I Can Fish Up Everything!

"Yeah, your mom found my mom, and then my mom called me to set you up. It’s like a set of nesting dolls," An Jun said, pretty exasperated by the whole thing.

In the eyes of their elders, he was a good kid. They only knew he seemed to be popular with the ladies, but they had no idea what a player he was on the side.

That was why An Jun’s mom had asked him to make the introduction, thinking he might know some suitable girls.

Seeing Gu Nan lost in thought, he continued, "Honestly, I don’t think you’ll be able to escape the marriage pressure for the next few years, so you might as well try dating someone."

"From what we’ve seen so far, Yi Chen is great. She has a good personality, is a hard worker, and more importantly, she doesn’t look down on you for being a fishmonger. It’s rare to find a girl like that, so you should really give it a shot."

"Of course, if you really don’t want to get married, then just keep stalling. Eventually, after pestering you for a while, your mom will see it’s not working and leave you alone."

"My business is just starting to turn around, and I’m swamped every single day. Where would I find the time to date?" Gu Nan said, shaking his head with a wry smile.

’I have to go fishing every day. If I don’t, the daily opportunity will be wasted...’

’Wait, I don’t think the game ever said the attempts couldn’t be stacked!’

The thought gave Gu Nan a sudden urge to run an experiment. ’I could try it tonight.’

But An Jun retorted, "What could you possibly be so busy with every day? Yi Chen is watching the shop now. Getting a girlfriend would just mean you’d have to go fishing a little less."

"You don’t understand."

"You’re not still hung up on your ex, are you?"

"How could I be? It’s been ages!" Gu Nan sighed, looking utterly defeated.

He wasn’t the type to dwell on the past. He had deleted her contact info, photos, and everything else, wiping the slate clean.

After all this time with no contact, his memory of her face was already a blur. There was no way he was still pining for her.

"Good, as long as that’s not it. Just take your time with everything else. Wealth is built up little by little, so don’t be so impatient."

An Jun could tell what kind of state he was in. Seeing that Gu Nan had truly moved on, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He had generally avoided bringing it up before, afraid that Gu Nan hadn’t moved on yet.

"All this rambling isn’t like you. Now, let’s go buy me that computer!" Gu Nan knew his friend was just concerned, so he ribbed him with a laugh and changed the subject.

The two of them soon arrived at an electronics market, but Zhang Mingfei was nowhere to be seen.

He didn’t come here often; he was usually over at Yummy Restaurant.

However, he had already given his staff a heads-up, so after Gu Nan bought the computer, he discovered it was a good thousand yuan cheaper than he’d budgeted. He ended up spending only nine thousand on a new laptop.

He had originally planned to buy a desktop, but when he saw how big of a discount Zhang Mingfei had given him, he decided to get a laptop instead.

A laptop was more convenient. He could bring it to the shop during the day and have Yi Chen learn to edit videos. That way, it wouldn’t cut into his fishing time too much.

After buying the computer, the two of them headed straight back.

As luck would have it, just as they returned to the Yangjiang Port seafood market and entered the shop with lunch, they ran into a deliveryman carrying two large styrofoam boxes inside.

"What’s this?" An Jun asked, setting their lunch down on a table.

"The two fish I ordered have arrived," Gu Nan said, taking the delivery slip from the courier.

"Two of them? Why on earth would you order just two fish?" An Jun asked, puzzled.

Meanwhile, a curious Yi Chen had already grabbed a pair of scissors and was starting to open one of the boxes.

"Whoa, what a huge spotted sea bass!" She had thought it was some new species, but it was a Star Chicken Fish. She just never imagined they could grow this large.

"Yi Chen, put this one in the tank for now. After we film it, I’ll ask around to see if anyone wants it." Gu Nan figured the two seafood vloggers he knew might be interested in such a huge specimen.

’Even if they don’t take it right away, they could at least reserve it.’

"Okay, Boss. Is the other box a live fish, too?"

