191: Chapter 196 Orange Isle Unplugged

The dead of night on Orange Island was very quiet, the Xiang River flowed silently in the night, and the youth statue gleamed with a soft luster under the warm yellow lights; the statue faced southeast, its gaze crossing the Xiang River and casting toward the distant south.

There were few people on the riverside promenade, only a few couples still taking a walk, and a street band still packing up their equipment.

"It is not very lively here, but it is very good," Charlie said.

The band's guitarist was about to fold up the microphone stand, the lead singer was removing a tablet from the music stand, and the drummer had already put the cymbals into a bag.

Chen Mo watched for a while, then walked over to the lead singer and said: "Hello, can we rent your equipment? I can pay!"

The lead singer was a young man wearing a headscarf; he was stunned at first, then nodded vigorously, set the microphone stand back up, and handed over the acoustic guitar.

"Chen — Chen Mo Teacher!"

He then looked toward Ed, Shawn, and Charlie not far away, unable to contain his excitement.

The three men and one cat waved politely, forming a ' convex' formation.

Chen Mo paid a sum of money, enough for them to work overtime until the early hours and still have a big meal, then turned and waved to Ed and the others.

"Can we watch from the side?"

Ed understood and waved his hand, saying: "Of course."

Taylor and Mother Chen were just standing up from a stone bench by the river; Mother was wrapped in a thin down jacket, and Taylor was wearing a red hoodie with "Descendants of the Dragon" written on the back.

It turned out they had also come out for a walk that evening.

Seeing Chen Mo and the others walking toward the temporary stage from afar, Taylor took Mother's hand and walked over quickly.

Mother said while walking: "It is so late and you still aren't going back. You have to catch a flight tomorrow."

Chen Mo said: "Mom, just singing a few songs."

Shawn said as if drunk: "Not leaving is also fine."

A circle of people had already gathered around, half of whom were brought by friends the lead singer had messaged, spreading the word person-to-person.

"My friend said Chen Mo is singing at Orange Island."

"What? Chen Mo is holding a concert at Orange Island?"

"Hurry up! Chen Mo is holding a concert for ten thousand people, and it is free!"

By the time most people arrived, there was no room left, so girls sat on their boyfriends' shoulders, and men set up ladders.

Everyone used their own clever tricks.

Security also arrived; in just a few minutes, the scene was under control, and netizens exclaimed at this efficiency: "Awesome!"

That is right, several people in the front row had already started live streaming, with a full eight camera angles, covering 360 degrees without blind spots.

The microphone was reconnected to power, and the guitar amplifier emitted a faint low-frequency hum.

Chen Mo held the acoustic guitar and stood in front of the microphone, saying: "It has been a long time since I sang in this language in front of so many people. Tonight, I just want to sing one Chinese song — 'Mercury Record', dedicated to everyone who is still awake in the dead of night."

He lowered his head and played the first chord, C Major; his fingers plucked the nylon strings very lightly, and every note drifted slowly over the river surface in the dead of night.

The Orange Cat poked its head out of the cat carrier and meowed toward the river.

Ed looked down at the cat, hearing Chen Mo's singing voice coming from the night wind; he followed with a line in English, the same track in a different language.

The two sang in turns, one in Chinese, one in English, like Mercury and the Sun operating in the same galaxy yet never colliding.

This scene was recorded by passersby and uploaded to Douyin; within half an hour, the viewership soared to over nine million, with the comment section flooded —

"Chen Mo and Ed Sheeran are singing the English version of 'Mercury Record' at Orange Island. It is one in the morning, and Changsha is sleepless."

A boy with glasses who had followed them all the way from Wenheyou was holding up his phone, and the title of his live stream was "Orange Island Midnight Concert".

The number of online viewers broke through one hundred thousand the moment Chen Mo started singing the first line of 'Mercury Record', and the comments were so dense that one had to turn them off to see the screen clearly.

"Did I wake up too fast? Is Chen Mo singing at Orange Island at one in the morning?"

"Is that red-haired person next to him Ed? Is that a cat in his arms? Is that cat listening?"

"And Charlie! And Shawn! Are the five of them here in Changsha for a concert tour?"

"Wait, Taylor is there too? Can she sing too?"

When Chen Mo and Ed alternated singing 'Mercury Record', seamlessly connecting Chinese and English, the comments completely exploded:

"The bilingual Chinese-English version of 'Mercury Record' is amazing! How did they manage such a perfect connection!"

"Ed sings the English lyrics, Chen Mo sings the Chinese lyrics; the two share the same track."

"The Orange Cat stepped on the keyboard. That E-flat just now was played by the cat!"

"I recorded the screen. This part is going into my annual playlist."

The reaction of the live audience was more direct than the comments.

