I Can Fish Up Everything!

Chapter 65: Chapter 65: So You’re He Qiang?

A few anglers in the fishing group chat expressed interest in the fish, but they were all just asking, with no real intention of buying.

After Gu Nan had lunch and filmed another short video for Yi Chen, Jiang Tengming finally replied.

”Bro, these two fish of yours are something else! How much for the Star Chicken Fish? My budget’s been taking a serious hit lately. The pink one looks expensive at first glance, so I’ll have to wait until I’m richer for that.”

The Red Fork-tailed Sea Bream was indeed a bit more expensive than the Star Chicken Fish.

Gu Nan was a little surprised when he saw the message. ’What a coincidence,’ he thought. ’The Red Fork-tailed Sea Bream has already been reserved, so he couldn’t have it even if he wanted it.’

”This Star Chicken Fish is over sixteen pounds. If you want it, I can let it go for six hundred and fifty!”

”And don’t think the price per pound is too high compared to the smaller ones. A sixteen-pounder like this is rare, and my cost to acquire it wasn’t low. After adding in air freight and import taxes, I’m barely making a profit.”

On the other end, Jiang Tengming was straightforward. As someone who frequently dealt with seafood, he knew perfectly well that the bigger the fish, the higher the price.

This Star Chicken Fish averaged out to about forty-something yuan per pound, so a price of six hundred and fifty was completely acceptable to him.

So, he reserved it and said he would come over in the afternoon to take a look.

”Yi Chen, someone is coming to look at the fish later, so be sure to give them a good pitch. The Red Fork-tailed Sea Bream is one hundred a pound, minimum eighty. The price I quoted for the Star Chicken Fish is six fifty—no negotiating on that one.”

The two fish were reserved, but not yet officially sold. Since Gu Nan planned to go fishing in the afternoon, he left the task of selling them to Yi Chen.

”Oh, right, you can add them on WeChat. In the future, when we get good stock in, you can post it on your Moments. If they see it and are interested, they’ll definitely ask you about it.”

”If I contacted them all myself, wouldn’t I be stealing your commission?”

Yi Chen nodded repeatedly after hearing this. These big fish sold for several hundred or even a thousand yuan each. As long as they sold, her sales performance would skyrocket.

She was naturally thrilled that Gu Nan was willing to entrust her with this completely.

”I’m heading out soon. Does the owner of the seafood stall need any fish today? If so, I can deliver them.”

”Let me ask.” Yi Chen quickly pulled out her phone to send a message.

It was just past one in the afternoon, and Qu Fujun had only just arrived at his seafood stall not long ago to start prepping ingredients.

He was just opening up when he saw the message from Yi Chen.

Business had been quite good for him last night. Some regulars, knowing he had fish better than farmed Sea Bass for only a slightly higher price, had all ordered one. As a result, only a single Bushi Golden Needlefish was left unsold.

He had used that fish to make fish balls, which the customers also found quite good, but they just didn’t sell as well as the Star Chicken Fish.

Overall, the Star Chicken Fish was more appealing. The smaller ones were great braised or in soup, while the large ones were made directly into rattan pepper grilled fish. Customers were extremely satisfied, finding them much tastier than the previous farmed Sea Bass.

So this time, he ordered fifteen fish—one more than yesterday. The extra one was over three pounds, intended for rattan pepper grilled fish.

When Gu Nan heard they wanted so many, he knew the fish were selling well. He said, ”Yi Chen, grab me a Black-striped Small Stripes Buri and a Ball-nosed Fish—smaller ones. I’ll take them to the stall owner to see if he can sell them.”

”If they sell well too, you might get an extra thousand in sales performance every day.”

”Okay.” Even if Gu Nan hadn’t said anything, Yi Chen would have done it anyway.

She wasn’t sure about the Ball-nosed Fish, but she felt the Black-striped Small Stripes Buri would sell better at a restaurant than at the seafood shop.

The deep-frying preparation method was not only oil-consuming but also troublesome. Even if the fish was sold pre-cut, many customers would choose something else after hearing that deep-frying was the only way to cook it.

