When Sheng Xia got home, the rain had stopped.

He didn’t feel much walking home in the rain, until he stepped into the elevator and started feeling cold.

After getting home, he quickly took a hot shower, but halfway through, the hot water suddenly stopped, and the bathroom light dimmed. He dried himself off and figured out that the power was probably out, but after studying the electric meter for half a day, he still didn’t understand it, nor did he know where to go to pay the electricity bill. He had to call his college roommate, Zhou Can, for help.

Zhou Can sounded very helpless, “I told you to share the rent with someone else, look at you, you don’t even have common sense.”

“I don’t like living with others. Just came out, can’t you let me adapt a bit?” Sheng Xia sighed, “Hurry up and teach me. I’m going to livestream later, promised the fans.”

Zhou Can guided him step by step on how to pay the electricity bill, and also gave some basic life tips. Finally, he asked, “You still haven’t signed with a company? People who did livestreams before and even record companies came looking for you, why don’t you consider it? You’ll definitely earn more than teaching kids to play the piano.”

Sheng Xia poured himself a glass of milk with a casual tone, “Already signed.”

“Oh, had a revelation?” Zhou Can sounded pleasantly surprised, “Who did you sign with? Oh, don’t forget your old friends when you’re rich! Don’t forget how I used to take care of you! Wait, that’s not right, you’re quite popular now. Which company? How much did they offer?”

“Hayden Records.” Sheng Xia finished his milk in one gulp, “Didn’t ask for money, just asked the boss to pay my rent every month, and I’ll get paid separately if I have any work in the future. Oh, I’ll be joining that band, Aviator, you know, that Aviator.”

Sheng Xia was considered a weirdo during his university days.

Sometimes Zhou Can even felt like he was an empty shell, as if he couldn’t communicate with others through language. Because sometimes you couldn’t understand what he was saying, and he seemed like he didn’t listen to what you said. Some people found him hard to get along with, but Zhou Can knew that Sheng Xia was just different from others.

People in the arts always have some quirks, understandable. But artists also need to eat and pay the bills, so Zhou Can didn’t agree.

“No money?” Zhou Can’s voice suddenly rose, “Hey buddy, are you one of those rich kids who don’t worry about food and clothing? And, Aviator band?! Didn’t their lead singer commit suicide? There was negative news everywhere recently, what are you going there for?”

Zhou Can was also working in the music industry now, so he naturally understood that this was not a trivial matter.

“Zhou Can,” Sheng Xia looked out the window holding his cup, suddenly saying, “Don’t you think rain also has emotions? Some rains are angry, falling rapidly. Some rains are gentle, falling continuously. Some rains carry a lot of grievances, falling intermittently, incessantly. And some rains are happy, when it falls, people’s mood also feels good.”

“Stop.” Zhou Can was used to Sheng Xia’s way of speaking, as he occasionally said some strange things, “Regardless of whether this rain is happy or not, I, Zhou Can, am not happy right now. Explain to me clearly what’s going on!”

As soon as Zhou Can finished speaking, Sheng Xia’s alarm clock went off. Nowadays, most people used their phones as alarm clocks, but Sheng Xia still used that bedside alarm clock. His alarm clock was quite special, shaped like a pink Hello Kitty, with Kitty wearing a little skirt, giving it a childish toy-like appearance. When it rang, there were cheerful bird chirps.

This was a prank birthday gift from his roommates when he was in college because Sheng Xia always seemed to forget what he should be doing at what time, or he would get so absorbed in playing the piano or composing music that he’d forget to eat or sleep, so they bought him an alarm clock to remind himself.

Sheng Xia walked over and turned off the alarm clock, then finally said to Zhou Can, “It’s time to work, we’ll talk next time.” After saying that, he ruthlessly hung up the phone.

There was a decent set of equipment in front of the computer, with his piano and other musical instruments placed conveniently for him to record songs and videos. Now he only occasionally streamed live, two or three times a month.

Sheng Xia actually didn’t know what his online positioning was exactly—was he a video uploader? A streamer? A musician? He didn’t really consider himself any of those.

When he was in his freshman year, Zhou Can happened to upload a few videos of his playing and singing without showing his face online, and unexpectedly, they were picked up by several big Vs (influential users) who gave some professional evaluations. That’s when ‘Galileo-S’ began to gain some fame on the internet.

Later, ‘Galileo-S’ became more and more well-known, and many live-streaming platforms and even music companies extended olive branches to him. At that time, Sheng Xia was just a junior in college.

At the time, his roommates were all advising him to sign up, saying that with his appearance alone, he could make a fortune, why not do it?

Strangely enough, he turned down all the opportunities to make money but stubbornly managed the ‘Galileo-S’ ID online. Zhou Can asked him at the time, “What are you aiming for?”

At that time, most of Sheng Xia’s income came from working as a piano accompanist.

Actually, he didn’t seem like someone from a poor family at all. He had a lot of musical instruments, and the instruments he brought to school were frighteningly expensive. Moreover, being able to study music, especially in their major, almost none of them came from families in financial hardship.

