diff --git a/src/client/src/tscServer.c b/src/client/src/tscServer.c
index 0972e5fe2dbbb45195dfc6709258fbe6b6b42785..af914f92663ffb841b7fe268a7d32945bd4867eb 100644
--- a/src/client/src/tscServer.c
+++ b/src/client/src/tscServer.c
@@ -3558,7 +3558,6 @@ int tscProcessRetrieveRspFromVnode(SSqlObj *pSql) {
       p += sizeof(TSKEY);
       tscUpdateSubscriptionProgress(pSql->pSubscription, uid, key);
     }
-    tscSaveSubscriptionProgress(pSql->pSubscription);
   }
 
   pRes->row = 0;
diff --git a/src/client/src/tscSub.c b/src/client/src/tscSub.c
index 17a5031fa673f831cec9824d78742166ecdfb369..2d85c026afb17bd7b6bbdd47c65bf5f7301b49c4 100644
--- a/src/client/src/tscSub.c
+++ b/src/client/src/tscSub.c
@@ -49,7 +49,11 @@ typedef struct SSub {
 
 
 static int tscCompareSubscriptionProgress(const void* a, const void* b) {
-  return ((const SSubscriptionProgress*)a)->uid - ((const SSubscriptionProgress*)b)->uid;
+  const SSubscriptionProgress* x = (const SSubscriptionProgress*)a;
+  const SSubscriptionProgress* y = (const SSubscriptionProgress*)b;
+  if (x->uid > y->uid) return 1;
+  if (x->uid < y->uid) return -1;
+  return 0;
 }
 
 TSKEY tscGetSubscriptionProgress(void* sub, int64_t uid) {
@@ -175,7 +179,7 @@ int tscUpdateSubscription(STscObj* pObj, SSub* pSub) {
   if (!UTIL_METER_IS_NOMRAL_METER(pMeterMetaInfo)) {
     SMetricMeta* pMetricMeta = pMeterMetaInfo->pMetricMeta;
     for (int32_t i = 0; i < pMetricMeta->numOfVnodes; i++) {
-      SVnodeSidList *pVnodeSidList = tscGetVnodeSidList(pMetricMeta, pMeterMetaInfo->vnodeIndex);
+      SVnodeSidList *pVnodeSidList = tscGetVnodeSidList(pMetricMeta, i);
       numOfMeters += pVnodeSidList->numOfSids;
     }
   }
@@ -195,7 +199,7 @@ int tscUpdateSubscription(STscObj* pObj, SSub* pSub) {
     SMetricMeta* pMetricMeta = pMeterMetaInfo->pMetricMeta;
     numOfMeters = 0;
     for (int32_t i = 0; i < pMetricMeta->numOfVnodes; i++) {
-      SVnodeSidList *pVnodeSidList = tscGetVnodeSidList(pMetricMeta, pMeterMetaInfo->vnodeIndex);
+      SVnodeSidList *pVnodeSidList = tscGetVnodeSidList(pMetricMeta, i);
       for (int32_t j = 0; j < pVnodeSidList->numOfSids; j++) {
         SMeterSidExtInfo *pMeterInfo = tscGetMeterSidInfo(pVnodeSidList, j);
         int64_t uid = pMeterInfo->uid;
@@ -344,6 +348,8 @@ TAOS_RES *taos_consume(TAOS_SUB *tsub) {
   SSub *pSub = (SSub *)tsub;
   if (pSub == NULL) return NULL;
 
+  tscSaveSubscriptionProgress(pSub);
+
   SSqlObj* pSql = pSub->pSql;
   SSqlRes *pRes = &pSql->res;
 
