Chapter 54: The Friend An Jun Brought
A short while later, the bald guy arrived in his boat.
"Friend, you’ve been fishing all day. How’s the catch?"
"Sigh, bad luck today. Maybe I picked a bad spot by the pier. Just these few." Gu Nan didn’t bother hiding anything now and casually opened the lid to his livewell for the man to see.
"That’s pretty good! You’ve not only covered your costs but made a decent profit. You can’t expect to catch a huge striped beakfish every time, right?"
Gu Nan only thought it was a small catch because he’d grown accustomed to the hauls from the Fengqi Coast, where he brought in so much every night.
If this had been before he was bound to the game, he probably would’ve been grinning from ear to ear over a catch this size.
So, when the bald guy saw it, he didn’t think it was small at all. In fact, he thought Gu Nan’s haul was quite impressive.
A quick glance told him the few black porgies could sell for around one hundred fifty, and the pound or so of rockfish was worth another forty.
The two Sea Bass were very nice. The smaller one was over a pound, and the larger one looked to be three pounds. Together, they could sell for one hundred fifty.
Of course, if he sold them to a fishmonger, the prices would be at least a third lower.
And just like that, the bald guy asked, "Friend, are you selling these fish? If so, I’ll take them off your hands."
Gu Nan shook his head. "Can’t sell. I have a friend who runs a seafood shop, and he’s already claimed these."
"Oh, I see." The bald guy nodded and didn’t ask again.
He wouldn’t make much profit off these fish anyway and couldn’t be bothered to compete for them. Besides, there were a few other anglers here. If they had a good catch, they would surely sell some to him.
Back on shore, Gu Nan loaded everything onto his three-wheeled vehicle and headed for the seafood shop.
Yi Chen would have already gone home by now, so there was no need to pay for a delivery. He could just use the delivery service in the future when he was too busy.
As he neared the seafood market, his phone suddenly rang.
Gu Nan slowed down, pulled over to the side of the road after making sure there were no cars behind him, and then took out his phone. Unexpectedly, the call was from An Jun.
"Hello? What’s up?"
"Where are you? Let’s go get dinner!"
"You’re calling me for dinner at this hour?"
Gu Nan glanced at the time. It was already eight in the evening. Although he hadn’t eaten dinner today due to special circumstances, he usually would have by now.
"That’s why I’m calling you! Since you’ve already eaten, you can just have a little more. Otherwise, my wallet couldn’t take the hit. Ah Jing is driving me, so neither of us has eaten. You’re not paying, so you have to at least come keep us company, right?"
"Fine, I guess I can force myself to eat a little more! By the way, when will you guys get here?" ’He hadn’t expected a dinner invitation tonight. If he’d known, he would have crashed the party even without an invitation from An Jun!’
"We’ll be at Yangjiang Port in half an hour. Wait for us at your place."
"I’m still at the shop. Just come straight to the seafood market."
"Alright."
After hanging up, Gu Nan arrived back at the seafood shop a few minutes later.
He parked the three-wheeler by the entrance, plugged it in to charge, and then closed the door.
Gu Nan needed to take some fish out of his inventory space, so he couldn’t let anyone see.
First, he put the local fish he caught today into a tank to let them acclimate to the water. Then he began to restock his inventory.
The Star Chicken Fish sold well today, with seven left. He took out fifteen more from his inventory space, bringing the total to over twenty. He did the same for the Golden Needlefish.
Previously, when he brought back fish he’d caught, he had to acclimate them. Now, taking them directly from the aquarium, he didn’t have that problem.
Next, he restocked a certain number of the two-star Ball-nosed Fish, bringing the count to fifteen.
There were still four Black-striped Small Stripes Buri left unsold, so he decided not to bring out any more for now.
Now that he had the refrigerated storage, he didn’t have to worry about the fish going bad if they sat for too long. It wasn’t too late to take them out once the current stock was nearly sold.
As for the freezer, he still had to keep it running. After all, once a fish was taken out of the aquarium or refrigerated storage, it couldn’t be put back. If any fish proved hard to sell, he would have to put it in the freezer to be sold frozen at a lower price.
