Chapter 58: Got Skunked and Wasted a Pack of Hua Zi
At noon, Gu Nan called An Jun over to discuss filming videos for Yi Chen while they had lunch.
An Jun glanced at Gu Nan, slightly surprised. He understood Gu Nan’s intention, so he began to analyze the differences between Bilibili-style platforms and short-form video apps for them.
"Well, it depends on what kind of videos you want to film."
"Short-form videos are actually a bit simpler. Yi Chen would just have to film some videos in the shop every day using popular background music from the platform. That’s relatively easy."
"Making videos for a platform like Bilibili is even simpler. Just film yourself selling fish to customers. It’s best to have someone else handling the camera."
"Of course, Ah Nan, you could learn some filming techniques to help out, and then you could cover both."
Yi Chen was, of course, familiar with short-form video apps. The thought of all those girls on the platform attracting viewers by dancing around made her a bit hesitant. "Why don’t we just do the Bilibili-style videos?"
Gu Nan wasn’t going to force her. Just as he was about to nod, An Jun chimed in, "You don’t have to be like them. You could film the inside of the seafood shop every morning as you open up. Just remember to get yourself in the shot too."
"But I’m not very good at taking selfies..." Yi Chen lacked confidence, her voice soft and hesitant.
An Jun turned his gaze to Gu Nan.
"..."
’This is mainly to promote my own seafood shop.’ Gu Nan could only bite the bullet. "I’ll try to learn as quickly as possible."
An Jun waved his hand. "It’s not hard. I’ll teach you in a bit. Just get familiar with camera movement and angles, and you’ll basically be set. You really only need to film one segment and then edit it into two videos, one long and one short. It’s very convenient."
"For example, every day when you open, film all the fish in the shop, and have Yi Chen introduce one of them. For the long video, you can film Yi Chen’s work routine after she comes in every morning."
Hearing this, Gu Nan, who originally had no idea what to film, suddenly had a clear direction.
An Jun had specifically studied photography in college. While he wasn’t some amazing photographer, teaching Gu Nan a few basics was no problem at all.
After lunch, Gu Nan didn’t go fishing in the afternoon. Instead, he stayed in the shop and started learning how to film.
Yi Chen didn’t go back to rest either. She needed to develop some camera presence, and facing the camera more would help her get over her nervousness and become more natural.
Perhaps men are born with a talent for photography. Gu Nan quickly picked up some basic filming techniques.
Seeing that he had more or less gotten the hang of it, An Jun took his leave.
The after-effects of his trip back from Southeast Asia were a bit rough. He’d just wanted to lie around for the past two days. If someone hadn’t been treating him to lunch, he wouldn’t have even left the house.
Gu Nan checked the time and saw it was only one-thirty in the afternoon. He asked Yi Chen, "It’s still early. Do you want to go back and rest for a while?"
"No, it’s okay. You know how I took a few fish over to a seafood stall yesterday? Well, the customers’ reactions were really good, so the owner asked me to deliver some more today. He even transferred me 130 yuan for the four fish from yesterday."
Yi Chen proudly held up her phone, which showed a transfer for 130 yuan.
She accepted the money and then sent it to Gu Nan.
"Not bad! At this rate, you could add a few hundred yuan to your sales every day!" Gu Nan nodded in appreciation. After accepting the money, he also wrote up a sales slip for her.
"How much does that owner want? I can deliver it later. I have to make a delivery in the city today anyway, so it’s on the way."
It was great that Gu Nan was willing to make the delivery. Yi Chen didn’t have a vehicle, so delivering goods was difficult for her.
"Three Star Chicken Fish each of one jin, two jin, and three jin. And five Golden Needlefish, each between one and one and a half jin."
Gu Nan nodded. "Alright, I’ll go get the three-wheeler."
By the time he drove the three-wheeler to the shop’s entrance, Yi Chen had already placed a water tank and an aerator by the door.
Gu Nan loaded the tank onto the vehicle, then grabbed a bucket and started filling the tank with water directly from the fish pool.
Meanwhile, Yi Chen netted the fish one by one, weighed and recorded them, putting the suitable ones into the tank and returning the others to their aquarium.
