At that moment, in a villa in one of Shanghai's wealthy districts, Zhao Xuan had just finished dealing with company affairs and went to check on her daughter in the bedroom.
After seeing that her daughter had fallen asleep, she returned to her own bedroom, lay down on the bed, and planned to sleep.
But she wasn't sleepy yet. She decided to check out the live streams on her company's platform, treating it as an inspection. If she found any broadcasts violating the rules, she wouldn't mind banning their Live Stream Room on the spot.
"The top ten most popular Live Stream Rooms should still be the same old ones, right?"
Zhao Xuan clicked into the livestream while thinking this and found that the top ten streamers really were all familiar faces.
But after a quick glance, she noticed an unfamiliar Live Stream Room occupying fifth place in popularity!
She had never seen this Live Stream Room before.
"Could some female streamer from the looks category have run into another big spender? More than twenty million in popularity—is it really that high?"
Curious, she clicked into the Live Stream Room. The streamer's name immediately made Zhao Xuan understand.
Wasn't this the new male streamer she had gone to sign earlier that day?
How could his popularity be so high on his very first day? Could it have been artificially boosted?
Zhao Xuan immediately opened the data panel to check. To her surprise, all the figures were normal.
Even more curious, she decided to stay in the Live Stream Room for a while and see what was going on.
"All right, everything's ready. I'm going to sing now. If I don't sing well, go easy on me and don't boo me."
As soon as Jiang Siming finished speaking, his slender fingertips began plucking the guitar strings.
The clear guitar notes echoed through the room, like the gentle tinkling of a mountain spring in the quiet night.
The atmosphere in the Live Stream Room instantly grew tranquil.
The melody shifted from low and somber to lively, then turned into a faint sorrow.
The guitar sounded clean, pure, and natural, like a breeze brushing against the face or sunset spilling across one's cheeks.
The viewers were completely lost in the guitar and melody. Wang Xinyi, standing quietly at the doorway and listening, was deeply shaken.
An expert revealed himself with a single move.
The moment Jiang Siming raised his hand, she sensed something unusual.
His guitar skills were absolutely nothing like what Jiang Siming had claimed. He clearly didn't merely know a little.
"My senior is far too modest. With guitar skills like these, he's even better than my teacher."
After the melody continued for a while, Jiang Siming's voice came through the livestream microphone.
"The rain outside has finally stopped
The lights inside are still off
Counting your indifference
Playing with my loneliness
My mouth is already dry before I even dial the number
The nights I stayed up for you have all grown cold
Even the sheep I counted have run away
One, two
They laugh at me, mock me for losing my hearing."
A magnetic voice, even cleaner and purer than the guitar, as pristine as snow from the Tianshan Mountains, "abruptly" "barged" into everyone's ears.
It was low and tinged with sorrow, like a weather-beaten wanderer telling his story beside a campfire.
Almost no one listening could withstand the baptism of that voice. One after another, they "collapsed" and raised their hands in surrender.
It wasn't only the "assault" of his voice. The song itself also felt unfamiliar yet beautiful to the viewers.
Beyond their enjoyment, everyone had only one thought: What song was this? How had they never heard it before?
The song's climax arrived immediately afterward.
"After a long, long time, I'm finally willing to raise my head and look
You're walking so slowly on the opposite shore
Leaving me alone, caught between pretending to sleep and reality
After a long, long time, I'm finally willing to raise my head and look
You're waiting for me on the opposite shore to find my courage
You're still mine, mine, mine—you see."
The sorrowful melody and heartbreaking lyrics brought out the song's full charm.
Caught completely off guard, the viewers were utterly captivated by it!
In Jiang Siming's memories, "Zou Ma" had been an extremely popular song back then. It had been written by Chen Li.
Yet for some reason, ever since he had acquired Singing Talent, the song had vanished into thin air.
A few days ago, Jiang Siming had really wanted to hear it, but he had searched the entire internet and couldn't find it anywhere.
Not only that, many obscure yet beautiful songs were all missing. Even Xu Song, whom Jiang Siming had especially liked in the past, had seemingly never existed! Not a single one of his songs could be found.
Gradually, Jiang Siming began to understand some of the mystery behind it. It seemed to be related to that lightning strike as well.
Since the song had never appeared here, Jiang Siming would simply take it without apology.
It had been a gift from heaven. If he didn't accept it, wouldn't that be foolish?
Only a Green Tea Bitch would act coy about it!
Since it had come to him, he would take it! There was no need to be polite!
However, singing wasn't Jiang Siming's real hobby. He only wanted to sing a couple of songs when he had nothing else to do, purely for entertainment.
Yet this one performance had left several million viewers unable to stop.
"Ahhhhh!!! How! Can! It! Be! This! Good!"
"Mom, I've really fallen in love. An Online Romance! I'm confessing to Jiang Siming!"
"My God, with singing and vocals like that, he could easily become a singer. Why is he still livestreaming?"
"I originally came here because I wasn't interested in watching a streamer play games. After hearing this, how am I supposed to go back to other Live Stream Rooms?"
"What's this song called? It's way too good! I'm going to search for it and play it on loop all night!"
"No results for this song. Could it be the streamer's original? That's incredible!"
"From this moment on, one more fan!"
Because of this song, Jiang Siming's Live Stream Room exploded in popularity on Shark Platform in the middle of the night.
The number of viewers surged from over six million to over nine million in one go. It knocked Da Ma Hou out of second place and made Jiang Siming the second-ranked streamer in weekly online viewership.
The viewers showered him with gifts without holding back, flinging them at him in a frenzy.
Xiao Xiao, the Bald Donkey Emperor, tipped 20 Super Rockets to Ming's Live Stream Room!
Xiao Xiao, the Bald Donkey Emperor: "I just broke up with my girlfriend. Listening to this late at night made me cry. That's seriously too cruel of you. Still, thanks—the song was really good. I'm moving in here from now on!"
The Sleepless Emperor tipped.
Fu Fuyun, the King, tipped.
HeHuaLlin, the Duke, tipped.
Jiang Siming had never imagined that one song would attract so many nobles to emerge and show their liking.
The number of Fan Badges he had jumped from 26,000 to 31,000 in an instant.
His level-65 Live Stream Room shot straight to level 70!
The purple level marker changed into a bright crimson one, looking exceptionally striking.
After finishing the song, Jiang Siming thanked everyone one by one.
"This song was written by me. There isn't an official version yet, so there's no preview online. If you like it, feel free to follow me. I'll sing it for everyone whenever I have time."
Just after he finished speaking, another enormous tip appeared!
The user Shark Xuan opened the Emperor title in Ming's Live Stream Room!
Shark Xuan, the Emperor, tipped 100 spaceships to Ming's Live Stream Room (5,000 RMB per ship)!
Shark Xuan, the Emperor: "What's this song called?"
One hundred spaceships!
That was 500,000 RMB!
The sheer extravagance was inhuman!
The 500,000 RMB worth of gifts pushed Jiang Siming's Live Stream Room up another two and a half levels, bringing it to level 73.
The executives of Shark Platform who were watching Jiang Siming's livestream were all stunned when they saw that ID. Wasn't this the general manager's ID? The general manager had actually sent this kid gifts!
What kind of incredible luck had this kid stumbled into? Even when PDD returned, the general manager hadn't sent him a single gift, let alone opened the Emperor title in his Live Stream Room!
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