Chapter 131 - 122: Targeted Again

Chapter 131: Chapter 122: Targeted Again

Though Xiao Shengrong was in the bedroom, his mind had already flown off to the Shanghai Stock Exchange!

Hearing the silence, he rushed out of the bedroom and looked at his wife with a wide grin. "Tell me, isn’t this fate? I never expected this, I really didn’t. Our grandson could have shown up anytime, but he’s finally on his way now!"

The more he thought about it, the more magical it seemed, like he was in a dream.

Naive as he was, if he knew this was all just one of Qiu Yuru’s delaying tactics, he’d probably be angry enough to sleep on the sofa for a month!

Watching the excited Xiao Shengrong, Qiu Yuru pressed her lips together, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"Alright, are you still sleeping on the sofa tonight?"

They had been giving each other the cold shoulder for days since their argument, and she knew the sofa wasn’t comfortable.

To put it bluntly, she felt bad for him.

But there was no helping it. On one hand was her son’s happiness for the rest of his life; on the other was her old man’s back. When she weighed the two, of course her son’s happiness was more important.

Xiao Shengrong couldn’t be bothered with his back at the moment. He hurried over to the coffee table, bent down, and picked up his phone.

"Hello, Old Wang? You’re in the seafood business, right? Do you know where to get the best fish maw?"

"It’s not for my wife, it’s for my daughter-in-law!"

"That’s right, that’s right! I have a daughter-in-law now!"

’The price I’ve paid for this daughter-in-law is no small thing,’ he thought. ’Never mind anything else, I’ve certainly had my fill of sleeping on the sofa these past few days!’

...

After hanging up, Xiao Ran immediately sent a message to Yan Xici.

Xiao Ran: My parents agreed. My mom really likes you, and my dad is very supportive now that he knows. He hopes I can bring you home for a visit, preferably this weekend. What do you think?

Looking at the message he’d just sent, he pressed his lips together in resignation.

’The old problem is solved, but now a new one has cropped up.’

’There’s definitely going to be more trouble ahead. Given how desperate Dad is for a grandson, if he finds out there isn’t one, it won’t just be me who’s done for. Mom will probably get dragged down with me.’

’But there’s nothing I can do about it now. I can only take it one step at a time.’

After sending her own message, Yan Xici’s heart was already in her throat. She clasped her hands tightly to her chest as if in prayer, pacing back and forth in her room in her slippers.

’Please, please, let his parents agree!’

’They have to agree!’

’Otherwise, my mom—who sways whichever way the wind blows—will definitely give in, and then things between me and Xiao Ran will really be over!’

Just as she was thinking this, her phone suddenly vibrated.

She scrambled onto the bed and tapped open the message.

Her eyes widened in surprise. She felt a mix of nerves and excitement.

She was excited because his parents had actually agreed!

But she was nervous because Brother Xiao Ran was actually asking her to visit his family this weekend!

She blinked her dewy eyes in a fluster and sat down in Xiao Ran’s chair, her face a mask of worry.

Oh my god!!!

’Is it really okay for things to move this fast?’

’It’s only been two days, and I’m already going to formally meet the parents?’

Yan Xici: So soon?

’The more I think about it, the more nervous I get.’ She couldn’t help but lick her pink lips. ’This is the formal family introduction, isn’t it?’

’It would be bad not to go, but isn’t it too soon if I do?’

Xiao Ran: It’s fine. This way, your parents can rest easy. Think of it as showing your mom my family’s attitude—they all approve. Don’t feel any pressure.

Looking at the message from Brother Xiao Ran, Yan Xici swallowed hard. After a great deal of self-persuasion, her eyes filled with determination.

’I’ll go!’

’To be with Brother Xiao Ran, I’d do anything, let alone visit his family. Every new bride has to meet the in-laws eventually. I can’t be afraid!’

Yan Xici: Don’t worry, Brother Xiao Ran. As long as you’re with me, I’m not afraid to go anywhere!

After a long while, having mentally prepared herself, she finally sent a message to her mother.

The main point was to tell her mom about the attitude of Brother Xiao Ran’s family and to say how much she hoped her mom would help her out by persuading her dad.

...

After settling things with Yan Xici, Xiao Ran was no longer in the mood to write. He habitually opened his author dashboard, only for his eyes to widen in shock.

Holy cow. He had a new Silver Patron. And it was the same person who had made two massive Silver-tier donations.

A surprise Silver Patron meant that, by the unwritten rules, he owed ten bonus Chapters.

Two Silver Patrons, then, meant twenty bonus Chapters. That was no small number.

Xiao Ran instinctively clicked on the patron’s profile. An author’s first reaction to a Silver Patron is usually to click on their avatar and pay their respects by checking out their profile.

Xiao Ran was no different, but after clicking on the big shot’s avatar, he was even more astonished.

The avatar was a small fox, and the username was just a string of numbers.

There was no bio, and the only activity on record was these two donations. Not even a single comment.

Xiao Ran frowned slightly.

’To be honest, this is the first time I’ve ever encountered a reader like this,’ he thought.

He even began to suspect it was another one of Yan Xici’s pranks.

But that didn’t seem right. He had already exposed her alt account—or more accurately, she had exposed it herself.

Besides, two Silver-tier donations cost twenty thousand yuan. She didn’t have that kind of money.

Staring at the weight of those two Silver donations, Xiao Ran was lost in thought. ’What is going on here?’

Curiosity aside, he still posted a sincere thank you in his author’s notes and immediately uploaded twenty new Chapters to show his gratitude.

It was an unwritten rule that one Silver Patron donation equaled a 20,000-character update. Two of them meant Xiao Ran had to post 40,000 characters.

...

On the film set, Yang Mi was relaxing with her legs crossed, scrolling on her phone. When she saw the number of Chapters Xiao Ran had updated, her face bloomed into a wide smile.

’He really keeps his word,’ she thought.

She had been busy filming on set lately, and in her downtime, she would read Xiao Ran’s novel.

The more she read, the more interesting she found it. She absolutely cracked up when she opened the comment section—the flame wars were so intense, it reminded her of the days when she’d get hate for simply drinking a glass of water.

But she wasn’t just there for the drama. She simply felt the subject matter was incredibly controversial.

However, while such controversy might not be a good thing for a book, in the real world, it most certainly was. After all, controversy itself is a great hook!

Being a savvy woman, she immediately sensed a business opportunity.

By leveraging the controversy, she could effortlessly generate a wave of online traffic. Plus, she could make a cameo herself to drive even more engagement.

If it were actually adapted into a show, the results were bound to be good. And if she could make one or two of her actors famous in the process, it would be a huge win for her!

The only issue was that the word count was still too low. She had no idea where the story was going, so she couldn’t make a final decision. After all, plenty of books started strong only to fizzle out, and botched endings were a dime a dozen.

That was why she had casually dropped two Silver-tier donations. She wanted to see the upcoming plot faster so she could better analyze the feasibility of her idea!

After posting the twenty Chapters, Xiao Ran looked reluctantly at his dwindling buffer of draft Chapters.

’Good thing I have a buffer of over a hundred thousand characters,’ he thought. ’Otherwise, this one reader would have completely drained me dry!’

But relief was one thing; he didn’t dare to slack off. He was down forty thousand characters, after all. He opened his writing software and began his daily grind.

Time always flew by when he was writing. In the blink of an eye, it was already past five o’clock. Xiao Ran shut down his computer a few minutes early, planning to take a short break before heading to the market to buy groceries. He wanted to eat early so he could get back to writing early.