I Can Fish Up Everything!

Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Warmth from Society

The alarm went off at five o’clock sharp. Jolted awake, Gu Nan tossed and turned in bed, thoroughly annoyed.

Lack of sleep is a surefire way to make a person irritable, especially for someone who’s grumpy in the morning.

’This can’t go on. I have to hire an employee.’ Gu Nan desperately wanted to go back to sleep, but the pressure of opening the shop weighed on him, preventing him from indulging.

In the end, he had no choice but to get up. Yawning, he shuffled into the bathroom to wash up.

After freshening up, he left his home and headed for the seafood market.

For breakfast today, he switched things up with some lean pork congee, a large meat bun, and two tea-leaf eggs.

Carrying his breakfast into the shop, he scooped out three scorpionfish that had gone belly-up and laid them on a bed of crushed ice. Then, Gu Nan sat back down at the counter and began to eat.

After finishing his meal and tossing the trash, he was on his way back when he ran into the owner of the shop next door, Ji Jinxin.

He’d been quite busy the past two days, so even though his shop was right next door, he hadn’t paid any attention to Gu Nan’s business.

Now that he saw him, he was up to his old tricks, immediately prodding at a sore spot. ”Well, well, Ah Nan. Opening up so early again! You really don’t have to, you know. Young people should get more sleep.”

”You barely have any stock in your shop right now. What’s the point of having just a few small, imported fish?”

”Actually, my imported fish sell quite well. Business has been great the last couple of days. I’m even thinking about hiring some help.” Gu Nan chuckled, then walked past him and back into his own shop.

Ji Jinxin, however, was left standing there, stunned. ’Impossible. His shop is completely empty. Who would be buying fish from him? Is he just putting up a brave front?’

Muttering to himself, he followed Gu Nan into Fengnan Aquatic Products. But when he saw the variety of fish in the tanks, along with a few Black-striped Small Stripes Buri laid out on display, he froze once more.

’I haven’t looked over here in two days... where did all these fish come from?’

Although the shop still looked a bit sparse, it was a huge improvement over before.

Gu Nan turned, and his brow furrowed when he saw him enter. ”Boss Ji, shouldn’t you be opening your own shop? Why are you always hanging around here?”

”Ah Nan, are all of these imported fish?”

”If they’re not imported, what, did you catch them yourself? Can you even find these fish domestically?”

”These fish look fantastic! Ah Nan, where do you import them from? Hook me up with your supplier!” Ji Jinxin had been running his own seafood shop for decades and had a wealth of experience.

After a quick glance at the Black-striped Small Stripes Buri, the Ball-nosed Fish, and the two types of Gidai, he could tell their quality was top-notch.

Although the quantity was small, if Gu Nan could actually sell these fish, he’d have no problem keeping his shop afloat.

He also started getting ideas about these fish.

Currently, no one else in their seafood market was selling these species. Otherwise, he would have recognized them.

This meant it was an untapped market. As long as one could build a customer base, there would be zero competition.

Ji Jinxin had often come over before to be sarcastic and condescending, but since they hadn’t officially had a falling out, he had the gall to say something like this now.

Gu Nan was a little thrown by his sudden change in attitude.

At the same time, he couldn’t help but sigh internally. ’When you’re in business, sometimes dignity isn’t important. You just have to be shameless.’

’Compared to Ji Jinxin, I’ve still got a lot to learn!’

”What supplier? I don’t have one. A friend of mine lives over in East Africa and loves to fish. When he heard my shop was about to go under, he sent me some of his catch to see if I could sell it.”

”If they sell well, he said he’d catch more and ship them my way.”

”If I were getting them from a real wholesaler, would I only have this tiny amount?”

Gu Nan didn’t give him the cold shoulder over his past behavior or actively start a fight. Instead, he came up with a plausible excuse to brush him off.

”How about this? If you really want some, I can ask him to try buying a few from the local fishermen over there. I can give you a portion of whatever he gets.”

