HDRDTH -Chapter 60 Life Is Like Fishing—Even Empty-Handed Haul Is Cultivation

Yu Xian suddenly loosened his left hand.

The special PE fishing line—stretched like a razor blade and capable of bearing over a hundred jin of force—instantly lost tension. It snapped back into the reel, trailing a few droplets of blood.

He casually shook his hand.

The wound in his palm was deep. Flesh was torn open and rolled outward, blood seeping out at a visible rate, dripping down his fingers.

“Dad! My real dad!!”

Wang Dafu stumbled in from the wings, nearly rolling onto the stage, clutching a roll of medical gauze.

His chubby face was twisted in distress as he looked at the bone-deep wound.

“What are you even doing?! You’re turning down tens of millions in endorsements outside just to risk your life here! If your hand gets ruined, how are we supposed to fish lures in the future?!”

“Shut up. Don’t curse me.”

Yu Xian snatched the gauze, casually wrapping it around his left hand in a perfunctory manner.

One hand wasn’t convenient, so he bit one end of the bandage with his teeth and yanked hard with his right hand, tying a brutal knot.

The movement was more like tying sacks on a construction site than treating a wound. The white gauze was instantly stained red.

“It’s just broken skin. Stop screaming like a pig being slaughtered.”

Yu Xian spat out a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva, completely unconcerned.

“When a 200-jin giant grouper drags your line into breaking point in the deep sea, that’s what real bone-shattering pain feels like. This? Not even enough to affect my casting.”

“Ahhh, my father! Why are you still thinking about grouper fish?!”

Wang Dafu stomped in panic, pointing toward the front entrance.

“All the entertainment company bosses outside have gone crazy! Sister Qin Yue is holding them back with over ten bodyguards! Hurry and bandage your hand properly—we’re supposed to go out the front for interviews! Provincial leaders are waiting to meet you!”

“Meet my ass.”

Yu Xian rolled his eyes, grabbed his prized titanium lure rod with one hand, and shoved it into a black wooden case.

He slung it over his shoulder.

“Right now I just want to be an empty-handed fisherman. You take the front door if you want—don’t drag me into it. I’m taking the back exit. There’s probably a giant carp in the pond waiting for me to feed it.”

“Mr. Yu! Master Yu! Please wait!”

Urgent footsteps rang out as Principal Shen rushed into the backstage area.

He had even lost one of his black leather shoes in his haste. His suit was half open, and his voice cracked with excitement.

“A masterpiece! Truly a once-in-history masterpiece! Mr. Yu, your performance tonight has rewritten the history of our school!”

“Stop.”

Yu Xian stepped back immediately, avoiding the outstretched hands with obvious disgust.

“Cut the nonsense. I did what I promised. Now it’s your turn to deliver. That pond in the back hill is mine. If even one giant carp is missing, I’ll hold you responsible.”

Without waiting for a reply, he strode toward the rusted backstage iron door, black case on his shoulder.

Just as half his body stepped out—

A shadow fell across the doorway.

“Bang!”

A polished black leather shoe wedged itself firmly into the gap.

Principal Shen displayed shocking explosive speed, practically diving forward to grab Yu Xian’s hoodie from behind with both hands.

“Mr. Yu! Please! The leaders, experts, and thousands of students outside are all calling your name! I’m begging you!”

Yu Xian rolled his eyes, shoulder twitching as he tried to use a fisherman’s “Tai Chi unloading force” to shake him off.

“Principal Shen, let’s be reasonable. I agreed to perform, not to give speeches. Besides, if I miss the fishing window, can you compensate me? Let go!”

“Xiao Yu.”

A gentle voice rang out from backstage.

That single voice froze Yu Xian mid-motion.

He slowly turned his neck.

Su Wanyi stood there, holding Su Xi’s hand, smiling softly.

She reached out and adjusted Yu Xian’s collar—still messy from the steel wire—her eyes half-smiling.

“Even Principal Shen is about to kneel to you. Even the provincial leaders are sitting in the front row. If you run away now, how will Xi Xi explain in school that she has an ‘uncle who fled mid-battle’?”

“Wife, I’m not fleeing. I’m just going to set the bait…”

Yu Xian’s voice instantly weakened by eight levels.

“Setting bait can wait.”

Su Wanyi smiled even more brightly, hooking his uninjured right arm and pulling him back.

Seeing this, Principal Shen immediately seized the opportunity and shamelessly hugged Yu Xian around the waist.

And just like that, Yu Xian was half-dragged, half-carried back under the spotlight.

When the blinding white light hit his utterly defeated expression, the entire hall fell silent at once.

Countless cameras focused on him. Everyone held their breath, as if waiting for divine revelation.

After a moment of silence, Yu Xian finally leaned toward the microphone, his voice hoarse and lazily detached.

“Honestly, my biggest dream in life was never to write songs.”

“It was to be a fisherman who never goes empty-handed.”

Soft laughter rippled through the crowd.

“I’ve fished in sewage ditches and reservoir lakes. I’ve used cheap fiberglass rods and titanium ones. In the end? I’ve pulled up national treasures, retrieved underwater explosives, even helped the police catch international criminals…”

“But I’ve never once caught a proper fish.”

The laughter faded slowly as people began to sense something deeper.

“Life is like fishing.”

“The more desperate you are to land a ‘giant catch’, the more bait you throw, the more effort you make—the more those fish spirits avoid you.”

“And education is the same.”

He glanced at the uneasy officials in the front row.

“You treat children like fry in a pond. You keep feeding them, expecting them to grow into hundred-jin fish overnight.”

“But you forget—some fish are born to fight the currents. Some are meant to rest in deep pools.”

“You use the same industrial hook for all of them, and when it doesn’t work, you blame the fish, or the bait.”

The hall was so silent you could hear a needle drop.

Principal Shen’s smile froze. But the students’ eyes were blazing.

“I was able to fix that drum not because I understand art—but because I’ve fought enough big fish to know where to apply force so the line doesn’t snap.”

“In life, you must learn how to sit calmly on the riverbank even when you go empty-handed, and still watch the clouds drift by.”

“If you only teach children how to win, but never how to face an empty fish basket—then your education isn’t even as good as my pressure-cooker valve horn.”

Yu Xian tugged irritably at his collar.

“That’s it. Lecture over. Dismissed.”

For three full seconds, the audience froze.

Then—

Thunderous applause erupted like a tidal wave.

Principal Shen clapped frantically, his face red but ecstatic.

“Listen to that! This is true mastery! Using fishing to explain life—this is the essence of education!”

Yu Xian, however, didn’t care at all.

With his blood-soaked left hand wrapped in gauze and the black wooden case tightly held in his right, he slipped out the side door.

“Finally out…”

Cold night air rushed in, carrying the scent of grass and trees.

He looked toward the moonlit pond shimmering in the distance, a faint satisfied smile forming.

Then—

Just as he took his first step forward,

A black shadow slid out silently from the darkness and blocked the narrow path ahead.