I noticed that Qidian had launched a top-up promotion this month, so I decided to bring back the Alliance Leader subsidy event and aim for Level 4, the next tier beyond the platform.
All the event requirements remained unchanged: you didn't need to tip the Alliance Leader all at once; you only had to reach the required fan value cumulatively. After a rough calculation, with the top-up promotion, anyone who was already a Hall Master of this book or higher should be able to keep the cost under a hundred. For readers interested in reaching Qidian VIP status, this should be a pretty good deal.
The full event details are in the pinned event post in the comments. Please be sure to follow the instructions.
Lastly, I'd like to ask for your guaranteed monthly votes. Thanks for every bit of support :-D