Chapter 96

In fact, Tong Yan's conversation with Old Song only lasted a few sentences. As his relationship with Song RAO progressed, the relationship between him and Old Song also became a bit unclear and indescribable. Tong Yan felt that he could no longer speak as casually with him as before.

Back in the living room, Tong Dad and Tong Mom thought their son had been on the phone with his homeroom teacher for half an hour and were very pleased. Being able to chat with the teacher for so long indicated that their son was still highly regarded by Teacher Song. With a teacher who appreciated him so much, they didn't have to worry about his grades not improving next semester.

Although Tong Yan was not interested in any of the singing and dancing performances or some of the language programs on the Spring Festival Gala, there were not many opportunities for the whole family to sit together and watch TV. He endured and did not return to his room to work on his novel. Instead, he went through the plot he was about to start writing in his mind. Like most families in the north, after watching Zhao Benshan's sketch, the four of them went to bed.

Tong Yan naturally wouldn't fall asleep immediately. He turned on his computer. "Furious Thunder" received over thirty more monthly votes today, bringing the total to 726, ranking 17th overall and third among new books. "Desire Emperor," which was second among new books, was 15th overall, with "Ming" by Jiutu in between.

Tong Yan looked at the few chapters he had left in his backlog and posted another one before midnight, along with his New Year's greetings to all his readers.

The Spring Festival is too important to the Chinese. Not only do authors have a reason to take a break, but many readers are also busy celebrating and temporarily pause their reading. Tong Yan felt he needed to give something back to his readers for receiving so many monthly votes on this day, so he posted an extra chapter beyond what he had planned.

When he checked the subscription status during the update, the first chapter had nearly 3700 subscriptions, and the average subscription had already exceeded 2900, increasing every day. At that time, there was no concept of a "premium channel," or else Tong Yan would have definitely cheered at the prospect of entering it.

There were only three days left in the month, and Tong Yan still had a chance to challenge "Desire Emperor" for second place. In the last one or two days of the month, monthly votes would surge, and readers with remaining votes would clear them out at the last minute. The rankings of many novels would change, and it was uncertain who would be the winner until the very end.

Since the Tong family were newcomers, and Tong Dad and Tong Mom did not have jobs in the public sector, there were not many families for Tong Yan to visit on New Year's Day. He only needed to pay New Year's greetings to his uncle and grandparents, and then he had the rest of the day free to write. He spent the entire afternoon hiding in the Five Flavors Bookstore, which had not yet opened, immersed in his fantasy world.

The same was true for the second and third days of the New Year. Tong Yan's backlog gradually grew, and his ranking on the monthly vote list rose another notch, beginning to closely compete with "Desire Emperor."

Among the top five new books on the monthly vote list, Jingguan, the author of "Beast Blood Boiling," had previously written a well-received but poorly-selling gangster novel called "Blood Flow," and the main character of "Beast Blood," Liu Han, was also an important character in "Blood Flow." The two were closely connected, and many old readers supported him. The authors of "Unscrupulous Emperor" and "Lingyun Zhiyi," Aowuchang and Futian, respectively, had also written before and had accumulated a certain level of popularity. The only ones who appeared to be new authors with new books were Longlindao's "Desire Emperor" and Tong Yan's "Furious Thunder." Tong Yan was not sure about the former, but he knew his own situation and definitely could not be considered a new author. If Longlindao did not have other pen names, then "Desire Emperor," as a niche science fiction novel, was indeed very strong.

On the second day of the New Year, January 30th, Tong Yan burst with four chapters, securing over a hundred more monthly votes for himself. At one point, "Furious Thunder" surpassed "Desire Emperor," but it was quickly overtaken again.

By the 31st, the two novels had been closely competing for a long time, taking turns to surpass each other. To secure victory, Tong Yan updated six chapters early in the morning, nearly 20,000 words, which greatly excited the readers, who generously contributed their monthly votes. However, because of Tong Yan's previous powerful bursts, most of the readers' monthly votes had already been used up. Many readers did not subscribe to many books each month, so the number of monthly votes they generated was limited. Not all readers were like "I Am By Your Side," who deliberately subscribed to books they didn't read just to support Tong Yan. Therefore, the performance on the last day was not as good as on the 30th.

Tong Yan did his best and left the rest to fate. After the burst, he closed the webpage and focused on writing. Watermelon told Tong Yan that the first few days of the month were crucial in the monthly vote battle. Many novels could secure nearly half of their monthly votes in the first three days. Tong Yan's impressive performance in just half a month indicated that his readers had already developed a certain level of loyalty. As long as he maintained a strong update schedule before school started next month and secured a good ranking, the final result would definitely be good. Therefore, Tong Yan needed to accumulate a backlog for the future.

At 11 PM, Tong Yan paused his writing, opened the Qidian webpage, and found the monthly vote list. He couldn't help but smile. "Furious Thunder" had now surpassed the science fiction novel "Desire Emperor," ranking second among new books and 14th overall. Unfortunately, this advantage was only by three votes. However, Tong Yan consoled himself, "It's almost midnight, no one will vote anymore. Ha, 2500 yuan is in my pocket! Hehe!"

Tong Yan closed the page and continued writing. At 11:50 PM, the two books still maintained a three-vote difference. Many onlookers thought the game was over, but the author Longlindao, who was watching his computer screen, cast the last four monthly votes he had to his own "Longlindao" at the last minute. At that moment, he thought of a very philosophical saying: "The one who laughs last is the winner."

A few minutes after midnight, Tong Yan logged back into Qidian to check his final score. He had 1012 monthly votes, ranking 15th overall.

What? 15th place! Looking at the list, it was clear that "Longlindao," which had been behind him just a moment ago, was now 14th, with only one more vote than "Furious Thunder"!

"How could this happen? I lost by just one vote!" This was even more frustrating than being behind by seventy or eighty votes. The difference was so small, and one vote was worth 1000 yuan in prize money! How could he not regret it? If he had known, he should have used his VIP account, spending only 40 yuan to get one monthly vote! 80 yuan could have secured his victory!

Tong Yan logged into QQ and saw Watermelon's message. Not only did he not sleep that night, but his editor was also excited and couldn't sleep.

Watermelon: Tong Yan, congratulations! You've won the first prize for new books!

Tong Yan: Sister Watermelon, don't comfort me. I was overtaken at the last moment, and only by one vote. I'm so depressed.

Watermelon: So what if you were overtaken? Look up at "Beast Blood Boiling."

Tong Yan: Jingguan is amazing. His new book is second overall!

Watermelon: Yes, he's second overall and gets a 5000 yuan bonus, but he doesn't qualify for the new book prize. So, you and "Desire Emperor" are effectively the first and second among new books, sharing the first prize!

Tong Yan slammed the table. He had been so busy writing that he hadn't properly understood the rules. "Beast Blood Boiling" had been in the top three overall, and "Furious Thunder" had been in the top three among new books, guaranteeing him 2500 yuan in prize money. Knowing this, he wouldn't have pushed himself so hard. However, his recent updates had left a good impression on his readers, which would help him in the February monthly vote battle.

Ha, just the prize money is 2500 yuan. Add the subscription fees, and how much will I have? Tong Yan opened the backend to check his earnings and began calculating his assets...