Just as she finished, her phone rang again. It was another voice message from the seafood stall owner.
After listening to it, she asked, "Boss, they want a wild Sea Bass over three jin. They’re asking what price we can give them."
"Forty-five a jin!" It was quite a coincidence; he had caught one just over three jin last night.
"Okay, I’ll reply to him." Yi Chen typed quickly on her phone. A moment later, a message came back from them, saying they’d take it.
The stall owner couldn’t help it. He had asked several shops he was familiar with, but none of them had a single wild Sea Bass over three jin. Unfortunately for him, a regular customer had specifically ordered a rattan pepper sea bass.
Gu Nan’s price wasn’t cheap, but he had no choice. At worst, he’d just have to raise the price for his customer.
"Yi Chen, get me another ten Blue-striped Gidai and ten Yellowfin Gidai. Ones between one and two jin will do. If we don’t have any that size, just pick the bigger ones."
Gu Nan had originally planned to just pull the fish he had left in his storage space out on the road, but he suddenly remembered that there were cameras everywhere these days. It would be trouble if he was accidentally seen.
Besides, they hadn’t sold many of these two types of fish in the morning, so he might as well take them from the shop.
"Okay!"
Gu Nan returned to the counter and started on the books. Five Bushi Golden Needlefish, 6.8 jin total, at seventeen yuan per jin: 115 yuan.
Nine Star Chicken Fish, 21.3 jin total, at twenty-two yuan per jin: 468 yuan.
The Sea Bass, 3.3 jin, at forty-five yuan per jin: 148 yuan. The grand total was 731, so he’d call it an even 730.
Afterward, Yi Chen also finished calculating the weights for the Yellowfin Gidai and the Blue-striped Gidai, which were 18.6 jin and 17.3 jin, respectively.
He didn’t credit these to Yi Chen’s sales record, since this was his own deal.
Once the accounting was done, Gu Nan got the address for the seafood stall, put on his helmet, and set off.
He had just left the seafood market and driven about two hundred meters when he spotted a fisherman on the road carrying a fishing rod and an empty live-fish box. His back looked very familiar.
He drove up next to him and saw that it was, indeed, Wang Junhe.
He had invited him fishing twice before, but Wang Junhe had made excuses and refused both times. As a result, the man had stopped asking if his shop had any new catches.
"Hey, man, you heading out to fish?"
"Huh? Oh, it’s Boss Gu! Don’t even ask. Fished all morning and didn’t catch a damn thing. Got completely skunked. What are you up to?"
"I’m making a delivery to a seafood stall!"
"Looks like business is busy, Boss Gu."
The water tank didn’t have a lid, so Wang Junhe instinctively leaned over to look at the fish he was selling. The first thing he saw was the Sea Bass right on top.
As a fisherman, he could naturally tell the difference between a wild Sea Bass and a farmed one.
"Man, you have wild Sea Bass for sale in your shop? How come I didn’t see any last time?"
"Oh, this one I caught myself last night. The owner who’s buying the fish wanted a Sea Bass over three jin, and I happened to catch one just that size. Guess I got lucky."
When Wang Junhe heard this, his attitude changed instantly. He put on an eager, fawning smile.
"Tell me where you caught it! I’ll go right now!"
"You haven’t even eaten lunch, have you? Why don’t you go grab a bite and get some rest first?"
"I’m fine, I can handle being hungry! C’mon, man, just tell me where you caught it. I swear I won’t tell anyone else."
As he spoke, Wang Junhe pulled a pack of Hua Zi from his pocket and tossed it to him.
"..." Gu Nan fell silent, staring at the Hua Zi. ’But I don’t smoke!’
At the same time, his hand "accidentally" twisted the throttle, speeding up the three-wheeler.
Seeing this, Wang Junhe immediately started running after him, shouting nonstop, "Hey, man, don’t go! Tell me, I really won’t tell anyone else! Man..."
Gu Nan thought for a moment. ’Fishing like this can’t be good for his health.’ He left him with one last sentence before twisting the throttle and speeding away: "You should go eat first, take a nap this afternoon, and I’ll tell you tonight!"