I Can Fish Up Everything!

"Don’t all girls like taking selfies? Pretty girls can just post a few selfie videos and people will watch. It’s that simple." It was Gu Nan’s turn to be surprised. ’A total bombshell, and she doesn’t know how to take a selfie?’

Yi Chen pouted. "Well, I don’t."

The topic made her sigh. Her classmates had torn her selfies apart in the past, all of them saying her photos were ugly and did her real looks a great disservice.

After being so discouraged, Yi Chen rarely took selfies anymore and had become rather averse to it.

"I see. Well, why not have someone else take them for you? You might not be great at taking photos, but someone who knows what they’re doing could definitely make you look amazing."

"Aren’t you working at my shop now? Register accounts on a few popular apps and upload videos of yourself selling fish here. Even if you don’t go viral, you can probably monetize the traffic later. We’re talking an extra few thousand a month, you know?"

Gu Nan coaxed her patiently. He genuinely believed that someone with Yi Chen’s looks working in a seafood shop was a fantastic gimmick. He wasn’t expecting her to become an overnight sensation, but he was sure it would bring some traffic to the shop.

Ideally, she would attract the attention of some adventurous seafood vloggers who would come to the shop and buy up all the large, hard-to-sell fish.

"A few thousand? Really that much?" Yi Chen was skeptical.

’In that case, couldn’t I make over ten thousand a month?’

"You know An Jun, right? You could ask him to show you the ropes and send some of his followers your way. That would make it much easier to get started, which is why I’m sure a few thousand a month is no problem. And who knows? If you blow up, a company might sign you and make you a real influencer."

Gu Nan wasn’t worried about losing out if Yi Chen actually blew up and left. By that point, his seafood shop would have already reaped the rewards.

It might even become an influencer-famous seafood shop, with all sorts of wannabe celebrities coming to ’check in’ and cosplay as mermaids. That was another form of traffic, after all.

"I’ll pass on the company. They’re all scams." Yi Chen was different from Gu Nan. Her ambitions weren’t so grand; she wasn’t trying to make millions.

She talked about making money, but it was more about proving herself to her parents.

If she actually signed with a company to be a minor influencer, she’d have no personal freedom and would probably get scammed.

Running her own channel, though, was fine. That was just a side hustle.

Hearing her say that, Gu Nan was actually a bit impressed, but that was as far as it went.

’Lots of people talk tough before they’re tempted,’ he thought. ’But when they see the money, their principles tend to get a little... soft.’

Luckily, however, Yi Chen did agree to the plan to make videos.

...

The next day was a normal workday, and business that morning was certainly slower than it had been over the weekend. The once-empty shop now looked more respectable, with fish finally swimming in the tanks—but for Gu Nan, this wasn’t good news.

It wasn’t all bad news, however. A customer came in and bought two Black-striped Small Stripes Buri at once, pushing the morning’s revenue just over two thousand.

Yi Chen was the most frustrated one. Absolutely no one wanted the clams she’d gathered at low tide the previous night. She’d probably just have to take them home and cook them for herself.

At noon, Gu Nan planned to call An Jun over to discuss the video plan, but it turned out An Jun was at the airport, about to fly to Southeast Asia for three days to experience a "Thai dragon tendon grab."

Gu Nan was dumbfounded. ’When did that dude get a visa? Why didn’t he say anything about going abroad?’

’Also, what the hell is a dragon tendon grab? Can any of the experts out there tell me?’

With An Jun gone, the video plan had to be put on hold.

Over the next two days, business at the seafood shop was quite stable, with daily revenue landing between twenty-five hundred and thirty-five hundred.

Yi Chen was quite satisfied with this. At this rate, her earnings for the month would be over seven thousand.

The work was a bit more tiring than her last job, but the pay was almost double.

Gu Nan had also gone fishing the past couple of nights, but it seemed his luck had run out. For three days straight, he failed to complete the daily task of unlocking a new species for his collection, and very few four-star fish appeared.

However, he did sell ten Blue-striped and Yellowfin Gidai to Yummy Restaurant, earning a little over a thousand.

After these three days, his account balance had reached over seventeen thousand three hundred.

He had collected the full green-tier Fengqi fishing gear set, which increased his daily tasks to five and his daily guaranteed-catch chances to sixteen.

Because of this, even though he was failing one of his daily tasks, the amount of Gold Coins he was earning wasn’t any less than before. In fact, thanks to the increased rewards, he was making an extra two or three hundred.

He had now saved up 4,660 Gold Coins, which included the money from selling his old white-tier Fengqi set. He was just shy of being able to afford the blue-tier fishing rod.

By now, Yi Chen was completely familiar with the shop’s operations. He could finally leave the store in her hands with confidence.

On Thursday morning, Gu Nan arrived at six o’clock as usual.

He planned to go fishing during the day, so he’d come in this early to give Yi Chen some instructions.

"Boss," Yi Chen said with a nod as he walked in. She was in the middle of eating breakfast.

Gu Nan nodded. "Yi Chen, I have to go out for a bit today. I probably won’t be back until this evening, so I’m leaving the shop in your hands."

Yi Chen was a little surprised, but not shocked. He had mentioned this might happen on her first day; she just hadn’t expected it so soon.

But now that she was familiar with everything, watching the store by herself wouldn’t be a problem.

"Okay, I’ll take good care of things."

"When customers pay with a transfer, make sure you check the time and amount. Don’t let some jerk trick you with a fake screenshot."

"Right."

"Here’s twenty for lunch. Get yourself something to eat."

"Thanks, Boss."

"That’s about it. Help me grab the oxygenator for the transport tank. I’ll have a new catch coming in this evening."

Gu Nan shoveled crushed ice into a foam cooler and loaded it onto his motor-tricycle. Yi Chen helped by putting the transport tank and other items on as well.

With everything packed, he hopped onto the motor-tricycle and was about to leave. But then he glanced at the tanks, which were getting more and more crowded with one- and two-star fish. He thought for a moment, then called out, "Yi Chen, you could also try to find some new sales channels. See if you can sell off these Star Chicken Fish, Golden Needlefish, and Black-striped Small Stripes Buri in bulk at a discount."

"Really? How much of a discount can I offer?" Yi Chen’s eyes lit up. ’This is another great chance to boost my sales numbers!’

"For the Star Chicken Fish and Golden Needlefish, you can take about five off. Any more and we’ll be losing money. For the Black-striped Small Stripes Buri and Ball-nosed Fish, the max discount is fifteen. That’s the rock-bottom price, but you can use your own judgment on the specifics."

Even with his green-tier set, he still caught a lot of one-star fish when he wasn’t using his guaranteed catches, and the proportion of two-star fish had been increasing lately as well.

His walk-in customers could never buy them all, so rather than letting the fish waste away in the tanks, it was better to sell them off quickly at a discount.

There was no need to do the same for three-star fish. He didn’t catch that many of them, and with Yummy Restaurant needing one or two deliveries a week, he was already struggling to keep up with demand.

The good news was that the chances of catching a Long-jawed Trevally were low. The last one had been bought by a wealthy foodie, and the two he’d caught since were bought by someone that same foodie had referred. For the time being, he didn’t have to worry about having any of those left in stock.