Soon, the fish were netted and placed in the water tank. Gu Nan transferred twenty yuan to Yi Chen for her dinner, then gathered his fishing rod and other gear and set off, delivering the fish to the stall first.

Another seven hundred-plus yuan in the bank. As for the two new types of fish, they didn’t settle the bill for those yet; they had to see if they would sell well first.

He had to set out at six tomorrow morning, so if Gu Nan went fishing now, he could still get back early to rest.

Leaving the stall, he drove toward the bridge, planning to head for the pier.

The tricycle moved slowly along the road. It was a village path, lined with parked electric scooters and other tricycles, and bustling with people, making it impossible to go fast.

Just then, he saw a man walk out of a house on his left, carrying a fishing rod and shouldering a black-and-orange live-fish container.

This wasn’t anything special. Anglers were everywhere these days!

But a woman’s voice from behind the man caught his attention.

”Where do you think you’re going, He Qiang?”

’Holy shit, He Qiang? Don’t tell me I’ve run into the legend himself?’

Gu Nan immediately hit the brakes and slowed down, noticing a woman at the doorway filming with her phone.

With a cigarette dangling from his lips, He Qiang glanced back and casually said, ”To get a foot massage.”

The woman shot back, ”What kind of foot massage requires you to carry a big box?”

He Qiang walked a few more steps before turning back with an impatient look. ”Fishing, alright!”

The woman started her tirade: ”All day long, it’s fishing, fishing, fishing! Get your ass back here!”

”Are you listening to me?”

”He Qiang, you get your ass back here for me! I’m gonna count to three!”

He Qiang retorted, ”Take your sweet time!”

The woman yelled, ”Hey, He Qiang... you’re still leaving? Get back here!”

’Tsk, tsk. The only man on the internet brave enough to defy the ’I’m gonna count to three’ threat. I can’t believe I met him in the flesh.’ Watching He Qiang completely ignore his wife and place his gear and live-fish container in the trunk of a dark blue sedan, Gu Nan found the whole scene fascinating.

Even though the woman was still filming on her phone, he could tell that He Qiang was genuinely going fishing.

One look at his deeply tanned skin was enough to know this was a true die-hard angler.

So, he rode his tricycle up beside him. ”Hey bro, off to fish?”

He Qiang was taken aback. He turned around, a puzzled look on his face when he saw Gu Nan, as he didn’t recognize him.

But when his eyes fell on the water tank and fishing rods in the tricycle’s cargo bed, his face lit up. ”Bro, you going fishing too?”

”Yeah, I’m heading to the pier by Lingdou Bridge to fish. How about you? Where are you headed?”

The nearby island was called Lingdou Island, which is where the bridge got its name.

”I’m just going over to the Huixing River,” He Qiang said with a smile, pointing to the southeast. Then he asked, ”Bro, how’s the spot you mentioned, by the pier? Lots of fish?”

He had tried rock fishing from the shore before, but after getting skunked several times in a row, he ended up going back to the Taiwanese-style float fishing he was familiar with.

”It’s not bad. There are a lot of black sea bream over there, and you can occasionally catch some Sea Bass. If you get lucky, you might even make a hundred or two hundred yuan.”

”Oh? Are there really that many fish?”

”Wanna go together? By the way, there’s a shuttle boat that takes you to the pier. It’s fifty yuan for the drop-off, but the pickup is free. You can fish until eleven at night at the latest.”

”If the fishing’s good, that’s nothing. Bro, wait a sec, I’ll go grab my other rod.”

The truth was, He Qiang didn’t always have a great catch with his float fishing. The resources at Yangjiang Port were generally poor, unlike some places where you could catch a whole keepnet full of crucian carp in a single night.

Of course, an abundance of crucian carp also meant there was basically no market for them, or that their price was extremely low.

At least the wild crucian carp from Yangjiang Port could still sell for about ten to fifteen yuan.

He Qiang’s wife had no idea what he had said to Gu Nan. She was a little surprised to see him return, but her words were as harsh as ever: ”So, you decided to come crawling back?”

”Grabbing another rod. Leaving right after.”

”...”