Chapter 122 - 111: Shop Transfer
Having completed his daily tasks, Gu Nan returned to the spot where he’d been catching tiger crabs.
’An endless supply of crabs! As a crab lover, he was determined to clean out this entire tiger crab den today.’
While tiger crabs are rare in China, they’re quite common abroad.
In China, a nation of foodies, it’s impossible for anything delicious to become overabundant.
Just then, a beautiful reef with crystal-clear water was blanketed in a vast swathe of orange-red.
A dense swarm of tiger crabs scuttled along the seabed, seemingly in the middle of a migration.
But in the center of the crab army, a small fish with a hook would suddenly appear out of thin air.
When a particularly curious tiger crab opened its mouth to bite, both the small fish and the crab would vanish at the same time.
Yet, within the massive legion of crabs, the loss of one of their kind every second went completely unnoticed.
Compared to their disappearing companions, the devil rays and other predators drawn to the scene were causing even more casualties.
It took a full two hours for the tiger crab army to completely pass through the reef area and move on.
Back at Sanlian Reef, Gu Nan realized his fishing for the night was over when his rod remained motionless.
He glanced at the tiger crabs in his aquarium. He had fifty-three in total. About half of them were a little over a pound each, which he could sell.
As for the smaller ones, just over half a pound, they were too small. For an imported product, he’d either have to sell them at a lower price or eat them himself.
Gu Nan packed up his fishing rod and started the boat. On his way back, he arranged for all fifty-three tiger crabs to be delivered.
By the time he returned to the pier, it was already three in the morning.
Gu Nan went to the seafood market and put all the fish he caught that night in his shop.
Aside from the small Spotted Rockfish, which was still alive, the rest had died back on the reef.
An Jun and Ye Jing had already taken the fish they’d caught. Gu Nan only had a few left, so he put them all on the display counter to sell cheap the next day.
He went home and slept. The next day, he woke up and checked his savings.
’Not bad. Over seventy thousand now. In a few more days, I’ll be able to pay An Jun back.’
At his current rate of income, Gu Nan figured he’d need to save more money by next March; he might even have to make a supplementary tax payment.
It was a little past nine in the morning. After washing up, he skipped breakfast and headed straight for the shop. Just as he arrived, he saw that the tiger crabs from last night’s shipment were here.
Yi Chen opened the box with a small knife. Seeing the strange-looking crabs inside, she asked curiously, "Boss, what are these?"
"These are called tiger crabs. I found a supply channel from Australia. From now on, our shop will be stocking some seafood from there."
Gu Nan took the invoice, quarantine certificate, and other documents from the delivery person and glanced over the place of origin and the company name.
’He didn’t know how the game had arranged it, but the company name on the documents was actually searchable online.’
"How much are we selling these for? Some are big and some are small. Is the price different?" Yi Chen held a crab in each hand—a smaller one on one side, and one a little over a pound on the other.
The crab’s large claws were flat and its body was concave, which made her doubt if there was any meat on these things at all.
"Let’s try selling the small ones for a hundred a pound. If they don’t sell, we’ll just eat them ourselves. You can take some home for your grandma to try."
"The big ones are one-thirty a pound."
Gu Nan didn’t mention a minimum price, but Yi Chen, having worked at the shop for over twenty days, already knew the drill.
If a customer really tried to haggle, she’d knock off ten or so at most. If they still thought it was too expensive, she’d recommend something else.
If that didn’t work and the customer left, so be it. The daily turnover was significant, and those customers weren’t going to buy anyway.
"Don’t be silly," Yi Chen said, rolling her eyes in annoyance. She thought Gu Nan was teasing her. "Grandma’s almost lost all her teeth. How could she eat crab?"
"Are you dense? You can’t just pick out the meat for her?" Gu Nan said, poking her smooth forehead.
He then went to the counter and put away the documents, ready for an inspection at any time.
Xiang Shidong, the fishing enthusiast from the regulatory department, had mentioned to Gu Nan that they would be back for another inspection within a month because some issues had been found at the seafood market.
"Boss, should we just leave these tiger crabs like this?" Yi Chen asked, rubbing the spot on her forehead where he had poked her.
The last time, the two crabs from Sri Lanka were just kept in their box, which was why she was asking.
"Clear out an empty fish tank. If they sell well, we’ll stock more of these crabs in the future."
Yi Chen glanced around at his words. Every tank was full of fish. With some effort, she netted a few compatible species and consolidated them into one tank to make space, then put the tiger crabs in the newly emptied one.
There was no helping it. The shop was only so big. Right now, there were already more than twenty types of seafood in the shop, and they were really running out of space.
Gu Nan had noticed this problem, too. He hadn’t even finished unlocking the "Elite" collection for the Fengqi Coast yet.
A new map had already opened up, and he would definitely be fishing at sea every day from now on. The variety in the shop would just keep growing. ’It feels like it’s time to get a bigger store.’
Just as he was thinking this, a middle-aged man walked into the shop. Gu Nan recognized him; it was his landlord.
Not all the storefronts in the seafood market belonged to the developer. Many of them had been bought up by people in real estate and then rented out.
The six small storefronts in a row, including Gu Nan’s, all belonged to his landlord. Originally three large units, they had been partitioned into six smaller shops.
’But the rent is paid annually, and it’s only been a little over six months. Why is the landlord here now?’