At forty-five, Chen Yu was electrocuted on the banks of the Yongding River. In that instant, his mind filled with regrets about his life: he had used fishing to escape, lost his family, and earned himself the nickname “Chen the Big Skunk” among his fellow anglers. When he opened his eyes again, he had been reborn as a swaddled infant, carrying memories of two lifetimes back to the 1980s.
This time, he gripped his fishing rod, but not to run away. From a child “fishing” in a sandpit with a bamboo pole, to a young man learning specialist terms like “fishing line conditioner” and “fruit acid”; from savoring the warmth of life in the family compound’s red-brick buildings, to discovering the philosophy of fishing on the competition circuit; from sharing a piece of fruit candy with Lili, to seizing the opportunities of the Reform and Opening-Up era alongside Maodan and Zhang Wei Zhang Wei…
The fishing rod is his salvation, and his weapon. He means to turn the tables on the fishing circuit, and on his life: make up for what he owes his parents, hold on to Lili’s hand, and plant the dream of the “Xuyu” studio in the fertile soil of the times with his friends. When the line tightens again, what he reels in won’t just be fish, but the family bonds and love he once missed, and a life worth giving everything for.
This is a story of rebirth, growth, and redemption. With a fishing rod for a pen and the surging tide of the times for ink, it tells the stirring tale of ordinary people striving amid opportunity. After all, the best fishing skill has always been hidden in living well.
