I Can Fish Up Everything!

"Bro, you’re here! Let me introduce you. This is the owner of the seafood shop, Gu Nan." Seeing a young man at the door staring at the sign, Zhao Jiajia was the first to greet him and lead him into the store.

Hearing her call him "bro," both Gu Nan and Yi Chen were a bit surprised. Seeing how affectionate they were, they immediately realized the two were brother and sister.

Cousins, even if they had a good relationship, were usually just close, not this affectionate.

"Hello." Gu Nan stepped forward and shook his hand.

Zhao Jie, for his part, wasn’t his usual flippant self. He glanced at Yi Chen, thinking to himself, ’Wow, my sister’s old classmate got so beautiful.’ Outwardly, however, he just exchanged a few pleasantries with Gu Nan, and the two briefly got to know each other.

Afterward, he took a walk around the shop, finally stopping at the ornamental fish tanks. "You’ve got quite a variety of aquatic products here. You even have ornamental fish."

"These were all gifts from friends abroad. I’m just raising them for fun," Gu Nan said with a smile, standing beside him.

Meanwhile, Yi Chen and Zhao Jiajia were huddled behind the counter, whispering in front of the computer, likely discussing things like videos and editing.

"I’ve always found ornamental fish to be pretty temperamental. They’ll just up and die on you for no reason. Yours seem very lively, though. Is there a special way you care for them?" Zhao Jie asked curiously.

He had a fish tank in his own shop, too. He’d tried to get it going once, but every batch of fish he bought died. After the third consecutive failure, he gave up on the idea.

Zhao Jie wasn’t just the owner of his restaurant; he was also one of its sushi chefs, responsible for preparing a portion of the sushi himself.

Besides that, with all the work of managing the restaurant and ordering stock, he didn’t have the free time to research how to raise ornamental fish.

Gu Nan laughed. "Honestly, I have no idea. A friend sent them over, so I just put them in the tank. I bought some algae from a pet store and feed them every day. That’s about it."

"It’s that easy?" Zhao Jie asked, his tone laced with skepticism.

As luck would have it, another person walked into the shop just then—it was none other than Kang Ye.

It had been a while since his last visit, and his stock of video content was running low. So, he’d squeezed in some time today to come buy a couple of fish.

As soon as he entered, he noticed that the shop had several new types of fish. They even had Leopard Coral Grouper.

"Boss, your selection of fish just keeps growing! Any recommendations for today? I’m looking to buy two."

"How about a Rosy Garoupa and a Tai Star Garoupa?" Gu Nan suggested jokingly.

After all, Kang Ye had already bought most of the high-quality three- and four-star fish, and even a five-star Blue Star Nine-spine Sea Perch. Besides the "BOSS" fish, the only ones left were the two Gu Nan had just mentioned.

Kang Ye thought for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. Those two have similar features, so I can do a comparison for my video."

Gu Nan was slightly surprised. ’He’s really buying them!’ Looks like today’s sales figures were going to be impressive. The smile on his face grew a little wider.

"What size would you like?"

"The biggest ones you have!"

"You got it!"

Gu Nan netted one of each type of fish, weighed them, and then asked Yi Chen to pack them.

Thanks to his fishing over the last few days, the largest of both species weighed over ten pounds. The Rosy Garoupa weighed 15.6 pounds, and at 280 yuan per pound, the total came to 4,368 yuan.

The suggested price for Rosy Garoupa was 200 yuan per pound, but it was normal to increase the price by a few dozen yuan for a fish weighing over ten pounds. Many seafood shops would quote over 300 for one this large.

Gu Nan was giving him a slight discount out of consideration for him being a regular customer; he wasn’t quoting a ridiculous price.

Kang Ye understood this principle, so he didn’t haggle.

The Tai Star Garoupa was a bit bigger, weighing 17.3 pounds. At 330 yuan per pound, the total was 5,709 yuan.