But Sheng Xia seemed to have a bad relationship with his family, his life was always a bit tight, and he had to work all the time.

Being a piano accompanist didn’t bring in much income, just enough to get by, but compared to doing live streams and debuting, it was hardly worth mentioning.

Sheng Xia thought for a moment and answered, “I want more people to recognize me, to have more opportunities for… someone to see my videos, I hope that person will also recognize me.”

“Someone you like?” Zhou Can remarked with a mix of sarcasm and sentimentality, “You’re done for, are you a pure-hearted boy from the last century? If you like someone, just go find them and tell them directly, confess. What’s the point of showing your videos without showing your face for them to see?”

At the time, Sheng Xia just stubbornly said, “He’ll see it.”

Walking up to the workbench, Sheng Xia turned on the computer, adjusted the equipment, opened the live stream, and started playing the piano to test the feel for a while, without singing or talking.

He never had any unnecessary opening remarks. Once the live stream started, he just did his own thing, either playing the piano and singing or answering questions from the viewers. His fans were used to it.

After playing a piece, he thought for a moment before saying, “Today is suitable for singing a song by the Aviator called ‘Rain Wall.’ I’ve made some changes to it before. You guys can listen and see how it sounds.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the comments immediately started:

[Here we go again, another routine Aviator promotion.]

[Hey, does S not read the news? The Aviator’ Shi Ye and Shen Zui are almost being cursed to the heavens now, and he’s still singing Aviator every day, isn’t he afraid of losing fans?]

[Let’s just talk about the work, not the character, please be careful with your words, this is S’s live stream room.]

[A question: are there any songs by the Aviator band that S hasn’t covered?]

…

Usually, when Sheng Xia sang, he wouldn’t pay much attention to the comments. He recalled the version he had modified in his mind and started singing.

His style was simple, always playing and singing by himself without anything too fancy. But the ‘Galileo-S’ ID became popular because of its simplicity. After all, sometimes things that are too complicated lose the beauty of their essence. It sounds good at first, but too much of it becomes tiresome, with nothing memorable.

What made Sheng Xia stand out was his voice, technically proficient and clean and refreshing in style, making it unforgettable.

A music critic online once commented on his voice, saying, “Galileo-S’s voice is very special. His innate vocal conditions aren’t really top-notch, but it’s full of personality, very high-class.”

The term ‘personality’ was quite subtle.

In the works Sheng Xia produced now, whether it was videos or live streams, he had never used voice processing or editing, he just sung casually as if to say, ‘I’m just singing casually, you guys can listen casually too,’ not only did he not show his face, but he also hardly interacted with the fans, giving off an aura of indifference and casualness in his live streams and videos…

But strangely enough, there were quite a few people who liked to watch him like this. Maybe adding a layer of mystery always adds a bit of curiosity.

After finishing singing the song “Rain Wall,” Sheng Xia casually said, “Is it okay? I think it’s not bad.” It seemed like he didn’t expect anyone’s answer, but out of habit, he added, “Don’t compare it with the original version. The Aviator band can’t be compared to anyone.”

So the comments began again:

[Here we go again, here we go again, another routine Aviator plug.]

[I just want to compare. Damn it, I think S sings better.]

[Is someone trying to start a fight? Can we just quietly listen to the song?]

[I feel like S’s voice is a bit hoarse today, not very spirited. Is he in a bad mood?]

…

Sheng Xia still didn’t glance at the comments, he flipped through his phone and started looking for the next song to sing. He usually live streamed for about forty minutes, mostly singing. But when he was about to start the fourth song today, Sheng Xia felt a bit feverish and his throat started to itch. He endured it at first, but later he couldn’t help coughing a few times.

When he had to pause due to the coughing, he sighed.

The children he taught as a piano accompanist in the morning were young, and it was his first time teaching such young children to play the piano, which meant he needed a lot of patience and it was harder to communicate. He had said three times more words than usual that day and was exhausted.

Unfortunately, it started raining on the way back. He hated rainy days the most, and he hadn’t brought an umbrella. His mood worsened, and he came back in a daze, listening to the Aviator’ album called “Divine Rites” on the way home, so absorbed in the music that he even forgot to cross at a green light…

That day’s rain was a sad rain, and Sheng Xia, who was drenched in the unhappy rain, also felt unhappy.

The room was very quiet, even silent. Because he usually played the piano, the house he rented had excellent soundproofing, and with the windows closed, not even the sound of the rain outside could be heard. At this moment, without any sound, it felt like being in a soundproof chamber.

Suddenly, he felt a strong urge to connect with someone. Otherwise, it felt like the dense gloom in the air would overwhelm him, suffocating him.

“Not feeling good, let’s chat for a bit,” Sheng Xia exhaled softly, “Let me share my unhappiness with everyone. Although I’m unhappy, I hope you all are happy.”

“Today is Tuesday, my Tuesday should have been orange, but it rained today. While walking, I accidentally stepped into a puddle, and my orange socks got wet. I’m very unhappy.”