"The other one’s not. It’s chilled. Just put the Star Chicken Fish in the tank for now."

"Alrighty!"

Yi Chen dipped her hand into the box to test the water temperature. Finding it wasn’t too warm, she simply lifted the whole box and poured the fish, along with all the water, into the tank.

Live fish usually need to be acclimated first, mainly because the hot weather outside makes the water in the shop’s tanks feel much cooler by comparison. Normally, you’d have to gradually mix the water to let the fish adjust to the temperature change.

But since the water temperatures were already similar, there was no need for that.

But the sight of Yi Chen, despite her small frame, effortlessly lifting a meter-long box containing a large fish and a good amount of water, left An Jun completely stunned.

"Wow, I never would’ve guessed. Yi Chen, you’re surprisingly strong!"

"Heh heh, of course!" Yi Chen lifted her arm, flexing her bicep.

Well, it was pale and soft, like a little soup dumpling. The sight made the two men in the shop chuckle, at a loss for words.

Just then, Gu Nan came over from the counter and handed her a notebook.

He then opened the remaining box, revealing a beautifully colored but fierce-looking Red Fork-tailed Sea Bream.

"Whoa, look at the mouth on that thing!" With its bulging eyes and gaping maw, Yi Chen was taken aback by how ugly the fish was.

Gu Nan just smiled, lifted the fish, and placed it on the display counter.

He didn’t even need to weigh it, as the weight was on the invoice: 13.15 kilograms, a little heavier than he’d expected.

"’Red Fork-tailed Sea Bream, from East Africa...’" Yi Chen started reading from the notebook. It turned out Gu Nan had written up an introduction for her to memorize before filming the video.

Beside them, An Jun eyed the Red Fork-tailed Sea Bream curiously. "How much does this fish weigh? What’s the price per kilo?"

"It’s a little over thirteen kilograms. The price is one hundred and twenty yuan per kilo, so it should sell for over fifteen hundred."

"Only one-twenty a kilo? This fish is almost a meter long! You should be selling it for at least two hundred a kilo, don’t you think?"

"...You know, you’ve got a point there."

Gu Nan nodded in agreement. With most seafood, the bigger the catch, the higher the price. He realized he didn’t have to stick strictly to the game’s suggested price.

’It’s not surprising to charge a bit more for one this big. I can set the opening price at two hundred a kilo, and customers can always haggle!’

’By that logic, I can raise the price on that eight-plus-kilo Star Chicken Fish, too. Selling it for eighty yuan a kilo wouldn’t be unreasonable at all.’

Gu Nan took out his phone and snapped a picture of the Red Fork-tailed Sea Bream and another of the Star Chicken Fish. He then sent the photos to the two seafood vloggers he knew and posted them in his fishing group chat.

He didn’t ask if anyone was interested; he was just casually sharing some photos, with no intention of advertising them for sale whatsoever.

Kang Ye was the first to reply: "Boss, did this red fish just arrive at your shop?"

"That’s right. It’s called a Red Fork-tailed Sea Bream. It’s a deep-sea fish, and they usually only weigh one to one-and-a-half kilos. Bigger ones might get up to five kilos. This one I have is thirteen kilos. It’s extremely rare," Gu Nan bluffed.

He had no idea what the average size of a Red Fork-tailed Sea Bream was, but since their maximum length was 1.1 meters, his eighty-centimeter specimen was certainly nothing to sneeze at.

"How does it taste?" Kang Ye was a little different from other seafood vloggers; he had high standards when it came to the quality of the fish.

For example, he had no interest in the Star Chicken Fish, even though he’d never filmed one before.

Gu Nan thought for a moment before replying, "Well, how should I put it... It’s definitely a step down from, say, a sweetlips or a grouper, but it’s no worse than a Black-striped Small Stripes Buri. You should give it a try."

Hearing that it was no worse than a Black-striped Small Stripes Buri, Kang Ye’s interest was piqued. "Alright, I’ll swing by and take a look after work."