When Chen Mo and Ed sang 'Mercury Record', several girls in the front row raised their phone flashlights above their heads and swayed them left and right, forming a silvery-white sea of stars.

When they sang the English chorus, they started humming along softly; halfway through, they realized they were humming the Chinese lyrics, and the person next to them continued with the English lyrics.

After singing, the whole venue went quiet, then erupted into deafening screams; some shouted for another song, and some had their voices cracked.

For the next song, Chen Mo handed the guitar to Charlie.

Charlie sat in front of the keyboard and played a few opening notes of 'The Ones Who Didn't Make It'.

He said: "This song is written for all the friends who didn't make it here. Tonight in Changsha, I will sing this song for them."

Chen Mo stood next to him, and their voices overlapped over the river surface.

Shawn stood next to the drummer, borrowed the drum brushes, and gently swept out the rhythm; the drum sound was loose and gentle in the night.

More and more tourists gathered at Orange Island, and the comments in the live stream scrolled rapidly —

"Chen Mo and Charlie are singing together! That song that hasn't been officially included in the album yet!"

Chen Mo and Charlie's voices overlapped over the river, intertwining and supporting each other.

"This song hasn't been officially released yet, and they are performing it for the first time at Orange Island."

"It is almost two in the morning, and tens of thousands of people are listening online to a song about those who didn't make it here."

"Changsha is sleepless tonight."

"The song is sung very well; the only downside is that I am not at the scene!"

On the edge of the crowd, a boy standing on a ladder held his phone above his head, and the number of likes on the live stream interface was soaring at a rate of hundreds per second.

His roommate was frantically spamming the comments, asking him to ask Chen Mo when he would marry Taylor.

He lowered his voice and said into the microphone that he didn't dare, as that group of foreigners was too tall.

The camera shook a bit, and the image swept past the Orange Cat squatting next to the keyboard, using its paw to fiddle with a connection cable; the comments immediately shifted.

"The cat is tuning! This cat is Ed Sheeran's Orange!"

Charlie gave the keyboard to Ed.

Ed sat in front of the keyboard, and the Orange Cat jumped onto his lap.

He played the intro to 'Photograph', E-flat Major, and Chen Mo stood next to him, providing harmonies.

When they reached the chorus, Chen Mo turned the microphone toward the audience, and hundreds of people at Orange Island joined in unison.

Ed looked down at the keyboard, his fingers not stopping, but he tried to suppress the corners of his mouth several times and failed.

Shawn walked to the keyboard, pointed to himself, and sang 'Stitches', with Chen Mo, Ed, and Charlie accompanying him.

The Toronto genius stood in front of the microphone, his voice more relaxed and with a bit more improvisational bounce than the studio version.

After singing, he handed the microphone back to Chen Mo, returned to the side of the keyboard, crouched down, and gave the Orange Cat a high-five.

The style of the comments suddenly changed —

"The Canadian and his temporary drum brushes! He borrowed the drummer's drum brushes!"

"The drummer is standing on the side with a look of 'That is my drum brush'."

"After Shawn finished singing, he crouched down to high-five the Orange Cat, and the cat actually extended its paw!"

"A cat that can sing and a Canadian who can high-five a cat."

"I heard from friends in Changsha that Ed told many people today that his cat can write songs, hahaha."

Charlie stood up from the keyboard and said: "This song is improvised, written tonight in Changsha, dedicated to this city."

He took a small notebook out of his bag, stepped to the rhythm, and improvised the song 'Changsha', in C Major, with lyrics made up on the spot but every line rhyming.

The comments went crazy!!!

"This American is improvising a Chinese song: 'I love the spiciness of Changsha and the night of the Xiang River'. Charlie Puth, when did you learn to write Chinese songs!"

"This American is improvising in Chinese, singing: 'I love the spiciness of Changsha and the wind of the Xiang River'!"

"He said the river in this city flows through dreams — this line can be used as a tourism slogan."

"Changsha Culture and Tourism Bureau: Send him a silk banner overnight."

"Changsha Tourism Bureau is crying and fainting in the office! They probably have to work overtime until tomorrow night!"

The official account of the Changsha Culture and Tourism Bureau replied in the comment section with three crying face emojis.

Trip.com background data showed that the volume of overseas travel inquiries doubled again within fifteen minutes.

IP addresses from the UK, US, and Canada surged, and the search keywords were mostly "Changsha", "Orange Island", and "Wenheyou".

Staff had to urgently launch a new booking and queuing system in the middle of the night.

Later, Charlie turned the ambient sounds from the side of the Xiang River into a complete song and gave it to Chen Mo, which is 'Changsha'.

The sampling included the sound of river water, car horns, children playing, and the fireworks of Changsha.

This was a gift from Ed, Shawn, and Charlie to Changsha, and even more so, a love letter written by the three to Chen Mo.

Brothers walk together for a lifetime.