There weren’t many imported wild Leopard Coral Groupers available this season. At Yangjiang Port, those over five pounds were going for around 320 yuan per pound, and those over ten pounds for 380.

Prices were quite high at the moment. When they became more abundant, the price would drop to the low 200s, with smaller ones even fetching just 180 yuan per pound.

This fish was nearly twenty pounds, so selling it for 330 was a bargain. Of course, it was a Tai Star Garoupa, not a true Leopard Coral Grouper, so its value was naturally a bit lower.

The total came to 10,077 yuan, but Gu Nan rounded it down to an even 10,000.

He’d only done 1,500 in sales all morning, and now Kang Ye single-handedly added 10,000 to that. ’What a great start to the day,’ he thought.

While Yi Chen was still packing the fish, Gu Nan cheerfully introduced Kang Ye to Zhao Jie. After the two got acquainted, Gu Nan briefly brought up the topic of the ornamental fish.

"By the way, do you need any more ornamental fish? If so, pick a few from the tank—they’re on the house. My friend is sending another batch in a couple of days."

Kang Ye was a major client who never hesitated when making a purchase. Gu Nan didn’t mind gifting him a few ornamental fish to maintain the good relationship.

Fish like the Pink and Blue Tang weren’t exactly cheap, but since he had caught them himself, they were practically zero-cost, so giving them away didn’t hurt.

Since the offer was made, Kang Ye didn’t stand on ceremony. He asked for one of each type of Stab-tailed Fish, aside from the clownfish.

He then started chatting with Zhao Jie, explaining things to watch out for, like water temperature, quality, and salinity.

His advice on selecting fish was simple: buy from this shop. The fish here were lively and easy to keep. Buy from anywhere else, and you’re likely to get ripped off.

Zhao Jie nodded along, the idea of keeping ornamental fish once again taking root in his mind. At the very least, they would look good in his restaurant. Besides, if he placed a large enough order in the future, he could ask Gu Nan to throw some in for free.

After Kang Ye left, Gu Nan and Zhao Jie started discussing business. The main item on the agenda was to finalize the price for the Marlin Fish from India.

Zhao Jie opened the crate to inspect the marlin’s freshness. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw the fish packed in crushed ice. "This is a fresh-chilled fish?"

Gu Nan nodded. "That’s right. We have a fast shipping process. After being bled, the fish is put into an ice slurry with sea ice for acid-curing. During this curing period, a dedicated vessel transports it directly to the country, preserving the fish’s fresh texture and flavor as much as possible."

"That’s why our shipping fees are higher, as are our preservation and time costs. The trade-off is that the window of guaranteed freshness is much shorter."

"Flash-freezing severely damages the texture of the meat. And while the fish can still be aged and some of its fresh flavor restored, the result is vastly different from this method."

Zhao Jie hesitated. "Your method certainly guarantees freshness, but if you can’t sell it quickly, don’t you end up taking a loss?"

"I don’t normally stock fish like this. I don’t even have a deep freezer in the shop, so I have no way to store flash-frozen products. This one is more of a showpiece. If someone wants it, great. If not, I’ll just find a restaurant and host a fish banquet for friends." Gu Nan smiled and spread his hands, indicating this fish was an exception.

"Now, if your restaurant requires over two hundred pounds a month, I can arrange a weekly shipment prepared this way. But for smaller quantities, the preservation costs are high, so the price won’t be any cheaper than what you pay for flash-frozen."

Having laid out the general terms, Gu Nan waited for Zhao Jie to make a decision.

’It’s not that he can’t get deliveries from flash-freezing suppliers,’ Gu Nan thought. ’It all comes down to the customer’s requirements. And price-wise, they can’t compete with a product that’s freshly aged and chilled like this.’

"So what’s your price per pound?" Zhao Jie asked after a moment of deliberation.

"It’s currently marlin season, so the catch is abundant and prices are cheaper than in the autumn and winter. I can give it to you for eighty yuan per pound."

