Ch6 - Cat Preschool

Need to attend school; need to make money

Editor: Vez 

It was not until noon and the sun climbed to the top of the old locust tree in the courtyard that Sparta found the opportunity to get his preschool handbook from the balcony. Xin Qin had been very careful, double checking to make sure he closed the doors and shut the windows so Sparta could not accidentally slip out. At this stage, he reckoned the cat still had the consciousness of a stray cat and had not cultivated the awareness of a domestic cat.

Maochun City was known as a cat-loving city. With a better environment for cats than most of the cities in the country, some cat owners even suggest raising cats in a free range. If conditions permit, raising cats in an open space is a good method to satisfy their predatory instincts. A wider space can help them release their nature and live a happier life. However, even if Maochun City is known to be safe, some people do not feel comfortable letting their cats out of the house and wandering at will. Even if domestic cats are embedded with chips and wear a collar, it is difficult to completely avoid accidents. Cautious owners prefer to keep their cats in the safety of their homes.

Xin Qin thought he was careful enough, but to his surprise, when he went to the balcony to retrieve his dried clothes, before he had the time to close the glass door on his way out, Sparta quickly slipped to the balcony by following his footsteps. The cat moved so fast that he did not even have the time to react. Fortunately, Sparta did not seem too curious about the outside world. He saw the Dragon Li cat rush to the corner of the balcony before dashing back inside with lightning speed, so fast that he did not even hear the thundering thump afterward, leaving him standing in place in confusion.

Sparta wandered around the house with his handbook in his mouth before finally finding a great hiding space. The gap where the corner of the sofa met the edge of the room. He measured the gap with his whiskers and concluded it was perfect. He squeezed himself and the handbook into the gap and retreated into the narrow corner. This cramped space brought him an endless sense of security. He spit out the handbook in satisfaction and licked his fur carefully as a reward. After his long reward, he was hit with a strong sense of drowsiness. He half squinted, trying to stay awake. However, the sleepiness was so sweet and comfy that he could no longer resist it and curled into a ball to nap. 

Learning? What learning? We can talk once I am awake, hululu.

Xin Qin searched everywhere in the house and did not see a single sign of the Dragon Li cat. After checking the doors and windows, he ruled out the possibility of the cat sneaking out which relieved some of his worries. He checked the clock that showed two thirty in the afternoon. It was still too early compared with his usual schedule. After some thoughts, he decided to go to the game room to surf the internet to find some inspiration.

He had remodelled the study into the current gaming room by replacing the majority of the decorations with a full set of game equipment with hard work and money. His current webpage was an unknown game streamer’s page in a livestream website. He livestreamed on Fish Cat Livestream Platform. Xin Qin had loved playing games since childhood and had good awareness and game mechanics. He could achieve good results no matter what game he played. However, he usually did not like to speak during his livestream or do promotions. Among the countless in the streaming circle, he was simply a speck of dust. Not having many fans was expected.

Majority of streamers are game related. Do it well and they could become partners by signing a contract with the platform, receiving part of the ads revenue, but their main source of income is donations from the fans.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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In modern society, there are few occupations that would receive money in such a straightforward way. Most jobs would not involve such transparent money transactions. Even actors in the entertainment industry had to benefit indirectly through the box office. The advantage of this kind of work is that the streamer’s popularity dictates one’s income. The scope of streamer’s job is very simple, that is, entertain the fans. Based on various considerations, Xin Qin decided this kind of work was best suitable for him. He could support his little family while doing what he liked.

But at the present, the first problem he needed to solve was how to attract fans and please them?

His purpose was very simple, so the method was also very simple. He first went online and opened the Fish Cat home page. He spent an hour visiting several livestream on the front page to study how they named their streams, their up time, and past livestream records. Because right now was a slow part of the day, there were not many livestream online, but many fans still got together to chat in a few offline livestream rooms. He found several livestream rooms similar to his own, joined the conversation and asked about the games and what the mainstream audience currently liked. 

After browsing through the platform page, he logged in to his Weibo, which was followed by several zombie accounts. Even so, he did not have the heart to delete this account.

He opened the fan list, found a familiar avatar and clicked on it to open a private chat.

The other party’s Weibo ID was [Fish Cat Streamer_Love Scrambled Eggs with Green Peppers], also a game streamer on Fish Cat. This streamer could be considered a young internet celebrity with decent popularity. Scrambled Eggs started streaming about four months ago, way later than Xin Qin. But as a hardworking individual, Scrambled Eggs diligently interacted with other streamers and had his own interesting streaming style. Thus, he soon gathered a small group of fans.

Scrambled Eggs and Xin Qin mutually followed each other, which was entirely by accident. In the beginning, Scrambled Eggs visited a few livestream rooms on the platform, after stumbling into Xin Qin’s livestream, he became an admirer of Xin Qin’s skillful techniques. Then he sent private messages to wheedle for Xin Qin’s Weibo account, which was how they followed each other. Although they don’t usually chat, Scrambled Eggs would like all of Xin Qin’s posts, which could be regarded as a friendly exchange. Xin Qin thought Scrambled Eggs’s method to fame would be feasible. 

