.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

(End of chapter)