Chapter 15: The Tip Feature

There are no impenetrable walls in this world, especially when the wall meant to block the wind is the one intentionally letting the breeze through.

News of Huanjian’s interest in acquiring Zewyue was leaked, whether by design or accident, by Zhao Zejun, eventually reaching the ears of the Zewyue project team.

In the realm of web novels, Huanjian was the industry titan, having dominated the market for years. In comparison, Zewyue was merely a younger brother. Though this younger brother was quite "handsome," he still looked up to the industry leader as an idol. Now that Huanjian had initiated contact for an acquisition, far from being a provocation or an insult, it served as the greatest validation and motivation for everyone at Zewyue. Coupled with the promise of substantial rewards, the team felt energized both mentally and materially, their fighting spirit soaring.

With a boss who was willing to spend money and understood the trade, and a staff ready to give their all, there was no reason for the company not to thrive. Zewyue’s metrics began to climb like a rocket.

Just as the number of registered users surpassed one hundred thousand, Zhao Zejun introduced a new feature to the website: "Tipping."

Strictly speaking, this was the foundation of a monetary circulation system built around the tipping function. The website introduced "Zewyue Coins." Users could top up their accounts at a 1:100 exchange rate—one yuan for 100 coins. For the time being, Zewyue Coins had only one purpose: tipping authors. After deducting necessary taxes, the tip was split evenly between the website and the author, with payouts issued once a user’s accumulated tips reached 20,000 Zewyue Coins, or two hundred yuan in cash.

Simultaneously, a new reader ranking system was implemented. Based on the amount spent on a specific book, readers would be categorized from low to high, starting from "Novice" and "Apprentice" all the way up to "Grandmaster." Every tip also granted the reader additional recommendation votes based on the amount donated.

In essence, Zhao Zejun was copying the tipping system from the Qidian of his previous life, though he made slight adjustments to the tiers. While the later Qidian used odd numbers like 588, 1888, or 5888—which were considered lucky but were cumbersome for calculations—Zhao Zejun opted for round numbers, establishing eight major tiers: 10, 100, 500, 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, 50,000, and 100,000 coins. Furthermore, since the "Monthly Ticket" feature did not yet exist, tipping provided readers with extra recommendation votes.

Unexpectedly, most of the project team members were skeptical of this tipping feature, which would have been perfectly normal in the future. Song Yun even voiced his opposition directly. Put simply, tipping meant readers would be paying money directly to authors. Since all web novels were currently free, he had never heard of anyone paying to read a story, nor did he think anyone would willingly hand their money to an author.

"Besides," Song Yun argued, "you can read it with a tip or without one. If you can enjoy the same content without spending a cent, why pay?"

Most of the team members led by Song Yun were computer science majors with professional insights into the internet economy. At the time, "free" was the golden rule of the internet. With the exception of online games and highly specialized professional services—like Alibaba’s business model—the vast majority of services operated on a free model. Zewyue was a fledgling site with a small reader base; would introducing a tipping feature backfire and scare away readers accustomed to free content?

Zhao Zejun was not surprised by the team’s lack of understanding. When Qidian first introduced paid reading in his past life, it had shocked everyone, with many in the industry labeling it as a path to self-destruction. Yet, paid reading was an inevitable step toward the formalization and industrialization of web novels—a path that had to be taken.

However, one had to take it one step at a time; overreaching would only lead to trouble. The timing for a chapter-based VIP paywall was not yet ripe. By first introducing the tipping function, the goal was to instill a subtle concept in both readers and authors: web novels and money could be linked. Once readers and authors were accustomed to associating "reading" with "spending," and once Zewyue had a larger reader base, the formal paywall could be introduced as a natural progression.

Moreover, the tipping feature would help increase engagement between readers and the website. If a reader spent money on a site, they would naturally pay more attention to it. If they spent money on a specific book, they would feel they had contributed to its success, adopting a sense of ownership as a "shareholder."

"It’s alright if you don't understand; just execute the plan," Zhao Zejun said, half-joking and half-commanding. He explained simply, "Don't worry, everyone. This tipping feature is voluntary. At the very worst, no one will tip, but it won't cause us to lose readers."

"Mr. Zhao, will anyone really be willing to spend money? The tiers you’ve set—Novice and Apprentice are fine, just a few yuan. But this highest tier, 'Grandmaster,' is that too exaggerated? Who would spend a thousand yuan to tip?" Song Yun thought to himself that this was nearly half a month's salary for an average white-collar worker.

Zhao Zejun laughed, "Don't look at the world through the eyes of the poor. Believe me, there will be those who do."

...

The "Blood Army" was a reader group founded by Yu Zhe, consisting of the most die-hard fans of "Blood Cloud." Of course, the sheer number of Blood Cloud’s fans far exceeded what a single QQ group could hold. There were three major groups, and with the first two full and the third nearing capacity, there were over a thousand members in total.

On the internet, there were tens of thousands, perhaps even a hundred thousand people who enjoyed Blood Cloud’s books. These thousand-plus members were, to use a term from the future, the "hardcore fanatics" who supported Blood Cloud unconditionally. They were also the backbone of the recent online war against Zhuang Buzhou.

The LV3 reader account that appeared on the day Zewyue launched belonged to a prominent member of the first Blood Army group, known by the handle "I Am Truly a Big Rascal." In the group, the Rascal was a high-profile figure, always the most enthusiastic in discussions and the most aggressive in verbal brawls. It was rumored that he was quite wealthy, and after Blood Cloud switched platforms, he was the first to shout that they must follow and support him.

That day, the Rascal logged into his Zewyue account once again. After reaching LV3, the leveling speed had slowed down significantly; one had to log in, read, and vote every day to earn points. It had taken a long time to reach LV4.

Blood Cloud had updated 12,000 words that day—four long chapters—coinciding with a small climax in the story. The Rascal was thrilled. Reaching the bottom of the last page, the familiar "Recommendation Vote" option appeared as usual, and he didn't hesitate to cast all three of his daily votes for Blood Cloud.

"What's this?" The Rascal noticed a new option next to the recommendation button: "Tip to Support."

*Well, I have to support!* Blood Cloud’s book was too good, and he’d updated over 10,000 words today. Not supporting him would be inhumane! But how did one support? What was a tip?

He clicked the button, and a window popped up with detailed instructions.

"Oh, Zewyue Coins? One yuan buys 100 coins. That's just one cent per coin—damn, that's cheap! I spend hundreds just buying gear in games!" Muttering to himself, the Rascal opened his online banking and, without a second thought, topped up one hundred yuan for 10,000 coins.

He tested it first by tipping one yuan—100 coins.

*“Thank you for your support! You have been promoted to an Apprentice Reader of 'Flowing Sword Records,' gained one additional recommendation vote, and 10 reader experience points.”*

"Holy crap? I get extra votes and experience points for this?"

The Rascal was delighted. His current reader level on the site was only LV4, and he could only cast three votes per book each day. This amount of influence didn't reflect his status as the number one loyal fan at all. But leveling up was too slow; it would take at least another week to reach LV5 and unlock a fourth vote.

Without hesitation, he cast his extra recommendation vote for Blood Cloud and then tipped another 500 coins. This time, he received 50 experience points and two additional recommendation votes.