@@ -355,27 +361,36 @@ TAOS_RES *taos_consume(TAOS_SUB *tsub) {
     }
   }
 
-  if (taosGetTimestampMs() - pSub->lastSyncTime > 10 * 60 * 1000) {
-    tscTrace("begin meter synchronization");
-    char* sqlstr = pSql->sqlstr;
-    pSql->sqlstr = NULL;
-    taos_free_result_imp(pSql, 0);
-    pSql->sqlstr = sqlstr;
-    taosClearDataCache(tscCacheHandle);
-    if (!tscUpdateSubscription(pSub->taos, pSub)) return NULL;
-    tscTrace("meter synchronization completed");
-  } else {
-    uint16_t type = pSql->cmd.type;
-    taos_free_result_imp(pSql, 1);
-    pRes->numOfRows = 1;
-    pRes->numOfTotal = 0;
-    pRes->qhandle = 0;
-    pSql->thandle = NULL;
-    pSql->cmd.command = TSDB_SQL_SELECT;
-    pSql->cmd.type = type;
+  for (int retry = 0; retry < 3; retry++) {
+    if (taosGetTimestampMs() - pSub->lastSyncTime > 10 * 60 * 1000) {
+      tscTrace("begin meter synchronization");
+      char* sqlstr = pSql->sqlstr;
+      pSql->sqlstr = NULL;
+      taos_free_result_imp(pSql, 0);
+      pSql->sqlstr = sqlstr;
+      taosClearDataCache(tscCacheHandle);
+      if (!tscUpdateSubscription(pSub->taos, pSub)) return NULL;
+      tscTrace("meter synchronization completed");
+    } else {
+      uint16_t type = pSql->cmd.type;
+      taos_free_result_imp(pSql, 1);
+      pRes->numOfRows = 1;
+      pRes->numOfTotal = 0;
+      pRes->qhandle = 0;
+      pSql->thandle = NULL;
+      pSql->cmd.command = TSDB_SQL_SELECT;
+      pSql->cmd.type = type;
+    }
+
+    tscDoQuery(pSql);
+    if (pRes->code != TSDB_CODE_NOT_ACTIVE_TABLE) {
+      break;
+    }
+    // meter was removed, make sync time zero, so that next retry will
+    // do synchronization first
+    pSub->lastSyncTime = 0;
   }
 
-  tscDoQuery(pSql);
   if (pRes->code != TSDB_CODE_SUCCESS) {
     tscError("failed to query data, error code=%d", pRes->code);
     tscRemoveFromSqlList(pSql);
@@ -394,7 +409,9 @@ void taos_unsubscribe(TAOS_SUB *tsub, int keepProgress) {
     taosTmrStop(pSub->pTimer);
   }
 
-  if (!keepProgress) {
+  if (keepProgress) {
+    tscSaveSubscriptionProgress(pSub);
+  } else {
     char path[256];
     sprintf(path, "%s/subscribe/%s", dataDir, pSub->topic);
     remove(path);
diff --git a/tests/examples/c/subscribe.c b/tests/examples/c/subscribe.c
index 04d000ba370c1ccf557fec6e5648ac29ff42e584..b168648702b21456a3b94affdff0418fc6549785 100644
--- a/tests/examples/c/subscribe.c
+++ b/tests/examples/c/subscribe.c
@@ -7,33 +7,30 @@
 #include <taos.h>  // include TDengine header file
 #include <unistd.h>
 
-void print_result(TAOS_RES* res) {
+void print_result(TAOS_RES* res, int blockFetch) {
   TAOS_ROW    row = NULL;
   int         num_fields = taos_num_fields(res);
   TAOS_FIELD* fields = taos_fetch_fields(res);
 
-#if 0
-
-  int nRows = taos_fetch_block(res, &row);
-  for (int i = 0; i < nRows; i++) {
-    char temp[256];
-    taos_print_row(temp, row + i, fields, num_fields);
-    puts(temp);
-  }
-
-#else
-
-  while ((row = taos_fetch_row(res))) {
-    char temp[256];
-    taos_print_row(temp, row, fields, num_fields);
-    puts(temp);
+  if (blockFetch) {
+    int nRows = taos_fetch_block(res, &row);
+    for (int i = 0; i < nRows; i++) {
+      char temp[256];
+      taos_print_row(temp, row + i, fields, num_fields);
+      puts(temp);
+    }
+  } else {
+    while ((row = taos_fetch_row(res))) {
+      char temp[256];
+      taos_print_row(temp, row, fields, num_fields);
+      puts(temp);
+    }
   }
-
-#endif
 }
 
+
 void subscribe_callback(TAOS_SUB* tsub, TAOS_RES *res, void* param, int code) {
-  print_result(res);
+  print_result(res, *(int*)param);
 }
 
 
@@ -50,11 +47,12 @@ void check_row_count(int line, TAOS_RES* res, int expected) {
   }
 }
 
+
 void run_test(TAOS* taos) {
   taos_query(taos, "drop database test;");
   
