Chapter 622 - 284: The Grateful Uncle (Part 4)

Gao Tiande stood up, his gaze landing on the fishing rod by the riverbank, and he picked it up casually.

There was a hook on the rod, which hadn’t been removed, but after glancing around, he didn’t find any bait and put the rod back down, feeling a bit bored.

He continued, "I need your help to survive, but I think you also need my response to confirm your own value. We spend our whole lives seeking to feel needed, because loneliness isn’t about having no one around, but about feeling unnecessary."

Li Younan showed a thoughtful expression upon hearing these words.

Loneliness isn’t about having no one around, but about feeling unnecessary—was this what the middle-aged man in front of him realized after a brush with death?

Li Younan silently walked to the fishing rod, picked it up, and then grabbed a handful of mud from the ground, hung it on the hook, and threw it into the river with a smile, saying, "Uncle, you did say one thing wrong."

"What?"

Li Younan said, "You indeed need my help to survive, but I don’t need your response to confirm my value."

"At that altitude, there are no billionaires, no legends, just a basic distinction between those who are alive and those who are about to die."

"True value comes from what I do, not from whose response I receive."

"If needing your response is a prerequisite, isn’t that just another self-centered obsession?"

The middle-aged man was taken aback by Li Younan’s words.

At this point, Li Younan was already focused on fishing with the mud, and Gao Tiande’s expression was a bit strange: "Can you really catch something like that?"

Li Younan said with a grin, "Just watch."

He gave the fishing rod a shake, and suddenly jerked it upward, lifting the hook from the water alongside Gao Tiande’s head.

The hook was empty.

Li Younan coughed.

Gao Tiande withdrew his gaze, sighed lightly, and chuckled silently, "To think I got schooled by someone much younger than myself... Well, placing my response as a precondition to another’s value certainly hasn’t left behind self-centered remnants."

"You’re right, thinking one’s approval is so crucial, when faced with the harshness of nature and the purity of others, it’s insignificant."

"In a strong wind, I can barely keep my own life, so where do I get the nerve to think your value needs my confirmation?"

Then the middle-aged man’s expression turned serious: "Li Younan, the courage of a young man has moved into my life, and a part of every breath I take is your gift."

"Tell me what you want, I want to repay you."

Li Younan shrugged casually, picked up another clump of mud and tossed it into the river, saying, "Uncle, do I look like someone who lacks anything?"

"No, you don’t."

"That’s why I don’t want any repayment from you."

Gao Tiande had a faint smile on his face: "It’s okay, you can think about it."

"From what I’ve preliminarily understood of you through your videos, I roughly know that you don’t lack material things, so I didn’t even bring any substantial gifts today."

"I came here just to give you a promise."

Li Younan turned his head with some amusement and said, "Uncle, you’re digging a hole for yourself. If I say I want the stars in the sky, can you fetch them for me?"

The uncle shook his head: "Before our conversation, my plan was to set a budget from my assets as a standard to repay you, but after talking with you, I’m willing to give you a promise instead."

"You can think it over carefully and tell me when you’re ready."

"Uncle, are you very rich? I don’t lack money either."

Gao Tiande thought for a moment: "Then do you have any dreams?"

"Dreams?" Li Younan was about to say something when suddenly his expression lit up, and he quickly looked toward the river, then pulled the fishing rod again.

This time, a freshwater fish was yanked out of the river.

Gao Tiande was dumbfounded.

Huh? Is it reasonable that you can actually catch fish with mud?

Li Younan casually took the fish off the hook and tossed it into the fish basket, saying offhandedly, "Dreams? My recent dream is... I want to build a ship and go traveling."

"But uncle, if you were to give me a ship, I wouldn’t want it."

"A regular ship wouldn’t satisfy my appetite; leaving it there would just waste maintenance costs."

"And a ship that satisfies me... it’s too expensive, I’d be embarrassed to accept it."

However, hearing these words from Li Younan, Gao Tiande’s eyes lit up: "Build a ship yourself? Hahahahaha."

He couldn’t help but laugh happily.

Li Younan said, somewhat irritably, "What, uncle, does your family own a shipyard?"

"Not at all, but if you want to build a ship, I can indeed help you."