But now she seemed to have already lost that opportunity.
Meng Yu glanced at Wen Yiyue, then walked to the doorway holding the damaged violin.
“Zhou Sinian.”
“I’m here.”
The man’s deep, steady voice filled with reassurance came from the doorway.
Zhou Sinian stood there, looking at her with questioning eyes.
Meng Yu repeated what Wen Yiyue had just said.
“So the military district cultural troupe—this is how people get selected?”
It gave her a strange feeling.
After hearing this, Zhou Sinian paused for a moment, then nodded.
“There is regional selection, but the official document only came out in the past couple of years. Why?”
Meng Yu hadn’t expected it to be real. After a brief moment of surprise, she shook her head.
“Nothing. I thought it was fake.”
She then walked back inside with the violin.
Zhou Sinian continued waiting quietly at the door.
“You said the information is true—but now your violin is broken. What are you going to do?”
Wen Yiyue was on the verge of tears, shaking her head helplessly.
“I… I don’t know.”
She only knew how to play the violin. It was such a rare instrument that there wasn’t even a second person in the entire town who could play it. If she performed, she would definitely stand out in the selection.
But who could have expected something like this to happen?
Looking at the pitiful girl, Meng Yu asked again:
“Your so-called best friend—what was she preparing to perform?”
“Her?” Wen Yiyue froze, then thought for a moment. “She plays the erhu. She knows how to play the erhu.”
Meng Yu raised an eyebrow and gave Wen Yiyue a meaningful look.
Wen Yiyue wasn’t stupid. After saying that, she immediately understood what the implication was. Her face instantly turned pale.
“Her… could it really be her?”
“But we’ve been friends since childhood! We… we…”
She couldn’t continue.
At that moment, she couldn’t say another word.
In the face of absolute利益, so-called friendship was utterly fragile.
“The violin was accidentally broken by my third uncle’s little daughter. Even if Weihong was being cautious of me…”
Wen Yiyue still couldn’t understand it, or rather, she refused to believe it.
To this, Meng Yu simply curled her lips.
“You have one so-called best friend—but that doesn’t mean she only has you.”
When it came to stabbing hearts, Meng Yu never missed.
“And this isn’t the time to think about that. Right now, we need to focus on fixing the violin and getting you onto that stage.”
Wen Yiyue’s eyes turned red again.
“But the violin is already broken like this…”
She truly had no hope left.
Meng Yu lightly tapped the violin with her finger, assessing its material.
It was made of pine wood—common in this region. Pine was easy to obtain here.
As for how to repair it, several methods already formed in her mind, but she rejected them one by one.
They weren’t impossible—but they took too long. Wen Yiyue had to perform tomorrow, so every second mattered. She needed a method to quickly restore the violin neck.
“Don’t panic. Crying won’t solve anything. Right now, you—”
Meng Yu began instructing her to prepare materials urgently.
“Sister Meng, you can fix it, right? You really can, right?!”
Wen Yiyue grabbed her hand excitedly, eyes full of tension.
Meng Yu nodded.
“Yes. But if you keep delaying, even the gods won’t be able to help.”
“I’ll go right now!”
With that, Wen Yiyue grabbed her military-green schoolbag and ran off.
……
The house suddenly became empty, leaving only the couple.
“Meng Duoyu?”
Zhou Sinian also noticed Wen Yiyue running off and was momentarily confused.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
Meng Yu shook her head. She placed the violin down and walked to the doorway.
“I’m not familiar with the town. You need to help me find some things.”
Seeing her serious expression, Zhou Sinian knew it was urgent and nodded.
“What do you need?”
“I’ve already asked Wen Yiyue to find asphalt mixed with lime, fish glue, resin, and medical plaster bandages. You help me find bicycle spokes and nails. Be quick.”
Zhou Sinian nodded and immediately turned to leave.
Watching his departing figure, Meng Yu let out a long breath.
Zhou Sinian had extremely strong execution ability. He didn’t ask a single extra question—he understood better than anyone that time was money.
Sitting alone in the Wen family’s living room, she didn’t stop her hands. She disassembled the violin piece by piece and laid the parts out neatly on the table.
“Who are you?! Why are you in my house?!”
A sudden scream startled her!
Luckily her hands were steady, or the parts would have dropped to the floor.
“Old Wen! Old Wen, come quickly! There’s a thief in our house!!!”
The woman shouted even louder when she saw Meng Yu still sitting there calmly.
This little thief was far too bold!
Meng Yu: …
Soon, hurried footsteps approached. The deputy factory director of the state-owned factory, Wen Zhiguo, rushed over and immediately shielded his wife behind him, staring at Meng Yu warily.
“Comrade, who are you? Did you enter the wrong house?”
Then he noticed the violin parts on the table—and became even more cautious.
“Comrade, please put down what you’re holding and leave immediately, or I’ll call the police!”
His tone was stern and warning.
To be honest, Meng Yu was a very lazy person and didn’t like dealing with people. The only constant companion she had was her violin.
But this man, likely Wen Yiyue’s father, was pressing her step by step, so she had no choice but to put the violin down and stand up.
She was small and thin—but that only made Wen Zhiguo even more alert.
Anyone who could break into his home so calmly couldn’t possibly be simple.
“Don’t move!”
Wen Zhiguo shouted.
Meng Yu: …
“I was invited by Wen Yiyue to repair her violin.”
She pointed at the neatly arranged violin parts on the table.
“Huh?”
The couple froze.
“Really? You were invited by Yiyue…?” Yu Li peeked out from behind Wen Zhiguo, looking skeptical. “You don’t look much older than her.”
How could she possibly know how to repair it?
Meng Yu was getting impatient.
If this continued, she would become very sharp-tongued.
Since this was a state-owned residential building, she didn’t want to ruin the relationship.
So she said nothing.
She sat back down and continued working on the violin.
Seeing this, the couple hesitated. They couldn’t tell if she was telling the truth, so they simply sat down and quietly waited.
“Sister Meng, I’m back! Dad? Mom? You’re here too?”
An hour later, Wen Yiyue rushed back and was stunned to see her parents sitting properly in the living room.
Yu Li immediately found her backbone, rushed forward, and grabbed Wen Yiyue’s ear!
“Aah—Mom! It hurts—!”