Rebirth Must Be Happy

Chapter 125 [124] Eight Hundred and Eighty a Day
"morning!"

The next morning, Xu Jinhuan came out of the bathroom after washing up and saw Song Zhiyu's door open. She was wearing pajamas, still sleepy, and her pretty face looked a little tired.

Xu Jinhuan greeted him casually, then asked, "Didn't sleep well?"

"Ah."

Song Zhiyu looked haggard, but her eyes were still bright. She met his gaze for a moment, paused briefly, then mumbled a reply before turning and going into the bathroom.

"Ha~"

Xu Jinhuan yawned and saw Xiao Guai run out from beside his feet, so he followed her.

The little guy ran straight to the kitchen. Xu Jinhuan didn't see his dad, so he asked his mom, "Where's my dad?"

Song Xiaohui said, "She said she wanted to eat steamed buns, so she went to buy some... Is Zhizhi up yet?"

"Ah."

Xu Haiguang returned quickly, and Song Zhiyu came back a while later after changing her clothes.

Seeing that she seemed listless, Xu Haiguang asked, "Didn't you sleep well?"

"Ok!"

Song Zhiyu nodded, "Anyway, I'm not going to school today. I'll go take a nap after I finish eating."

Xu Jinhuan laughed and teased, "I didn't see you sleeping less even in the library."

Song Zhiyu looked over with her still bright, sparkling eyes, though bloodshot. Xu Jinhuan thought she was going to retort, but she quickly looked away and said, "I'm not going to the library. You go by yourself."

"Okay, then you can stay home and get some sleep."

Xu Jinhuan didn't feel happy at all, because even if Song Zhiyu wasn't going, Zhou Wei and the other third wheels were still there, so it didn't make much difference.

The good thing is that Zhou Wei and the others occasionally help out, unlike Song Zhiyu who is always in the way.

Seeing the joy on his face, Song Zhiyu almost couldn't resist joining in the mischief, but she held back and went back to her room to drag Xiao Guai's trash can to the bathroom to scoop the cat litter.

"Let's go."

Fearing that Song Zhiyu might change her mind again, Xu Jinhuan quickly slipped away after finishing breakfast.

With one less person, pedaling the bicycle was exceptionally easy, but having probably gotten used to having two people, Xu Jinhuan found himself feeling a little out of place on his way to the library.

While waiting at a traffic light, he casually complained about a car, only to realize afterward that there was no one in the back seat. He could have just thought about it, but didn't need to say it aloud, and couldn't help but sigh.

"Zhizhi didn't come?"

Because I left home early, I ran into Chen Xingzhu on the library stairs. Seeing that he was alone, Chen Xingzhu took the initiative to ask him something, which was unusual for him.

"No, I'm sleeping at home."

Xu Jinhuan explained, "I don't know what I did last night, I didn't sleep well, and I look like a panda."

"Oh."

Chen Xingzhu nodded, her clear, bright eyes fixed on him, seemingly scrutinizing and probing him.

Xu Jinhuan looked at her with a bit of a strange expression.

Chen Xingzhu didn't say anything more, turned around and went upstairs.

'Why is everything so strange?'

Xu Jinhuan muttered to himself, went upstairs to find a place to study, ate noodles there again at noon, and left the library together in the late afternoon to check out the exam venue.

Because it wasn't on their way, Zhou Wei and her friends, who were like third wheels, finally didn't follow along this time and each took a bus to see the exam venue.

Do you have any change?

Zhou Wei and the others arrived first, and soon only Xu Jinhuan and Chen Xingzhu were left. He didn't feel ashamed and took the initiative to ask Chen Xingzhu.

"Ah."

Chen Xingzhu often takes the bus and always keeps some change in her wallet.

"Then could you vote for me?"

Xu Jinhuan had become accustomed to living off women, which perfectly exemplified his shamelessness.

Chen Xingzhu glanced at him, then took out her wallet, took out two coins from the wallet, and handed them to him.

Xu Jinhuan took the coins, unsure whether she wanted to pay for both of their fares herself or just two yuan per person, so she asked again, "Is the air conditioning on now?"

Chen Xingzhu shook her head and said, "No."

Xu Jinhuan laughed and said, "That's good, it saves us two yuan."

Chen Xingzhu turned to him and asked, "How much is the advertising fee today?"

"I forgot to check it."

Xu Jinhuan took out his phone, glanced at it, and then handed it to her, saying in a nonchalant, pretentious tone, "Not bad." Chen Xingzhu took the phone and saw that the advertising revenue from the day before yesterday was 882.7 yuan.

"so much?"

Chen Xingzhu couldn't help but exclaim in astonishment. The last time Xu Jinhuan sent her the advertising revenue was on the 17th. Because of the two-day delay, it showed the advertising revenue of the 15th, which was 385 yuan. But today she saw the revenue of the 17th. In just two days, it had more than doubled.

