I Can Fish Up Everything!

Chapter 152: Chapter 121: Typhoon Outside, I’m Beachcombing

The bigger the fish, the harder it was for it to move on the shore, especially with a hook still in its mouth!

A few of the other fishermen nearby pulled out their phones, snapping photos left and right. Even if they hadn’t caught it themselves, they’d at least seen it with their own eyes, right?

”I’ve got a tape measure. Let’s see how long it is,” one of the fishermen said, walking over with it.

Gu Nan, who was catching his breath nearby, blinked. ’Holy cow, he even has a tape measure. This guy’s pretty confident.’

’You’d only prepare something like that if you were sure you could catch a big fish. No self-respecting fisherman would normally carry one.’

Still, he was curious too. It was his first time seeing a Chinese razorfish this big.

Two of the fishermen measured the fish. Upon seeing the number, one shouted, ”Two point one three meters! Holy shit, you caught the river overlord!”

Gu Nan’s smile grew even wider when he heard the measurement.

Even though he sold saltwater seafood, there was no rule against displaying a freshwater fish.

He pulled out the pack of Hua Zi cigarettes he’d swiped from Guo Xiao earlier and handed them out to the guys who’d lent a hand. ”Thanks for the help, fellas. My trike is right over there. Mind giving me a hand lifting this fish onto it?”

”No problem.”

”You’re incredible, man. You just got here and you already caught one this big.”

”Hey man, mind if I get a photo with it? I’ve been fishing for over a decade and I’ve never seen one this big.”

”Go for it, take all you want!” ’Fishing for over ten years and he’s never seen a two-meter fish,’ Gu Nan thought sympathetically. ’That’s like being thirty and never having held a girl’s hand~’

While they took pictures, he pulled out a lighter, lit the old man’s cigarette for him, and said with a smile, ”Sir, what was it you were about to say to me earlier?”

The old man gave him a sideways glance and blew a smoke ring. ”Kid, you’d better thank me properly. If I hadn’t said anything, you think you’d have caught a fish with that sloppy casting of yours?”

Gu Nan froze for a second. Thinking back, he realized it was true.

Both times, he’d only gotten a bite right after the old man spoke. ’There’s something mystical about this!’

Gu Nan leaned in and whispered to the old man, ”Sir, be honest with me. You aren’t the River God, are you? Is your true form a descendant of the Black Tortoise or something?”

The old man was dumbfounded for a moment before he caught on. He laughed and cursed in exasperation, ”You’re the turtle... You’re just a lucky brat, that’s all.”

”Heh heh. Sir, you enjoy that smoke. Let’s add each other on WeChat and go fishing together sometime. I’ve gotta get this fish back now. It’s a long way, so I won’t be able to give you a ride home tonight!”

’A long way...’

The old man’s lips twitched. But if he were the one who’d caught such a huge fish, his granddaughter would probably have to call the police and post missing-person flyers for him. So, he understood.

”Go on, get out of here! You’ve sucked up all the fishing luck in this spot. Now it’s my turn to show what I’ve got.”

”Alright, I’m heading out then. See ya.” After adding him on WeChat, Gu Nan drove off on his trike, slowly departing under the envious stares of the other fishermen.

As for why he’d added the old man and made plans to fish together...

...it was mainly because of those two instances. He felt there was something mystical about the old man. Maybe next time they went fishing together, the moment the old man opened his mouth, he’d hook another monster?

With the fish in the bed of his trike, Gu Nan couldn’t just take his boat to go get the crane, so he headed back to his seafood shop first.

It was still early, anyway. He could just park the trike in front of the shop and take his electric scooter.

So, unlike the time with the yellowtail amberjack, he didn’t leave the docks with the sun high in the sky only to return to the seafood market as the moon was about to rise.

The moment he entered the seafood market, a sharp-eyed shop owner spotted the huge fish in the back of his trike. It was so long that its tail was sticking out.

”Whoa, Boss Gu! Where’d you score another big one?”

SCREECH. The trike’s brakes squealed. Gu Nan turned his head and grinned. ”I just ran into an old fisherman and we had a little chat about ’a willing fish biting the hook’.”

The non-sequitur left the man dumbfounded. ”Uh, what does that have to do with the fish?”

”And what do you know? The fish delivered itself right to me!”

”...”

While they were talking, other shop owners, idle and bored, gathered around to get a look at the massive fish.

”What kind of fish is this? I’ve never seen one before.”

”I don’t know either. It looks kinda plain, but it’s huge.”

”Holy shit, isn’t that a Chinese razorfish? It’s the first time I’ve ever seen one this big.”

All the owners here dealt in saltwater seafood; they weren’t really familiar with freshwater catches.

Besides, the Chinese razorfish wasn’t as common as, say, crucian carp, so it was normal that most of them didn’t recognize it.

Finally, another owner who, like Gu Nan, was a fishing enthusiast, recognized it after sizing it up for a good while.

”That’s right, it’s a Chinese razorfish!” Gu Nan admitted with a grin.

He hadn’t gotten lost today, but he could still afford to chat for a bit. The seafood market didn’t have many customers in the afternoon, so he wasn’t in a hurry to get back to his shop.

”How much can you sell that thing for?” someone asked.

Gu Nan’s yellowtail amberjack had sold for thirty thousand. While most of the shop owners didn’t know the exact price, they were all in the seafood business, so their guesses were pretty close to the mark, and every one of them was green with envy.

After all, he’d caught it himself, so it was almost zero cost and pure profit.

If he’d sourced it from somewhere else, there’d be nothing to envy; he’d make a few thousand at most.

”This thing isn’t expensive. The real question is whether anyone will even buy it.”

Chinese razorfish aren’t actually that tasty, but the price for a wild one was still decent. Around Yangjiang Port, it could sell for fifty yuan per jin, and in some places, it was even more expensive, fetching sixty or seventy.

Even a farmed one could go for twenty or thirty yuan per jin.

This creature was a true tyrant of the water, a menace known as the ”water tiger.”

By catching this Chinese razorfish, Gu Nan had, in a way, rid the waters of Yangjiang of a bully.