I Can Fish Up Everything!

The food stall owner had just left when Kang Ye walked in the door.

Yi Chen was a little surprised. ’Why is everyone showing up at the same time today?’

Kang Ye browsed around and, seeing that the selection of edible fish hadn’t changed much, bought a snubnose pompano, which he hadn’t tried preparing before.

”Oh, right, Boss Kang. The boss mentioned you pre-ordered two queen angelfish?”

Kang Ye paused for a moment, then recalled the matter. He had just returned to Taiwan for business at the time and had put it out of his mind after sending a quick reply.

He’d only been thinking about buying edible fish today and had completely forgotten about the ornamental ones.

”That’s right, I did. Have the fish arrived?”

”They arrived a while ago. We’ve been keeping them in the tank!” Yi Chen led him to the ornamental fish tank, pointing at the small, yellow fish inside. ”These two are the queen angelfish, from Indonesia.”

”These fish are gorgeous. How much are they?” Kang Ye had complete faith in the ornamental fish from Gu Nan’s shop. Besides, they had been here for a few days and were still so lively, so there was no need to worry about any issues. He got straight to the point.

”The price for this species varies quite a bit depending on size. The smaller one is about sixteen or seventeen centimeters and costs one thousand. This one, around twenty centimeters, is one thousand five hundred.”

Having bought fish here many times, Kang Ye used to check prices elsewhere in the beginning to see if he was being ripped off.

After a few purchases, he realized he wasn’t being overcharged and even got a small discount occasionally, which made him trust Gu Nan more and more.

So, for the two fish totaling two thousand five hundred, he bought them without a moment’s hesitation.

Of course, he would still look up information and prices for queen angelfish later.

With sales for the afternoon already passing eight thousand in such a short time, Yi Chen was quite pleased. Combined with the morning’s sales, the total was almost ten thousand. It looked like her commission would break five hundred again today.

She then returned to the counter to continue adding subtitles to a video, but once the excitement wore off, her motivation vanished.

...

Gu Nan finally woke up around two in the afternoon.

He was still groggy when he first opened his eyes, and it took him a good ten minutes of lying there to feel fully awake.

He picked up his phone, checked the time, then set it aside again.

He wasn’t hungry yet, so he didn’t think about food for the time being.

He was currently debating whether to spend another night at sea or head back for a bit and come out again in the evening.

After all, a round trip cost several hundred in fuel, and tomorrow was the day to deliver the marlin, so he would have to head out to sea again anyway.

He glanced at the massive haul in his aquarium space and chilled storage from his frenzied fishing session last night. Then, he walked out of the cabin to check the fish he’d caught yesterday afternoon and made up his mind.

He would get something to eat first, catch the Indian Marlin, use up his remaining daily chances, and then head home. He’d give himself the night off.

The upgrade could wait another day. This fishing boat didn’t have a bathroom, which made showering a problem. Being at sea on a hot summer day was actually quite miserable.

He searched through the provisions he’d brought and ended up just making some simple boiled noodles, finishing off his instant noodle supply.

Gu Nan swore to himself that he’d be less lazy and cook some proper rice next time.

He scanned his surroundings. Seeing no other fishing boats, he took out his rod, spooled it with the new purple line he’d bought, swapped the jig for a Big Fatty lure, and started casting from the side of the boat.

Catching an Indian Marlin wasn’t actually that suspicious. The species could be found in domestic waters. The reason he’d worried about being seen before was because of the location.

Catching a big marlin near the coast? What kind of ridiculous joke was that?

You could only catch tuna or marlin that close to the shore in other countries.

As Gu Nan cast his line, he used one of his daily guaranteed-catch chances. A short while later, a fish was on the hook. Seeing there was no ”BOSS” indicator, he took his time playing the fish.

He let it run in the water, in no hurry to pull it to the surface.

Once the fish tired itself out, he quickly reeled it in, hauling it aboard in a flash.

If it were a situation like that Red Fork-tailed Sea Bream from the morning, which had surfaced, he would have reeled it in quickly. As long as the fish didn’t break the surface, it was fine.

There seemed to be a certain knack to casting for marlin. After catching thirteen fish, on his fourteenth try, Gu Nan successfully hooked a BOSS.

A massive catch, weighing no less than the three-hundred-jin one from last time—and possibly even bigger.

Gu Nan had to brace one foot against the gunwale to stay upright. He quickly loosened the drag, letting out the line to allow the fish to run.

With a thousand meters of line, his margin for error was worlds greater than before. He could let the fish run for longer, making the fight much easier on himself.