"It's not bad. On average, we're getting over 2000 more downloads a day, over 1,000 more daily active users, and about 100 more in advertising revenue. And that's after Apple takes its cut."

Xu Jinhuan explained, "There are probably more heavy users. Some people play for a while and then stop, while others will crash dozens of times a day."

Historically, at its peak, Flappy Bird only had two to three million daily active users, yet it provided the developers with $5 in advertising revenue per day. Considering that the game itself had very few ad placements, this meant that on average, each user had to die at least 10 times a day, resulting in an incredibly high level of user engagement.

Xu Jinhuan's version of "Flappy Bird" has made very few changes and has inherited this characteristic; otherwise, with the current number of users and active users, it would be difficult to generate so much advertising revenue.

Chen Xingzhu nodded as if she understood, then asked him, "Will the price go up again after that?"

"Probably so."

Chen Xingzhu nodded again. After checking the exam venue, she took the bus home alone. Only after getting on the bus did she take out her phone, find a contact named "Kong Wenbo" in her WeChat contacts, open the chat window, and type: "Brother Wenbo, are you busy right now? I want to ask you something."

As she grew older, Chen Xingzhu became increasingly introverted and aloof. She had few close friends and had become estranged from her relatives and siblings. Her cousin was one of the few people who remained patient and caring towards her under these circumstances.

Kong Wenbo quickly replied, "No rush, go ahead."

Chen Xingzhu: "I remember you're a software developer. For a game that relies solely on advertising revenue, will the game's advertising revenue keep growing?"

Kong Wenbo: "It's hard to say. Usually, after a game is released, there will be a period of user growth, a peak and a decline, and then a period of stability. The curve is different for each game."

Kong Wenbo: "Why are you interested in this?"

Chen Xingzhu said, "I have a classmate who made a small game..."

She briefly summarized the situation and then asked, "He saw today that the advertising revenue for the 17th has already risen to 800. Will it rise further?"

Chen Xingzhu wasn't worried about Xu Jinhuan's game revenue plummeting later on; what she was afraid of was Xu Jinhuan making too much money!

Success is certainly a good thing, but premature success may lead to the consequences of forcing growth. After all, Xu Jinhuan is too young, only a high school sophomore, and it is easy for him to be affected by short-term monetary gains.

Just like he said in his public speech that day, the feedback cycle of learning is too long, and it is far less tempting and motivating than the advertising revenue that can be seen every day.

Xu Jinhuan is capable of teaching himself programming and making money with his first game, which shows he has talent. Therefore, he should study harder, get into a good university, and continue his studies there. This way, he can better develop his talent and go further in the future.

It would be a real shame if he let earning money early interfere with his studies.

"This is impossible!"

Kong Wenbo's eyes widened when he saw the message Chen Xingzhu sent. "According to what you said, this game only has a little over 20,000 downloads now, and only 16,000 downloads on the 17th, with a daily active user count of just over 8000. Unless they're cramming in ads like crazy, how could they possibly have 880 yuan in advertising fees a day? And that's after Apple takes its cut!"

Chen Xingzhu typed: "He only has one ad in the game, which is displayed every time he dies."

Kong Wenbo: "That's even more impossible. If the game difficulty is too high, players will keep dying and won't want to play anymore. If the difficulty is too low and players don't die, there will be too few ads, and players won't be interested in completing the game."

Chen Xingzhu: "That game is very difficult."

She herself didn't think it was difficult, but judging from other people's reactions, they all seemed to think it was very difficult and often died in accidents.

Kong Wenbo: "This doesn't make sense, unless all players have masochistic tendencies!"

Kong Wenbo: "According to what you said, each active user has to die more than 10 times a day on average. Those heavy users probably have to die even more to earn that much advertising revenue..."

Kong Wenbo: "If that's the case, this game won't last long!"

Chen Xingzhu's eyes lit up: "You mean, after this game makes some money, its popularity will quickly drop, and then it won't make any more money?"

In her view, this was the best outcome:

Making some money could solve Xu Jinhuan's immediate problem and ease his financial straits.

Since this game won't last long, Xu Jinhuan won't become impetuous because of it, and he won't neglect his studies...

Kong Wenbo: "Based on what you said, I feel that's the case."

Kong Wenbo: "What's the game called? I'll go check it out."

Chen Xingzhu sent over the game's name and then asked, "Will the hype die down in two or three months?"

Kong Wenbo: "It's hard to say."

Kong Wenbo: "Is this it?"

He found the game, sent a screenshot, and Chen Xingzhu replied, "Hmm."

Kong Wenbo: "That simple?"

Kong Wenbo: "This is too rudimentary. How can you earn 800 yuan a day with this?"

He felt like all his years of studying and working had been for nothing. He was already getting a pretty good salary, but even working himself to the bone every day didn't earn him 880 yuan!

(End of this chapter)