Chapter 13: A Familiar Scene

After the old doctor went into the house, he quickly came out again.

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 and saw a small bundle of almost transparent white silk thread inside.

“This silk thread was a gift from a wounded swordsman I saved when I was traveling in my early years.”

“I don’t know what it is exactly, but this thread is exceptionally tough and cannot be easily broken. It should meet your requirements for a fishing line.”

“Grandpa Chen, this is too precious, I can’t take it.” Upon hearing this, Lu Qing quickly pushed the item back.

Something given as a reward for saving a life must be extraordinary. Lu Qing really didn’t dare to take it casually.

However, hearing the word “swordsman,” his heart stirred.

This world really did have such extraordinary figures.

But Old Doctor Chen didn’t take it back.

He waved his hand and said, “Just take it. This item is useless to me. It has been with me for more than ten years, and I have never had a use for it. If you hadn’t mentioned it, I would have forgotten I had such a thing.”

“Since you need a tough silk thread for a fishing line, you might as well use it. This can be considered making the best use of it, so it doesn’t just gather dust with me.”

“If you really feel guilty about taking it, just send me a portion of whatever good things you catch someday. The small fish from yesterday tasted quite fresh and were good for drinking with wine.”

Lu Qing held the box, feeling both grateful and ashamed.

The old doctor had been so good to him and his sister, yet he had previously thought of secretly learning his cultivation method. He was truly ashamed.

Looking at the box in his hand, Lu Qing silently made a decision in his heart.

In the days to come, unless Old Doctor Chen actively taught him, he would absolutely not try to simulate the old doctor’s cultivation method again.

“Don’t worry, Grandpa Chen. In the future, whenever I catch something good, I will definitely send it to you immediately!”

Lu Qing clenched the small box and said seriously.

The old doctor laughed heartily, “Haha, then I’ll be looking forward to it!”

Coming out of the old doctor’s house, Lu Qing’s heart was filled with excitement.

Today’s harvest was truly great.

Not only did he gain Old Doctor Chen’s favor, have his body conditioned, and get the opportunity to be taught how to identify medicinal herbs, but he also received a box of mysterious silk thread.

Intuition told Lu Qing that the box of silk thread the old doctor gave him was no ordinary item.

However, he couldn’t just stare at the silk thread at the old doctor’s place, otherwise, he could have used his special ability to investigate it.

Coming down from the mountain with Xiao Yan and returning to the village, Lu Qing happened to see several villagers carrying bamboo poles and buckets, talking and laughing as they returned from the village entrance.

Upon seeing Lu Qing, they started shouting from afar, “Lu Qing!”

“Uncle Shi, are you just back from fishing?”

Lu Qing asked, seeing the poles on the villagers’ shoulders.

“Yes,” the villager Lu Qing called Uncle Shi said with some excitement. “Didn’t we hear about your method of fishing with earthworms yesterday? This morning, Da Shan 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, this is our harvest for today!”

He then showed the bucket in his hand to Lu Qing.

Lu Qing looked, and the fish in the bucket were not few, about one or two catties.

A few of them were even bigger than the ones he had caught yesterday.

He looked at the other villagers’ buckets, and sure enough, everyone had a harvest. The least had half a catty of small fish.

One villager was lucky and even caught a big fish of more than a catty.

But that villager was also annoyed, “I originally caught an even bigger one, but that fish was too strong. It snapped my hemp line in an instant, and I couldn’t even find the hook!”

“I told you not to pull so hard, to let it run a bit. But you insisted on fighting it with brute force. It would be strange if the line didn’t break!” a villager accused.

“How could I have known that a fish could be so strong? I think that fish must have been over five catties!”

“Get out of here, two catties at most. If it were five catties, you wouldn’t have been able to hold it in the first place!”

“It was definitely five catties!”

…

Listening to the villagers arguing about how big the fish that got away was, Lu Qing couldn’t help but laugh.

This scene was all too familiar to him.

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

If someone’s line got cut, no matter how it happened, they would definitely exaggerate the size of the fish.

Anything less than ten catties was a disrespect to their fishing skills!

He never thought that even after being reborn in another world, he would still see this scene.

As expected, no matter which world, the temperament of anglers was so similar.

Lu Qing’s laughter made Uncle Shi and the others a little embarrassed.

Especially the way Xiao Yan stared at them arguing with wide eyes made them feel even more ashamed.

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

“Lu Qing, where are you two coming from?”

To ease the awkwardness, Uncle Shi could only change the subject.

Lu Qing replied, “Xiao Yan and I just came back from Grandpa Chen’s place.”

Uncle Shi nodded, “Old Doctor Chen, ah. That’s right, he cured your illness. You should go and thank him.”

He had misunderstood that Lu Qing had gone to thank the old doctor.

“Yes, if it weren’t for Grandpa Chen, I probably wouldn’t be standing here,” Lu Qing didn’t deny it.

“By the way, Lu Qing, you provided the method for us to fish. You should pick a few fish from here 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!”

“Nonsense, are yours bigger than mine? I caught the biggest fish, pick mine!”

The other villagers also chimed in.

“Uncles, there’s no need. I haven’t even finished the fish I caught yesterday,” Lu Qing declined.

“If you can’t finish them, just eat more. Look how thin you and Xiao Yan are. Fish is more nutritious, you should eat more fish!”

In the end, Lu Qing couldn’t refuse the villagers and symbolically picked a few fish from each villager’s bucket, stringing them on a blade of grass he pulled from the roadside.

Just like that, he got more than half a catty of fish.

“Take some more!” Uncle Shi was still persuading.

“I really can’t take any more. If I take more, I won’t have enough oil and salt at home to cook them.”

This time, Lu Qing was determined not to take any more.

Hearing him say this, Uncle Shi and the others finally stopped persuading.

Indeed, if you don’t have oil and salt to cook fish, you can’t suppress the fishy smell, and it really doesn’t taste good.

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

After returning home, he first put the fish in the kitchen.

Then he took out the small box that Old Doctor Chen had given him.

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

(End of this chapter)