The comments exploded—

[“Oh, here we go again! Warning, S is starting his study of colorful life again!”]

[“Just came in, can someone explain what colorful life study is?”]

[“Explanation incoming: S believes that every day of the week has a color, Monday to Sunday are respectively red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, each day has a corresponding color, and he wears socks of that color on the corresponding day!”]

[“For example, today is Tuesday, so it’s orange, S must wear orange socks today.”]

[“Colorful life study is awesome!”]

[“Just came in, why does this streamer speak like this?”]

…

Sheng Xia ignored the comments that he couldn’t answer and didn’t need to answer until he saw a message: [“Are you uncomfortable because of the rain? Why didn’t you bring an umbrella when you went out? It was raining last night. Didn’t you check the weather forecast before going out?”]

It was long and quite serious.

Perhaps because the sender was a member or something, the font was large to the point of exaggeration, and it was in bright red, making it particularly eye-catching amidst the comments. This conveniently helped Sheng Xia, who was nearsighted but disliked wearing glasses, to notice it at a glance.

After thinking for a moment, Sheng Xia propped his chin on the table and replied, “It wasn’t raining when I went out. I thought it wouldn’t rain. I’ll just take some medicine and get some rest, it’s not serious.”

Then the comments started to bore Sheng Xia. There were jokes, confessions, and a few sarcastic remarks. Sheng Xia generally brushed off these kinds of messages and found that staring at them for too long made his eyes uncomfortable, so he simply stopped looking.

Chatting without singing was not interesting.

He checked the time and found that there were 15 minutes left until the end of his livestream. He decided to hold on for a while longer and sing again before it ended.

“Next, I’ll sing ‘Season in the Sun,’ hoping it won’t rain tomorrow,” Sheng Xia smiled a bit, “I like the version sung by Kobain. Some people think it’s too bleak, but personally, I find it very gentle. You guys can go watch the live performance video, the scene is very warm. Well, here I go—”

Halfway through the song, Sheng Xia felt his throat getting more and more uncomfortable, itchy, and increasingly hoarse, somewhat resembling Kobain’s voice.

When he reached ‘I was the apple of the shiny sun,’ he suddenly started coughing violently, and it lasted for a long time. He had to pause to drink a glass of water, then sat back down and said to the mic, “Sorry, let me start over.”

Enduring the discomfort, he began the prelude again and started singing. But he had only sung two lines when the phone beside his computer started ringing. Helplessly interrupted, he could only apologize to the mic and answer the call to continue singing.

But the next second after rejecting the call, the same number called again. It was an unfamiliar caller, no name displayed.

Everything had gone wrong today, and Sheng Xia was completely out of mood, so he could only answer the phone and ask, “Who is this?”

On the other end of the phone, Shi Ye was also in a bad mood, his tone was not pleasant, “What’s with the attitude? Don’t want to answer my call?”

Shi Ye stared at the figure frozen in his computer.

Unable to see Sheng Xia’s face, he could only see Sheng Xia’s upper body wrapped in white home clothes below the neck. His fingers on the piano keys were very beautiful, long and slender, with beautiful joints, and now he was subconsciously touching the C key.

“It’s, uh,” Sheng Xia took a while to find his voice, “Shi…”

Shi Ye didn’t want to hear his name in a live stream with 120,000 people online, so he interrupted directly, “I’m Shi Ye.”

“Ah…” Sheng Xia fell silent for a moment, also realizing that he was still live, “Um, is there something you need from me… ge?”

Shi Ye was stunned for a moment by being called ‘ge.’ He had never wanted to be called that before, but now it just came out.

Shi Ye closed his eyes and suppressed the emotions that surged up: “Gao Ce asked me to take you guys out for a meal. Go out now, hang up the phone, and I’ll send you the address. Be there in 20 minutes.”

“But I’m still…” Sheng Xia hesitated for a moment, “And it’s only 3 o’clock? Are we having lunch or dinner?”

Shi Ye thought, why do you care whether it’s lunch or dinner? His tone was still stern, “Busy today? No time?”

Although he knew the other party couldn’t see it, Sheng Xia still reflexively shook his head, “I’m free, I’ll pack up right away.”

After hanging up the phone, Shi Ye watched as Sheng Xia held the phone in his hand and looked at it for a while.

Some people in the comments were asking what was wrong with S, if there was something going on and if S was going to skip the livestream. It was clearly only once or twice a month, it was too unkind to skip.

Sheng Xia’s voice sounded cheerful again when he spoke next. He said to the mic, “I’m going to have dinner with a musician I really like later. I’ll make up for it with a video this week. I’ll sign off first, sorry.”

Shi Ye vaguely saw Sheng Xia smiling when he brought his mouth close to the mic. The corners of his lips, which had just been pursed, relaxed a bit, as if he had forgotten the unpleasantness caused by the wet orange socks earlier.

The next moment, the livestream interface went black.

Shi Ye couldn’t help but curl his lips at the computer.

He thought, orange is nice, it’s the color of summer, it shouldn’t be soaked by rain.