I Can Fish Up Everything!

Chapter 267: Chapter 168: An Jun’s Raw Marinade

”One-fifty for the chilled ones, and two-thirty for the live ones in the tank,” Gu Nan called out.

The customer’s head shook as soon as he heard the price. ”Boss, that’s way too expensive! Other shops sell red sea bream for only eighty or a hundred, but your chilled ones are already dozens more!”

Yi Chen smiled when she heard this. ”These are wild red sea bream, line-caught just last night. It’s only been a day. Who knows how long those other frozen ones have been sitting around? Of course they’re cheaper.”

”With seafood, it’s all about the freshness. Naturally, the fresher it is, the more it costs.”

She and Gu Nan had developed a great rapport by now. She didn’t even need him to explain things anymore; she could handle customers herself, speaking clearly and persuasively, and always hitting the key points.

However, this wasn’t one of their regulars—it seemed to be his first time visiting. In the end, he grumbled a bit about the high prices and left without buying anything.

Yi Chen didn’t take it to heart. They got plenty of customers like that every day, so she was already used to it.

She walked over to the counter, sat down, and propped her chin on her hands, watching Gu Nan with her wide, unblinking eyes.

Sensing her stare, Gu Nan turned his head in confusion. ”Why are you looking at me like that?”

She shook her head. ”No reason. What do you want for lunch?”

”COUGH, COUGH, COUGH...” Gu Nan, who was in the middle of breakfast, choked on his food when he heard her question. He gave a wry smile. ”I’m still eating breakfast, and you’re already asking about lunch?”

”Of course. It’s rare for you to be here this early, so we should go grocery shopping soon. If we go too late, everything will be picked over.”

”All right, you can decide what to get... I’ll pop over to the shop next door and buy some shrimp. Let’s have garlic shrimp for lunch.”

”Okay! You get the shrimp, and I’ll buy some garlic and chili peppers to make the sauce myself!”

Yi Chen was growing more and more confident in her cooking. She was no longer satisfied with store-bought garlic sauce and insisted on making her own.

Gu Nan was actually looking forward to it. He’d get to try a new dish for lunch today.

Unfortunately, the game didn’t currently provide him with any way to get shrimp, so if he wanted to eat some, he had to buy them from someone else.

Yi Chen left to go grocery shopping. With no customers at the moment, Gu Nan decided to give his mom a call.

A moment later, the call connected. He noticed it was quite noisy on his mom’s end.

”Son, what is it so early in the morning? Your mom’s busy right now!” Zhao Suying’s voice came through the phone.

”It’s nothing major. I unexpectedly met my girlfriend’s parents a few days ago, and they wanted me to ask you when you’re free so our families can set up a time to meet.”

Since he had already met Yi Chen’s parents and the topic of their families meeting had been raised, he knew he had to inform his own family as soon as possible.

He would have told them sooner, but his trip out to sea a few days ago had delayed things.

Sure enough, just as he’d expected, his mom was overjoyed to hear he had a girlfriend and that her parents wanted to meet. She immediately started asking all sorts of questions, and Gu Nan told her all about Yi Chen.

Zhao Suying was indeed a little hesitant when she heard Yi Chen’s parents were divorced. But when she learned that Yi Chen was well-behaved and sensible, that her father wasn’t a difficult person, and that she had been raised by her grandparents, her heart immediately went out to the girl.

”Son, tell your girlfriend’s family that I’m free anytime. Just set a time, and your dad and I will head over.”

”Okay, I’ll have Chenchen talk to them and set a time.”

”And another thing... you kid, you’ve been dating someone and didn’t even tell me. This sudden meeting has caught me completely off guard...”

”Uh, hey, it’s getting busy here. Gotta go!”

Gu Nan quickly made an excuse and hung up. If he’d let his mom continue, she would have lectured him for ages.

He hadn’t expected his parents to be so completely on board. He had been prepared to sing Yi Chen’s praises to get them to see how wonderful she was.

A little over half an hour later, Yi Chen returned from grocery shopping, pulling up to the storefront on her little electric scooter.

Gu Nan went over to help with the groceries and took the opportunity to update her. ”Chenchen, my parents said they’re free anytime. You should talk to your dad so we can set a date. I’ll book a private room at the Junhao Hotel.”

”Did... did your mom say anything?” Yi Chen’s wide eyes were fixed on him, clearly anxious about what his parents thought.

”I showed them your picture when we first started dating and told them all about you. They really like you.”

Aside from the fact that they’d actually seen her photo even earlier, Gu Nan was telling the truth.

He could tell from the phone call that his mother was very happy with her. As for his dad’s opinion... that could be ignored.

”Oh, really!” Yi Chen broke into a smile so wide she couldn’t contain it.

Her biggest fear had been that Gu Nan’s parents would be concerned about her family situation. But if they said they liked her, it clearly meant they weren’t worried about that. They were judging her for who she was as a person.

Her good mood even led to better business that morning. After all, few people could resist a beautiful girl with a constant, sweet smile on her face. Yi Chen charmed men and women alike.

After lunch, she finally got a reply. The meeting was set for the evening, three days from now. Naturally, it was up to Gu Nan to arrange the hotel.

After washing the dishes with his girlfriend, Gu Nan wondered if they should go to a club that afternoon to learn how to dive. That way, he’d be better equipped for any future coastal foraging that required diving.

When he mentioned it to Yi Chen, she readily agreed. She was also very interested in diving.

Just as the two of them were preparing to close up, An Jun came flying in on his electric scooter. He slammed on the brakes right at the entrance, leaving a noticeable skid mark on the ground.