Calculating the time, he realized he should be making a delivery to Yummy Restaurant tomorrow. Therefore, Gu Nan left ten of each fish in the aquarium and only took out the surplus.
Adding them to the few already in the shop, the tanks now held a total of thirteen Blue-striped Gidai and nine Yellowfin Gidai.
’Now, a single glance at the shop’s tanks showed they were teeming with fish. This is what a real aquarium should look like!’
He wasn’t just getting the occasional Four-star Fish anymore. Today, he had caught six Humpback Sweetlips, and he put them all in a tank.
He put the four Blue Star Nine-spine Sea Perch in with the three Large-spot Grouper he caught today. The two types of grouper were similar in size and wouldn’t attack each other.
There were three Fei’s Pompano in the refrigerated storage, which he placed on the display table with the one that was already there.
He put the three Swallowtail Spot and two Tai Star Garoupa together. With that, only three of the shop’s tanks remained empty.
Later, when he caught fish from elite maps, he could move the two types of one-star fish and the Ball-nosed Fish into the large basin if he ran out of tank space. He could also squeeze other compatible fish together.
For now, this was the only way. Moving to a bigger shop wasn’t that easy.
Of course, Gu Nan also took out the Indian marlin. He weighed it first, then laid it horizontally on the display table, covering its body with crushed ice.
The display table was one and a half meters wide, so it just barely fit.
Just as he finished tidying up the shop, An Jun called again. They had arrived at the main entrance of the seafood market.
Gu Nan locked the door, leaving the three-wheeler to charge. He would come back and ride it home after dinner.
Stepping outside, he saw Ye Jing’s car. He walked over, opened the back door, and got in, only to be surprised to see a stranger in the passenger seat instead of Xu Zhina.
An Jun was in the back seat and immediately made the introduction as soon as he got in. "Ah Nan, this is a friend I met on a tour group in Southeast Asia, Jiang Tengming. You can just call him Ah Ming."
Gu Nan knew An Jun wouldn’t introduce someone to him for no reason, so he proactively extended his hand. "Hello, I’m Gu Nan. You can call me Ah Nan."
Jiang Tengming quickly turned and shook his hand. "Hello, hello."
Then, Ye Jing started the car and asked, "Ah Jun, where are we eating?"
"Let’s get barbecue. It’s closer," An Jun replied, then turned to Gu Nan to explain Jiang Tengming’s background.
It was quite a coincidence. For his trip to Southeast Asia, he had found a reliable tour group online and signed up specifically to experience the local culture.
He had gotten to know Jiang Tengming mainly because they were both content creators.
Being in social media, and on the same platform no less, brought them closer right away.
Between that and having traveled together, they had already become good friends by the time they returned home.
When An Jun learned that Jiang Tengming made videos about seafood, he immediately thought of Gu Nan.
’If his seafood shop got a promotion from him, on top of having the shop’s "main attraction," Yi Chen, he figured plenty of fans would flock to the store, making business even better.’
Gu Nan wasn’t a fool. After learning that Jiang Tengming was a seafood content creator, the smile he offered him became a little more sincere.
As for the matter of filming Yi Chen, however, he didn’t bring it up in this setting.
Soon, the car arrived at the barbecue restaurant.
"Come on, don’t be shy. Scan the code and order whatever you want," An Jun said, directing the comment mainly at Jiang Tengming, afraid he might feel reserved.
Gu Nan hadn’t eaten all evening, had caught a ton of fish, and had even challenged a boss. He was starving.
So he didn’t hold back at all. He immediately took out his phone, scanned the code, and ordered three portions each of lamb, beef, and pork belly, followed by the restaurant’s specialty: a large rack of grilled lamb ribs.
An Jun nearly did a spit-take when he saw the order. "Didn’t you already eat dinner?" he asked, stunned. "Why are you ordering so much?"
"Who told you I already ate? A shipment of fish for the restaurant arrived at the port tonight, so I went to pick it up."