People Under the Eaves

"Under the Rain" is a first-person novel with realistic themes. One early summer night in Shanghai, thirty-eight-year-old Zhou Yan met the illustrator Lu Ji under the eaves of a small bookstore. She draws children's picture books, has a sensitive but tough mother, but never mentions her father, and hates people saying she "looks ordinary." There is a strange photo album on her phone called "Same Face". Falling in love starts with eating and walking together. As the relationship deepens, an old news piece, a screenshot of a genetic website, and a few family stories heard by chance quietly push Zhou Yan toward a truth he never expected: In this city, and even further afield, more and more people are "colliding" with each other in terms of their faces, life experiences, and absent fathers. "The Man Under the Rain" begins with a shelter from the rain and slowly unfolds a story about blood and chance, uniqueness and replaceability: When you find that you may be just "one of them", how can you live seriously?