”Whew, good, I made it in time!”

”What are you doing, trying to get yourself killed?” Gu Nan could tell at a glance that something was up, so he held off on closing the shop and couldn’t help but tease him.

”Killed my ass! I just overslept and was afraid you’d already be closed, so I had to rush,” An Jun retorted irritably after parking his scooter.

”I’m getting ready to open a small marinated seafood and sashimi shop in Bazhou City. The place is already halfway through renovations, so before the grand opening, I wanted to research some marinade recipes to make things more delicious. That’s why I came to ask Yi Chen for some advice.”

Gu Nan’s eyes lit up. ”Oh, so you’re opening a marinated seafood and sashimi shop! If you do it well, business should be great. That kind of food is especially popular in Bazhou City.”

An Jun nodded. ”That’s exactly why I decided to open it there. There are more wealthy people who can afford it. Plus, I’ll focus on delivery at first, which should make it easier to build a customer base.”

”So you’ve got to sell me your king salmon and whatnot a bit cheaper. My business’s success is all on you now, bro!”

”No problem,” Gu Nan agreed readily. Both the Junhao Hotel and Zhao Jie’s Japanese restaurant got a good price from him; there was no reason to overcharge a friend.

”Great! Since you’re on board, I’ll go buy the seasonings first. When I get back, I’ll whip some up for a taste test.” An Jun was delighted that he had agreed so quickly.

”Go on, then. What ingredients do you need? I can get them prepped for you in the meantime.”

”That’d be great. King salmon is a must. I’ll need some Spotted Prawn Shrimp, too. And... oh yeah, what kind of crab do you have that’s good for marinating raw?”

”How about... this Australian Crystal Crab?”

Gu Nan thought for a moment, then pointed to the white crystal crabs in the adjacent tank.

The usual choices for marinated crab were young mud crabs or swimming crabs. But the fishing season for swimming crabs hadn’t started, and he hadn’t stocked any mud crabs. Thinking it over, aside from the Emperor Crab, the Crystal Crab was the most suitable option.

An Jun’s mouth twitched. ’So much for the budget...’

But considering he needed Yi Chen to approve the flavors today and would be sourcing from Gu Nan in the future, he gritted his teeth and agreed. ”Fine, Crystal Crab it is. It’s a shame you don’t have shrimp, or I wouldn’t have to buy them from another shop.”

”Don’t worry, I’ll definitely have shrimp in the future. The price might be high, though. After all, I don’t do farmed shrimp.”

Gu Nan’s products were all high-end, which meant An Jun still needed to source some more common, cheaper ingredients elsewhere.

For example, there was the Pacific white shrimp from South America, which was currently as cheap as twenty-some yuan. It was farmed in huge quantities domestically, so not only was it inexpensive and large, but it also tasted quite good.

That was the kind of shrimp he had bought for their garlic shrimp lunch, and it had been delicious.

An Jun nodded. He hadn’t expected to get all his ingredients from Gu Nan anyway. He then left to buy his seasonings and other items.

Gu Nan went back inside the shop and saw Yi Chen staring blankly in the direction An Jun had left. He couldn’t help but smile. ”What’s on your mind? You want to open a restaurant, too?”

She mulled it over for a moment, then shook her head. ”...Better not. I’m a little tempted, but I don’t want to go around smelling like grease and smoke all the time!”

Yi Chen did love to experiment with cooking, but it was more about making delicious food for the people she cared about, like her grandmother and Gu Nan. She had no real interest in opening a restaurant and becoming a chef.

”But making marinated seafood and sashimi doesn’t create any greasy smoke,” Gu Nan pointed out.

”That’s true, but... Wait a minute!!!”

Yi Chen looked like she’d just had an idea, her expression suddenly lighting up with excitement. ”Ah Nan, what if we started offering to prepare sashimi and marinated seafood for customers right here in the shop?”

”Some customers are too lazy to prepare it themselves. I could do it for them, and we could just charge a small preparation fee!”

Gu Nan was taken aback for a moment. He thought about it. The idea actually had merit. ”But wouldn’t you be too busy? I’m not in the shop every day, after all.”

”Oh, come on. With the kind of seafood we sell, it’s not like we’re ever going to have an insane amount of foot traffic. It would be nice to make a little extra cash on the side each day.”

”All right. Since you’re interested, let’s take some pictures this afternoon and post them on social media to advertise for you!”

Seeing how excited she was, Gu Nan couldn’t bear to dampen her enthusiasm, so he nodded in agreement.

He didn’t really care much about the small preparation fee, but if his girlfriend wanted to do it, he had to support her.

Nearly an hour later, Gu Nan had finished prepping the ingredients and laid them out on the table.

An Jun finally returned from his shopping trip. He hadn’t just bought the various seasonings needed for the marinade; he also had a bag of shrimp, blood clams, small squid, and babylon snails—quite the variety.

But you had to admit, small squid blanched and then marinated was absolutely delicious.

”Oh right, Ah Nan, you have abalone. I’ll take two of those. And two... uh, wow, your lobsters are huge. Just give me the smallest one!”

”Sure. Take whatever you want from the shop.”

An Jun glanced around, then shook his head. ”I’ll save the rest for later. This is more than enough for now.”

He then took out two rectangular, transparent plastic containers, opened a bottle of sake he’d bought, and GLUG, GLUG, GLUG, poured it all in, apparently to sterilize the ingredients.

An Jun wasn’t sure if sterilizing with alcohol actually worked, but since everyone else did it, he figured he should too.