Eighty yuan per pound was a reasonable price, likely comparable to what Zhao Jie was paying his supplier for flash-frozen fish.

The difference in freshness, however, would allow him to raise the prices at his restaurant slightly. And even if he didn’t, the superior taste and texture would mean more satisfied customers, which was an indirect way of increasing profits.

The price of Marlin Fish can actually vary greatly. The more expensive varieties, like the Atlantic Blue Marlin, can cost even more than bluefin tuna.

The cheap ones might only go for eight or ten yuan a pound at a fishing pier. Some three-hundred-pound marlins sell for just a few thousand yuan, putting the price per pound under twenty.

Gu Nan had seen news stories like this. ’The fishermen just don’t know any better,’ he thought.

If a marlin is tossed into the fish hold without being bled, its appearance is a lost cause by the time it reaches shore. It would be covered in bruises, its skin already looking rotten and clearly not far from stinking. It’s perfectly normal for such fish to be sold so cheap.

A well-preserved Marlin Fish is slightly more expensive than yellowfin tuna. Shortbill spearfish, on the other hand, is cheaper, priced similarly to yellowfin.

So when Zhao Jie heard the price, he found it acceptable, even if it wasn’t as cheap as he’d hoped.

Still, he had to ask, "Can you go any lower?"

Gu Nan shook his head with a smile. "If you want the flash-frozen ones, I can give you a better price. The shipping and other costs are lower for those, after all."

"Fine, I’ll take this one for now. Go ahead and weigh it." Seeing that there was no room for negotiation, Zhao Jie relented.

He had already inspected the fish. While the price was about the same as what he was paying his usual supplier, the freshness was worlds better. He was willing to accept the same price for guaranteed quality.

Gu Nan asked, "Will it fit in your vehicle?"

"I brought my pickup truck on purpose. I usually pick up my own stock to save on delivery fees."

"That works out perfectly. In the future, you can just pick up your orders yourself when they arrive. The delivery fee to Bazhou City is pretty steep."

As he spoke, Gu Nan worked with Zhao Jie to lift the marlin—which measured just over two meters—onto an electronic scale.

The scale was set on a stool, and the fish’s head and tail drooped over the sides, but this didn’t affect the weight reading.

One hundred seventeen pounds. Gutted and bled, a fish just over two meters long that still weighed this much was clearly very plump. This single fish was worth 9,360 yuan.

"Will you need another one shipped this week?" Gu Nan asked as they lifted the fish back into the styrofoam cooler for packing.

"Not this week. Let’s do next week. Try to keep it over two hundred pounds, no less. Marlin Fish sells pretty well at my restaurant." As he spoke, Zhao Jie began to survey the other fish in the shop.

’Well, since I’m already at a seafood shop,’ he thought, ’I might as well have a look around.’

When a Japanese restaurant does well, the money just pours in. It’s not something men are crazy about, but women love it.

Many women go for the ambiance and then spend the whole time snapping selfies.

They edit the photos meticulously to project an air of sophistication.

That’s why, to run a successful Japanese restaurant, you have to constantly update the menu to maintain a sense of novelty for the customers.

Serving the same few dishes every day gets boring, no matter how delicious they are.

Gu Nan’s shop was filled with all sorts of fish Zhao Jie had never seen before, making him realize he could add a whole host of new items to his menu.

A fish that costs one hundred yuan might be sold for two hundred at a casual food stall. At a proper seafood restaurant in a hotel, it would be three hundred.

And at a mid- to high-end Japanese restaurant, the starting price would be at least five hundred.

Therefore, Zhao Jie wasn’t actually that concerned about the cost.

The customers were the ones footing the bill in the end, and there were plenty of well-to-do women who never even glanced at the prices when ordering.

’Though there are fewer suckers these days,’ he mused. ’If this were back in the prime era of simps, my restaurant would be doing even better business.’