Entertainment: A song that brought his deceased wife back to life.

The air in the restaurant felt a little stagnant.

Xu Qing stared at the screen, just about to move her feet.

"master!"

The butler, Old Zhang, shouted as if the house was on fire. He rushed in, panting, breaking the extremely awkward situation.

"We've arrived! They've arrived!"

Luo Tianxiong felt that the back of his Tang suit was soaked with sweat, so he quickly seized the opportunity and slapped his hand on the table.

"What? You've arrived? Don't make a fuss."

The butler wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"The master violin repairman has arrived!"

"That's the same Mr. Zhang Henian, the one you booked before, who repairs pianos for the National Symphony Orchestra!"

Upon hearing the words "repair the guitar," Xu Qing put his foot back down. Neither the "cat" nor the "person" behind the screen was as important as the guitar. It was Xiao Yu's last gift, and he would not rest in peace if it got damp and damaged.

Luo Tianxiong secretly glanced at the screen and breathed a sigh of relief.

That was close; we almost got caught.

"Quickly! Please come in!"

Luo Tianxiong waved his hand and reverted to his nouveau riche demeanor.

"Turn on all the lights in the living room!"

"Don't let the master ruin your eyesight!"

Less than two minutes later, a little old man in a gray Zhongshan suit walked in. His hair was completely white and neatly combed. He was carrying a toolbox that looked even older than me, and two apprentices followed behind him carrying the toolbox. This entourage looked much more professional than that skinning king from before.

As soon as Zhang Henian entered the room, his nose wrinkled.

"Old Luo, this isn't funny."

The old man had a bad temper and didn't give the richest man any face at all.

"I'm servicing a 300-year-old cello."

"You made a phone call and insisted on bringing me here."

"What do you mean by 'extremely urgent'?"

"If your worthless practice instruments break, don't blame me for hitting you with the bow."

Luo Tianxiong greeted him with a smile.

"No way."

"If it were just ordinary goods, would I dare to trouble you?"

"Absolutely amazing stuff."

"Brazilian rosewood, a custom order from Bourgeois."

Upon hearing these two words, the cloudiness in Zhang Henian's eyes instantly dissipated. He was a music fanatic, and hearing about good wood made him happier than hearing that his grandson had been admitted to university.

"Where are the things?"

Without wasting words, Zhang Henian reached out for the violin. Xu Qing walked over, clutching the worn violin case tightly in his arms, as he hadn't let go of it during the meal. Zhang Henian looked Xu Qing up and down.

The old man's brows furrowed even more as he looked at his cheap hoodie and mud-splattered sneakers.

"Is this the master of the zither?"

"Old Luo, you're not kidding me, are you?"

"How could a piano of this caliber be...?"

He didn't say the words "penniless pauper" out loud, but everyone understood what he meant.

Xu Qing didn't speak. He placed the violin case on the huge dining table he had just been sitting on, very gently, as if he had taken his own heart out and placed it on the table.

"Thank you for your help."

Xu Qing bowed to Zhang Henian, who snorted and ignored him.

He took out a pair of white gloves from his pocket, put them on slowly and deliberately, and even tugged at each finger to make sure they fit perfectly. The sense of ceremony he exuded made it seem like he was about to perform surgery on the president.

"Open."

Zhang Henian raised his chin.

Xu Qing took a deep breath and pressed her fingers on the clasps on the violin case, which were worn shiny.

"Click".

The latch popped open, and Xu Qing lifted the lid.

The guitar that accompanied him through a year of wandering in Dali and played with him through countless nights in the subway tunnels lay quietly in the black velvet.

There was a tiny crack on the soundboard that had just been smashed, but that wasn't the most noticeable thing. The most noticeable thing was the crisscrossing sanding marks on the body of the instrument. The lacquer that should have been as shiny as a mirror had become rough and unsightly, scars left by the frantic rubbing of sandpaper.

And at the piano grotto, there's a cartoon sticker that looks incredibly childish in this luxurious setting: a clownfish blowing bubbles in the ocean.

Zhang Henian's eyes widened instantly. He took a step forward, his face almost touching the guitar, and stared at it for a full half minute.

Suddenly, the old man straightened up abruptly, his chest heaving violently, his face turning red with anger.

"Nonsense!"

The shout startled even the butler who was serving tea nearby.

Zhang Henian pointed at the guitar, his fingers trembling.

"Who did this?"

