Chapter 13: A Dejà Vu Scene

The old doctor went into the house and quickly came back out.

He was holding a small box in his hand.

"Take this."

The old doctor handed the box to Lu Qing.

"What is this?"

Lu Qing opened the box to find a small bundle of nearly transparent white thread inside.

"This thread was a gift from a wounded martial artist I saved while traveling in my younger years."

"I don't know exactly what it is, but this thread is exceptionally tough and cannot be easily snapped. It should meet your requirements for making fishing line."

"Grandpa Chen, this is too precious. I cannot accept it." Upon hearing this, Lu Qing hurriedly tried to push it back.

Anything given as a reward for saving a life must be extraordinary; Lu Qing truly didn't dare to accept it so casually.

However, his heart stirred at the mention of a "martial artist."

This world truly did contain such extraordinary figures.

Old Doctor Chen did not take it back.

He waved his hand and said, "Just take it. It is of no use to me. It has been with me for over ten years, and I have never found a use for it. If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten I even had such a thing."

"Since you need tough thread for fishing line, you might as well use it for that. It can be considered putting it to good use, rather than letting it gather dust here."

"If you really feel guilty, just bring me a portion whenever you catch something good. That little fish from yesterday tasted quite fresh; it’s perfect for pairing with wine."

Holding the box, Lu Qing felt both grateful and ashamed.

The old doctor treated him and his sister so well, yet he had previously harbored thoughts of stealing the man's cultivation techniques. He felt truly ashamed.

Looking at the box in his hands, Lu Qing made a silent decision.

In the days to come, unless Old Doctor Chen offered to teach him voluntarily, he would absolutely never attempt to simulate the old doctor's techniques again.

"Don't worry, Grandpa Chen. From now on, whenever I catch something good, I will bring it to you first!"

Lu Qing gripped the small box tightly and said earnestly.

The old doctor laughed heartily, "Haha, then I shall look forward to it!"

Leaving the old doctor's house, Lu Qing felt excited.

Today's gains were truly immense.

Not only had he gained the old doctor's favor and received treatment for his body, but he had also been given the opportunity to learn how to identify medicinal herbs.

He had even obtained a box of mysterious thread.

His intuition told him that the thread the old doctor gave him was no ordinary object.

However, he hadn't wanted to stare at the thread while at the old doctor's place, otherwise, he could have used his ability to investigate it thoroughly.

As he brought Xiao Yan down from the mountain and returned to the village, Lu Qing happened to see several villagers returning from the village entrance, carrying bamboo poles and buckets, laughing and chatting.

The moment they saw Lu Qing, they began calling out from afar: "Lu Qing!"

"Uncle Shi, are you just coming back from fishing?"

Lu Qing asked, looking at the poles on the villagers' shoulders.

"That's right." The villager Lu Qing called Uncle Shi said with some excitement, "Didn't we hear your method about using earthworms to fish yesterday? Early this morning, Dashan and the others and I dug up some earthworms and went to the river to try it out. And let me tell you, Lu Qing, your method really works! Look at what we caught today!"

With that, he showed the bucket in his hand to Lu Qing.

Lu Qing took a look; there were quite a few fish in the bucket, weighing about a pound or two.

Some were even larger than the ones he had caught yesterday.

He looked at the other villagers' buckets, and sure enough, everyone had a catch, with even the smallest haul being half a pound of small fish.

One villager who was lucky had even caught a large fish weighing over a pound.

However, that villager was also annoyed: "I actually hooked an even bigger one, but that fish was so strong that it snapped my hemp line in an instant, and I couldn't even get the hook back!"

"I told you not to pull so hard, to ease up on it, but you insisted on a tug-of-war. It's no wonder the line snapped!" another villager chided.

"How was I supposed to know the fish would be that strong? I bet that fish was at least five pounds!"

"Forget it, two pounds at most. If it were five pounds, you wouldn't have been able to hold it for even a second!"

"It was definitely five pounds!"

...

Listening to the villagers argue about how big the fish that got away was, Lu Qing couldn't help but chuckle.

He was all too familiar with this scene.

In his past life, when he went fishing with his friends, it was exactly the same.

If someone had their line snapped, regardless of how it happened, they would always exaggerate the size of the fish.

Anything less than ten pounds was a disrespect to one's own fishing skills!

He hadn't expected that even after being reborn into another world, he would see this scene again.

Sure enough, no matter which world they are in, the temperament of anglers is always so similar.

Lu Qing's laughter made Uncle Shi and the others feel a bit embarrassed.

Especially seeing Xiao Yan staring at them with wide eyes as they argued, they felt even more ashamed.

A group of adults arguing like this in front of two children was truly detrimental to their dignity as elders.

"Lu Qing, where are you two coming back from?"

To ease the awkwardness, Uncle Shi had to change the subject.

Lu Qing replied, "Xiao Yan and I just came from Grandpa Chen's place."

Uncle Shi nodded, "Old Doctor Chen, eh? That makes sense. He cured your illness, so you should go and thank him in person."

He mistakenly assumed Lu Qing had gone to thank the old doctor.

"Yes, if it weren't for Grandpa Chen, I probably wouldn't be able to stand here," Lu Qing did not deny it.

"By the way, Lu Qing, you provided the fishing method, so pick a few fish to take home and eat," Uncle Shi said.

"That's right, if it weren't for your method, we wouldn't have known that earthworms could be used for fishing!"

"Pick mine, pick mine, my fish are bigger!"

"Bullshit, are yours bigger than mine? The biggest fish was caught by me, pick mine!"

The other villagers chimed in one after another.

"Uncles, there's no need. I still haven't finished the fish I caught yesterday," Lu Qing declined.

"If you can't finish them, just eat a bit more. Look at how thin you and Xiao Yan are; fish are nutritious, you should eat more!"

In the end, Lu Qing couldn't resist the villagers' insistence. He symbolically picked a few fish from each villager's bucket and strung them up with a blade of grass he pulled from the roadside.

Just like that, he ended up with over half a pound of fish.

"Take a few more!" Uncle Shi was still urging him.

"I really can't take any more. If I take more, I don't have enough oil and salt at home to cook them."

This time, no matter what they said, Lu Qing refused to take any more.

Hearing this, Uncle Shi and the others finally stopped insisting.

It was true; if you cooked fish without oil and salt, you couldn't mask the fishy smell, and it wouldn't taste very good.

And so, holding the string of fish, Lu Qing said goodbye to Uncle Shi and the others with Xiao Yan and returned to his small courtyard.

Once home, he first put the fish in the kitchen.

Then, he took out the small box given to him by Old Doctor Chen.

He opened the box and looked quietly at the thread inside.

(End of chapter)