Of course, this was also a lie. Gu Nan would rather sell the fish cheap to a food stall or restaurant than sell to him.

He was just saying it now because he wanted some peace and quiet.

He was busy with his new ’cheat,’ and making money was the priority. He didn’t have time to play mind games with anyone.

”Alright, then. Just remember to have your friend buy some fish and send them over. But I’m in no rush, so take your time.” Seeing Gu Nan actually agree, Ji Jinxin thought to himself that the kid was surprisingly kind and naive.

’At the same time, he felt a pang of guilt. His own behavior earlier seemed pretty rotten.’

Of course, he was still being cautious. ’Not in a rush’ really meant he planned to observe Gu Nan’s business for the next few days.

’If the fish sold well, he would definitely get some to sell himself. If they didn’t, then it would be as if today’s conversation had never happened.’

After Ji Jinxin left, Gu Nan shook his head, amused. ’This is just how society is. In the face of money, even a demon will put on a hypocritical mask and pretend to be an angel.’

’While Ji Jinxin wasn’t quite that dramatic, the principle was the same.’

He figured that in the future, if he ever had too much fish he couldn’t sell, he could always sell it cheap to the owner of the shop on the other side of Ji Jinxin’s. That would be a good way to let him feel the ”warmth” of society.

It was Friday, and a lot of seniors came to buy seafood in the morning. He figured they were preparing a nice meal for their grandchildren, who were probably coming home from boarding school for the weekend.

And just then, an elderly man walked into the shop. After a quick look around, his eyes were immediately drawn to the brightly colored Blue-striped Gidai.

”Please, take a look around, sir. These fish just came in last night. See? They’re all very lively,” Gu Nan said with a smile, walking over to him.

”What kind of fish is this? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before,” the man asked, pointing at the Blue-striped Gidai.

”This is a Blue-striped Gidai. Some people also call it a flower snapper. It’s imported from East Africa; we don’t have this fish domestically.”

”Oh, so it’s an imported fish.” The man nodded and turned to the other tanks, only to find he didn’t recognize any of the live fish inside them either.

”Are all of these imported?”

”Yes, all imported from East Africa. You can find these fish in the waters from Southeast Asia to East Africa, just not here in our country. Take this Star Chicken Fish, for example. It’s a type of grunt from that region. It’s best braised or used in soup; it doesn’t taste as good prepared other ways.”

”And this chilled Black-striped Small Stripes Buri—some call it black amberjack—is a bit different from the red amberjack we have locally. It’s only really good for deep-frying, a taste that kids tend to like.”

Gu Nan could see the man was interested in the fish, but the hesitation in his expression told him exactly what the man was worried about.

’He’s probably planning to buy a fish for his grandson or granddaughter. Since they’re imported, he wants his grandkid to have a chance to try something new.’

’But he’s worried about getting ripped off, or that the fish will taste bad and the kid will hate it.’

So Gu Nan went through each type of fish, explaining the price and the best way to cook it. The man’s opinion of him improved rapidly.

”So, this... what did you call it, flower snapper? You’re saying the meat is tender and it tastes good no matter how you cook it?”

”That’s right. If you’re making it for someone, you can just prepare it according to their tastes,” Gu Nan confirmed with a nod.

”Alright, I’ll take this one then.” The man looked at the three fish in the tank and picked out the largest one.

”You got it!” Gu Nan deftly scooped the fish out with a net and placed it on the digital scale. ”A little over two pounds. We’ll just call it two pounds. That’ll be one hundred and sixty yuan.”

The man nodded, pulled out his phone to scan the payment code, and paid the one hundred and sixty yuan.

”Sir, would you like me to clean the fish for you, or will you take it home to do it yourself?”

”I’ll take it home. My grandson won’t be back until this evening, so if I have it cleaned now, it’ll be sitting for too long.”

”Sounds good. I’ll bag it with some oxygen for you then.”

Gu Nan pumped the bag full of oxygen, double-bagged it, and then handed it to the customer.

The man inspected the bag, nodded in satisfaction, and turned to leave the shop.