"Which spendthrift son did this?!"

"Brazilian rosewood! And it's decades-old wood!"

"This is an antique in the world of musical instruments! It's a work of art!"

"It's unbelievable...it was actually sanded like this with industrial sandpaper!"

Zhang Henian was so angry that he spun around twice on the spot, wishing he could find something to smash.

"This is a crime!"

"This is blasphemy against musical instruments!"

"What a waste! Absolutely a waste!"

The old man turned around and glared fiercely at Xu Qing.

"Did you do this?"

"You look like an honest kid, how come you're so ruthless?"

"Do you have a grudge against this instrument?"

Luo Tianxiong, watching from the side, kept wiping away sweat. He hadn't expected the "true appearance" of this instrument to be so pitiful.

I only heard the secretary say it was a good instrument, who knew it would be ruined like this.

This murderer is absolutely outrageous!

"Mr. Zhang, please calm down."

Luo Tianxiong tried to smooth things over.

"Isn't this for repairs...?"

"Fix my ass!"

Zhang Henian immediately started swearing.

"This panel has been worn thinner by the sanding!"

"The original varnish process is completely ruined!"

"This damage is irreversible!"

"It's like throwing sulfuric acid on the face of this instrument!"

"I've repaired pianos my whole life, and I've never seen anything so terribly ruined!"

Faced with the master's thunderous rage, Xu Qing remained calm. He reached out and blocked Zhang Henian's pointing hand from the guitar.

"It's not a crime."

Xu Qing's voice wasn't loud, but it was firm.

"This was given to me by Xiaoyu."

"She doesn't understand these things."

"She just wanted to surprise me."

Zhang Henian laughed in anger.

"don't know?"

"You think you can just slap sandpaper on this kind of wood if you don't know anything about it?"

"That's like trying to scrub the paint off a Rolls-Royce with a steel wool pad!"

"Was it a secondhand item bought from a friend?"

"I think some heartless dealer tricked that silly girl!"

"They ruined a good violin like this, and then sold it to her as junk!"

"Only someone like you, who doesn't know anything about this, would treat it like a treasure!"

Behind the screen, Luo Qianyu buried her head in her knees.

Fingernails scratching at the floor.

She really was a fool back then.

In order to give this priceless zither to Xu Qing, who has a very strong sense of self-respect.

She hid in the villa's garden to work on her craft, but after being scolded and reprimanded by her father, she hid in the villa's garage.

Holding the coarsest sandpaper he bought at the hardware store, he cried as he sanded.

Every scratch felt like a stab to her heart, but she couldn't do anything about it; Xu Qing was too proud back then.

That's too poor. If he knew that this violin could be exchanged for a house.

He would absolutely not accept it; he would even feel that she was humiliating him.

So all she could do was turn it into "garbage".

It became a "broken piano" that nobody wanted and that they picked up from a friend.

At this time.

Xu Qing's fingers gently traced the rough scratches on the panel.

His movements were slow and gentle, like stroking a lover's cheek.

She wasn't fooled.

Xu Qing looked down at the clownfish sticker.

"I knew all along that this violin was real."

As soon as those words were spoken...

The restaurant fell silent instantly.

Zhang Henian was stunned.

Luo Tianxiong, who was about to take a sip of tea to calm his nerves, stopped the teacup at his lips.

Luo Qianyu, who was behind the screen, suddenly stiffened.

Xu Qing raised her head.

Looking at the bewildered crowd.

His eyes were clear and open.

"I knew it the first day I got the piano."

"Although the exterior is worn out."

"But that timbre, that sustain."

"It's not something that can be produced by a fire poker that costs a few hundred dollars."

"I looked up the code inside the violin case online."

"That's a limited edition personally signed by the master Bourgeois."

Xu Qing tugged at the corners of her mouth, revealing a bitter smile.

"I know this instrument is very expensive."

"I know she deliberately damaged it."

"She was afraid I would feel guilty."

"She was afraid that if she knew this instrument was more valuable than my life, she wouldn't dare to play it."

"She made up an excuse that it was trash a friend had given her."

"They watched my expression carefully, afraid that I would dislike them."

Xu Qing's Adam's apple bobbed.

"I'm poor."

"But I'm not blind, nor am I stupid."

"That silly girl, all to protect my pitiful self-esteem."

"You've ruined such a good piano like this."

"She must have been in more pain than anyone else at that moment."