Bad Looking Mood: [Excuse me, I want to ask you about how to promote my livestream. Is it a good time for a quick chat?]

Just as Xin Qin typed and sent the message, he was prepared to be ignored or glanced over, but the other party immediately replied with enthusiasm which surprised him.

Fish Cat Streamer_Love Scrambled Eggs with Green Peppers: [Holy fuck! The great god took the initiative to chat with me! Yes, I am free, I have all the time in the world!]

Bad Looking Mood: [I’m not a great god. You can call me Mood.] 

Fish Cat Streamer_Love Scrambled Eggs with Green Peppers: [Can’t I call you Good Looking?]

Bad Looking Mood: […]

Although the other party appeared somewhat unreliable, Xin Qin still added him on QQ. Scrambled Eggs was very friendly. Once he finished listening to Xin Qin’s desire to revamp his livestream room, he slapped the table, indicating Xin Qin should have done this long ago. [Watching a great god like you fall among the peasants pains my heart!] He sent a meme of a frog vomiting blood. [Are you in the top 500 in XF yet?]

Xin Qin could not help smiling and typing back: [No, I did not grind rank last season.] 

Scrambled Eggs expressed his regret. He was a very talkative person, which was quite consistent with his livestream style. During their conversation, he would type and send a dozen lines while Xin Qin would manage to send one reply. Scrambled Eggs gave four thumbs up, using both his hands and feet, to Xin Qin wanting to be famous. His suggestion to Xin Qin was very clear. Find a persona. All the craze these days among the fans was persona. Persona is the selling point.

Xin Qin was confused. What is a persona?

Scrambled Eggs smugly explained what the other did not understand. The example he gave was if he was to promote Xin Qin’s livestream, how should he introduce him? The descriptions he used would determine the new audience’s outlook. Whether his words would capture new audiences depended on how appealing Xin Qin’s persona was. Of course, he emphasised how this was not as easy as it sounded.

[Fans these days are getting smarter and smarter, they are not as easily tricked. Even if you think you have crafted the perfect persona, they might not buy it. Sometimes, the deeper you are into your persona, the harder you fall when you flop. So what I said earlier is just a theory. According to my years of observation, most famous streamers just needed one opportunity, one that is often unattainable. To put it bluntly, it depends on your luck.] 

Under Scrambled Eggs’ encouragement, Xin Qin began to think hard about his own selling points. First of all, he is good at gaming, but not good at making interesting commentary, which means he would be better suited to do strategy or teaching-oriented videos. Secondly…

Xin Qin could not think of a second selling point, which brought a little sadness.

While Xin Qin was thinking hard and summarising the highlights of his life, Sparta, who just awoke from his sweet nap, opened his eyes slowly and yawned to wake himself up. I should start studying. He struggled to sit up because of the cramped space. Although Sparta was not a big cat, he was still crammed up against his back. The dazed Dragon Li cat wrinkled, turned his neck and looked at the handbook. Suddenly, he remembered Miwu, he wondered if his human was bored during his nap. Meow, I should check on him first.

He quickly crawled out of his hiding place, sniffed to determine the other’s location and then ran upstairs at a brisk pace. Miwu was in the small room with the door barely open. Sparta arched with his side and easily slipped in. Miwu! He called out his human. 

As soon as Xin Qin looked up from the screen, he saw his cat looking at him with his head tilted. With a smile, he tapped on the table with his fingers and greeted Sparta, “Come here.”

Sparta scurried over as he shrugged his shoulders before leaping on to Xin Qin’s lap with his hindlegs. The first thing that came to Xin Qin’s mind was the cat’s dirty fur and that made his scalp turn numb. But the cat was already up here so he could not chase the dirty cat away. He was torn between pushing the cat as far away from him as possible as well as shifting the cat at a better location to prevent him from falling off. Sparta did not mind at all. After circling a few times at the same spot, he sat down and raised his chin. He happened to see the glowing screen and the jumping cursor. Meow! He got up, waved his paw and tried to catch the cursor. He was quickly pressed back down by Xin Qin.

“You need to behave.” Xin Qin rubbed the cat’s head.

Sparta did not understand, but obediently kept his paws to himself and tilted his head to rub against Xin Qin’s chest, who was secretly praying hard that Sparta did not have fleas. Although the clinic already did the most basic external parasite prevention, he was still not at ease. Seeing Sparta settle down, he returned to typing on the keyboard and continued to chat with Scrambled Eggs. Sparta’s ears turned towards the keyboard’s clicky sound, he curiously followed Xin Qin’s fingers with his eyes and even attempted to press the keyboard with his paws. Taking advantage of Xin Qin’s momentary distraction, Sparta sent Scrambled Eggs a string of gibberish. 

[Holy crap, great god, are you literally face rolling on your keyboard? I know getting famous is very difficult, but you don’t have to be this depressed!]

[No.] Xin Qin replied once he appeased the restless Dragon Li cat. [That was from my cat.]

Scrambled Eggs posted a meme of dismayed face. [Great god, you just received your persona on a silver platter!]

What persona? 

Streamer with an adorable pet of course!