I Can Fish Up Everything!

"One hundred sixty-five thousand a year, and that’s the lowest I can go," Wei Jingxue said, referring to the combined rent for the two shops. "But you have to tell everyone else it’s one hundred eighty thousand. No one else can know about this."

"One hundred sixty thousand. Brother Wei, it’s not like you’re short on five thousand. Why insist on the odd amount?"

"...You little rascal. Alright, fine!"

Gu Nan was quite satisfied with this rent. His original plan had been to move his shop.

But his plan changed. He decided to sell cheaper seafood at this location and rent another shop later for high-end products.

Of course, the second shop would have to wait until after the fourth or fifth maps were unlocked.

There was no point in opening a second shop until he had a wider variety of seafood. Otherwise, it would just be a waste of money.

With the rent settled, Gu Nan then asked, "What’s the transfer fee for Ji Jinxin’s place, and when does his lease expire?"

"His lease expires about half a month apart from yours. When the time comes, you can just pay according to the date on your rental contract," Wei Jingxue said, addressing the rent first before moving on to the transfer fee.

"So he effectively has four and a half months of rent left, which comes out to forty-five thousand. For the shop’s fixtures, renovation, and equipment, he’s asking for seventy thousand. But for the specifics, I suggest you two negotiate directly."

’A transfer fee of one hundred and fifteen thousand?’

Gu Nan shook his head. A full year’s rent for the shop next door was about that much. It wasn’t worth it for just four and a half months left on the lease.

’Is the guy going to deliberately rip out the renovations before he leaves?’

Even if he did, it wouldn’t matter. The shop didn’t really have much in the way of renovations anyway. It was mainly the oxygen pumps and the fixed fish tanks, and those didn’t cost much.

Wei Jingxue understood this as well. His main purpose for coming over was to settle the rent first.

He wasn’t too concerned about the transfer. He’d get his rent money regardless, and someone would take over the shop when the lease was up.

If Ji Jinxin transferred the shop to someone else, he wouldn’t mind either. He wouldn’t lose out in any case.

He just preferred Gu Nan to take over because he was a stable tenant.

After saying everything he needed to, Wei Jingxue offered to tell Ji Jinxin to come over. He then left, taking two tiger crabs Gu Nan had gifted him.

"Boss, are you planning to rent the shop next door?" Yi Chen, who had been there the whole time, asked as soon as the landlord left.

Gu Nan shook his head. "Not necessarily. It depends on the transfer fee. I might be interested if it’s forty or fifty thousand. Any more than that, and I’d rather wait for the lease to expire and then rent it, or just move my shop."

Yi Chen’s mouth twitched. ’Forty or fifty thousand? That’s basically just covering the rent!’

"Boss, you’re ruthless!" She gave him a thumbs-up, not looking put off by it at all.

Ji Jinxin certainly seemed pathetic lately, but she wasn’t about to feel sorry for him.

Sympathy was a job for saints. Yi Chen had come up the hard way and had worked in the real world for two years; she didn’t have any bleeding-heart compassion to spare.

Gu Nan just shook his head and smiled. "This is nothing. Capitalists are way more ruthless than me!"

Not long after lunch, Ji Jinxin arrived at the shop.

It had been a while, and the man looked even more haggard.

How could he not be? His shop had been investigated, but he could have held on. Then his son got into debt with online loans, and the collection calls started coming to him.

He originally wanted to ignore the debt, but part of it was on a bank credit card, which made things more serious. He paid back twenty thousand, but still owed over seventy thousand more.

He borrowed forty thousand from others and, left with no other choice, decided to sell his shop to raise money.

He only had one son; he couldn’t just ignore him.

He’d thought about having another kid, but his wife was already demanding a divorce.

Find a new wife to have a kid with? In his current situation, who would even look at him?

Seeing him, Gu Nan didn’t waste any words and got straight to the point. "Forty thousand for the transfer fee. If you want it, call the landlord over to sign the contract. If you don’t agree, I don’t care. I don’t really want to rent it anyway."

Ji Jinxin’s face flushed red with anger. "Impossible! The rent alone is more than forty thousand! Plus the renovations... all the equipment and fish tanks inside could sell for thirty thousand. If you didn’t want to rent, why did you have the landlord give me a message?"

"Oh, that was out of respect for the landlord," Gu Nan said with a careless shrug. "If I rent your shop, I’ll have to renovate it. I don’t need things like the freezers; you can haul those away and sell them yourself. The only things useful to me are the fish tanks and oxygen pumps, but the second-hand market is flooded with those. How much are they really worth?"

For a moment, Ji Jinxin was speechless. He felt like the whole world was against him.

He left the seafood shop indignantly and pulled out his phone to call someone who had previously wanted the shop. This person had offered sixty-five thousand, which was the highest bid.

"Brother, I’ve thought it over. Sixty-five thousand, and the shop is yours."

"Sorry, man, I already rented a storefront somewhere else. You should try asking someone else!"

After hanging up, Ji Jinxin stood there, stunned. He then immediately opened his phone’s contact list and scrolled through it for a long, long time.

Some people had inquired about the shop, but aside from the sixty-five-thousand offer, the highest anyone else went was forty thousand—the same as Gu Nan. It felt like highway robbery.

After some thought, he returned to Gu Nan’s shop, his body seeming to have stooped a little more.

"Ah Nan, I was in the wrong before. I apologize. I just have a foul mouth, but I never actually did anything truly vicious."

"Something’s come up with my family, and I need the money. If it’s possible, could you do seventy thousand for the transfer fee?"

Seventy thousand would be enough to pay off almost all of his current debts.

Ji Jinxin felt a sliver of relief. Thankfully, the fishing off-season had started, so he had already settled his previous business accounts and didn’t have any extra debt from that.

If that old broad had run off with that money too, he wouldn’t even have a shoulder to cry on.

"I haven’t held a grudge about what happened before. But I really don’t need your shop as much as you seem to think. The most I can offer is forty-five thousand. Why don’t you ask around some more?"

Since the other man was apologizing, Gu Nan’s attitude softened a bit, but he didn’t see any real sincerity in the apology.

Taking over the shop next door would indeed mean cheaper annual rent compared to other places, and it would be more convenient.

But he had other options, so there was no way he would offer a high price.

Ask others? If he had anyone else to ask, Ji Jinxin really wouldn’t have come back here.

In the end, he took the initiative and lowered his price again, and the two began to haggle.

However, once Gu Nan offered fifty thousand, he refused to go any higher, though he did agree that Ji Jinxin could take the three freezers from his shop.

Gu Nan didn’t really need the freezers. His own two were enough, and the Fresh-Chilled Pavilion was better than any high-tech refrigeration.

Shipments were fast, arriving the next day, so he could control the quantity of his chilled catch.

The three freezers could also fetch a bit of money. Right now, no one was offering more than Gu Nan, and most importantly, the bank was calling every day, like the grim reaper knocking at his door.

Ji Jinxin had no choice but to agree.

To get the money as quickly as possible, he printed out a transfer contract on the spot.

Gu Nan confirmed there were no problems with the contract, then signed it and added his thumbprint. Since he had secured the shop and the other party was desperate for cash, he didn’t make things difficult and transferred the money on the spot.

Ji Jinxin was quite efficient. That afternoon, he had people haul away the freezers and other things Gu Nan didn’t want. He kept one freezer for his own home, and the rest could be sold for some extra cash.

He couldn’t be a seafood shop owner anymore, so he’d just be a fishmonger. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t done it before.