   usleep(100000);
-  taos_query(taos, "create database test;");
+  taos_query(taos, "create database test tables 5;");
   usleep(100000);
   taos_query(taos, "use test;");
   usleep(100000);
@@ -71,12 +69,19 @@ void run_test(TAOS* taos) {
   taos_query(taos, "insert into t2 using meters tags('london', 0) values('2020-01-01 00:01:00.000', 0, 'UK');");
   taos_query(taos, "insert into t2 using meters tags('london', 0) values('2020-01-01 00:01:01.000', 0, 'UK');");
   taos_query(taos, "insert into t2 using meters tags('london', 0) values('2020-01-01 00:01:02.000', 0, 'UK');");
+  taos_query(taos, "insert into t3 using meters tags('tianjin', 0) values('2020-01-01 00:01:02.000', 0, 'china');");
+  taos_query(taos, "insert into t4 using meters tags('wuhan', 0) values('2020-01-01 00:01:02.000', 0, 'china');");
+  taos_query(taos, "insert into t5 using meters tags('jinan', 0) values('2020-01-01 00:01:02.000', 0, 'china');");
+  taos_query(taos, "insert into t6 using meters tags('haikou', 0) values('2020-01-01 00:01:02.000', 0, 'china');");
+  taos_query(taos, "insert into t7 using meters tags('nanjing', 0) values('2020-01-01 00:01:02.000', 0, 'china');");
+  taos_query(taos, "insert into t8 using meters tags('lanzhou', 0) values('2020-01-01 00:01:02.000', 0, 'china');");
+  taos_query(taos, "insert into t9 using meters tags('tokyo', 0) values('2020-01-01 00:01:02.000', 0, 'japan');");
 
   // super tables subscription
 
   TAOS_SUB* tsub = taos_subscribe(taos, 0, "test", "select * from meters;", NULL, NULL, 0);
   TAOS_RES* res = taos_consume(tsub);
-  check_row_count(__LINE__, res, 11);
+  check_row_count(__LINE__, res, 18);
 
   res = taos_consume(tsub);
   check_row_count(__LINE__, res, 0);
@@ -90,18 +95,24 @@ void run_test(TAOS* taos) {
   res = taos_consume(tsub);
   check_row_count(__LINE__, res, 1);
 
-  // keep progress information and continue previous subscription
+  // keep progress information and restart subscription
   taos_unsubscribe(tsub, 1);
   taos_query(taos, "insert into t0 using meters tags('beijing', 0) values('2020-01-01 00:03:00.000', 0, 'china');");
   tsub = taos_subscribe(taos, 1, "test", "select * from meters;", NULL, NULL, 0);
   res = taos_consume(tsub);
-  check_row_count(__LINE__, res, 15);
+  check_row_count(__LINE__, res, 22);
+
+  // keep progress information and continue previous subscription
+  taos_unsubscribe(tsub, 1);
+  tsub = taos_subscribe(taos, 0, "test", "select * from meters;", NULL, NULL, 0);
+  res = taos_consume(tsub);
+  check_row_count(__LINE__, res, 0);
 
   // don't keep progress information and continue previous subscription
   taos_unsubscribe(tsub, 0);
   tsub = taos_subscribe(taos, 0, "test", "select * from meters;", NULL, NULL, 0);
   res = taos_consume(tsub);
-  check_row_count(__LINE__, res, 15);
+  check_row_count(__LINE__, res, 22);
 
   // single meter subscription
 
@@ -132,8 +143,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
   const char* passwd = "taosdata";
   const char* sql = "select * from meters;";
   const char* topic = "test-multiple";
-  int async = 1, restart = 0, keep = 1, test = 0;
-  TAOS_SUB* tsub = NULL;
+  int async = 1, restart = 0, keep = 1, test = 0, blockFetch = 0;
 
   for (int i = 1; i < argc; i++) {
     if (strncmp(argv[i], "-h=", 3) == 0) {
@@ -174,6 +184,10 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
       test = 1;
       continue;
     }
+    if (strcmp(argv[i], "-block-fetch") == 0) {
+      blockFetch = 1;
+      continue;
+    }
   }
 
   // init TAOS
@@ -191,9 +205,12 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
     exit(0);
   }
 
+  TAOS_SUB* tsub = NULL;
   if (async) {
-    tsub = taos_subscribe(taos, restart, topic, sql, subscribe_callback, NULL, 1000);
+    // create an asynchronized subscription, the callback function will be called every 1s
+    tsub = taos_subscribe(taos, restart, topic, sql, subscribe_callback, &blockFetch, 1000);
   } else {
+    // create an synchronized subscription, need to call 'taos_consume' manually
     tsub = taos_subscribe(taos, restart, topic, sql, NULL, NULL, 0);
   }
 
@@ -206,8 +223,13 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
     getchar();
   } else while(1) {
     TAOS_RES* res = taos_consume(tsub);
-    print_result(res);
-    getchar();
+    if (res == NULL) {
+      printf("failed to consume data.");
+      break;
+    } else {
+      print_result(res, blockFetch);
+      getchar();
+    }
   }
 
   taos_unsubscribe(tsub, keep);
@@ -215,4 +237,3 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 
   return 0;
 }
-