An hour later, Gu Nan secured the 3.32-meter Indian Marlin in his space. He took a breath, used up his seven remaining guaranteed-catch chances, then started the boat, raised the anchor, and headed back.

Catching that Indian Marlin had taken a good deal of time. It was already a little after four in the afternoon, and the sun was dipping toward the west.

But Gu Nan was thinking that if he got back now, he could probably catch the dinner Yi Chen was making. She most likely wouldn’t have started cooking yet.

As he neared the shore, the phone in his pocket suddenly began to vibrate, letting out a series of notification chimes.

Startled, Gu Nan pulled out his phone. He was surprised to see messages from several people, as well as many missed calls.

He replied to the messages that needed a response, then called Yi Chen first. She had called the most, and Gu Nan was worried it might be something urgent.

It wasn’t yet five o’clock, and the shop was quiet.

Yi Chen was aimlessly browsing food delivery apps. The pictures looked delicious, but nothing appealed to her.

She just really didn’t feel like cooking dinner, so ordering takeout seemed like the only solution.

Just then, her phone screen changed. It began to vibrate and ring.

Yi Chen saw the word ”Boss” on the screen. She froze for a second before quickly answering.

”Yi Chen, is everything okay over there? I saw you called me a bunch of times.”

”Uh... well...” Yi Chen’s mind raced. ’I can’t just say I was worried something happened to him because I couldn’t reach him, can I?’

”An Jun came by today. He said he couldn’t find you and asked me to have you call him once I got in touch. So I just kept trying your number every now and then to see if it would go through.”

”Oh, I see. Got it. By the way, I’m almost at the docks now. Remember to make my share of dinner tonight.” Hearing there was no trouble at the shop, Gu Nan relaxed.

”Okay, Boss! What would you like to eat tonight? I’ll go get groceries.” As she spoke, she was completely unaware of the cheerful lilt in her own voice.

”Let’s have braised pork ribs. You can decide on the rest. I’ll give you the money when I get back.” He’d been eating fish for the past few meals and was craving some meat.

”Okay, I’ll go buy them right away!”

After hanging up, Gu Nan looked at his phone, puzzled. ’Why did she sound so happy? Did she make a lot of money today?’

He then opened his payment records. When he saw the three large transfers at the top, it all made sense. ’She really did make some good money.’

Back at the docks, Gu Nan parked the boat in his slip. He opened the livewell and started transferring all the fish into a water tank.

Just then, a man with a dark complexion walked over and stood by his boat.

”Boss, how was the haul? Catch a lot?”

Gu Nan glanced up at him and smiled. ”Not bad. A pretty good amount.”

Hearing this, the man stepped onto the boat. He saw it was packed with scorpionfish, but his eyes were immediately drawn to a particularly eye-catching Tiger Stripes.

The man’s eyes lit up. ”Boss, I buy fish here at the docks. That Tiger Stripes of yours is a rare find! I’ll pay a high price for it—eighty a jin. The scorpionfish are good too, I’ll give you twenty for them.”

Gu Nan paused. ’Oh, a fish dealer.’ He had thought it was another angler.

As for the Tiger Stripes, he hadn’t put it into his aquarium space because he had taken a picture of it to show Wang Junhe and the others. He was just bringing it back directly.

Gu Nan wasn’t worried they’d find out it was an imported species. He had the import documents to prove it, but why would they look at those for no reason?

”Sorry, I own a seafood shop.”

”Oh, is that right!” Hearing he was a shop owner, the dark-skinned man left immediately.

Scorpionfish would sell for at least forty a jin in a seafood shop, and there would be plenty of buyers. A wild Tiger Stripes would be even easier to sell. You’d have to be an idiot to sell it to him.

After putting all the fish in the tank, he grabbed a bucket, filled it with seawater from the steps, and rinsed the deck. He then brought out his water bucket and gave the deck another rinse with the freshwater inside.

Only then did Gu Nan close and lock the cabin door. He went to get his tricycle to load up everything he needed to take back.

It wasn’t much, just a water bucket and two tanks.

The scorpionfish were kept separate from the other fish so they wouldn’t be too crowded.

When he got back to the shop, Yi Chen had already bought the groceries and was at the entrance, washing the pork ribs.

When she saw Gu Nan approaching on his tricycle, a sweet smile spread across her face as she greeted him, ”Boss.”

Gu Nan was momentarily dazed. ’That’s a really pretty smile.’

He got off the tricycle and handed a small bag to Yi Chen. ”There are a few big giant river prawns in here. I saw them on my way over and bought them. We can have pan-fried shrimp tonight.”