I Can Fish Up Everything!

Chapter 324: Chapter 217: Selling Fish All Night

They had set out early in the morning, and it wasn’t until a little after 6:20 PM that the fishing boat returned to the pier.

Gu Dacheng had already come to the pier early to wait. When he saw the boat brimming with fish, he couldn’t stop grinning.

In his opinion, imported seafood came with high costs and taxes, so the actual profit wasn’t that great. But the cost of catching the fish themselves was vastly lower, making it far more profitable.

Gu Nan briefly introduced his father to Wang Junhe and Guo Xiao, and then they started unloading the catch.

The tuna and all the other fish were transported to the new shop. It was more spacious there, and more importantly, it had a walk-in freezer where they could temporarily store the tuna.

Yi Chen had already tallied everything up. A total of thirty-seven customers had paid deposits this time. Between the fish the two of them had caught and the ones they bought from Wang Junhe, they had forty-one tuna in total—just enough.

If Gu Nan hadn’t specifically told them to switch to electric reels for the latter half of the night, they definitely wouldn’t have caught enough tuna.

Additionally, the livestream of the fishing trip had been a great success. Aside from four extra tuna that hadn’t been sold yet, all the fish he and Yi Chen had caught were already spoken for.

Most of them would need to be shipped, while a smaller number had been reserved by local regulars.

Yi Chen had cleverly invited some of their old regulars into the fish-selling group chat; otherwise, they might not have been able to sell so many tuna.

Even though the livestream had peaked at over 15,000 viewers, the fish-selling group chat only had 313 members.

Yi Chen didn’t let anyone in who didn’t show a clear intention to buy.

However, Gu Nan had seized the opportunity to create two fan groups, attracting a batch of fellow fishing enthusiasts.

He sneakily opened one of the groups to see what these supposedly passionate anglers were up to.

But when he opened it, all he saw were buxom women with shapely behinds—not just photos, but videos, too...

Gu Nan’s face morphed into a look of profound bewilderment. ’What the hell? Is this supposed to be a fishing group?’

’Whatever, I’ll ignore it.’ He’d created these two groups with the thought that they might buy fish from him someday.

Even if they didn’t, they’d at least make the livestream a bit more lively.

There were so many fish that it took three trips to get the entire catch to the new shop. Shipping wasn’t an immediate concern; the couriers weren’t doing pickups this late anyway, so they could take their time packing tomorrow.

Gu Nan and Yi Chen had already sent out messages and were now waiting for their local regulars to arrive.

They also needed to weigh the fish and collect payments tonight to arrange for shipping tomorrow.

Since they had a physical storefront and accepted online transfers, customers weren’t worried about being scammed.

Gu Dacheng had offered to stay and help, but there wasn’t a huge amount to do, so Gu Nan convinced him to head home. He left the pickup truck and drove off in his sedan.

After they ordered and finished two takeout meals, the first customer of the evening finally arrived: Kang Ye, whom Gu Nan hadn’t seen in a week.

”Boss, you really hit the jackpot this time, running into a whole school of tuna.” Kang Ye wasn’t an angler himself, but he had watched the livestream and was incredibly envious.

”Heh, just got lucky,” Gu Nan said. ”The tuna are in the cold storage. Go ahead and pick one out!” He then led Kang Ye to the freezer.

Kang Ye didn’t stand on ceremony. After all, wasn’t getting first pick the whole reason he’d come so early?

Yi Chen had already confirmed the orders with the customers while they were still on the boat, so Kang Ye went ahead and picked out a larger-than-average albacore tuna, a silver pomfret that was at least five and a half pounds, and the roughly eleven-pound flowery ghost grouper he had reserved during the livestream.

Gu Nan helped him carry out the tuna he’d selected, while Kang Ye carried the other two fish, one in each hand, pulling the freezer door shut behind him as he walked out.

Yi Chen had already brought over a huge styrofoam cooler that Gu Dacheng had prepared in advance and was shoveling ice into it.

Gu Nan placed the tuna on the digital scale first. ”62.3 jin.”

”The unit price for this one is seventy yuan, but since you’re a regular, I’ll give it to you for sixty-five. That comes out to four thousand and fifty yuan for this fish.”

He punched the numbers into a calculator and showed the display to Kang Ye, who glanced at it and nodded without any objection.

They had already announced the prices on the boat: tuna under fifty jin were sixty yuan per jin, those over fifty jin were seventy, and the one that was possibly over a hundred jin would be one hundred yuan per jin.

Gu Nan’s tuna were incredibly fresh and had been preserved perfectly. Even the ones being shipped out tomorrow would arrive fresher than what was typically available at the market, which was why his prices were a touch higher than the standard market rate.

Whether it was the large fisheries or the tuna markets, they always stored their freshest catch and sold off the older stock first. The difference in freshness was night and day.

Furthermore, when the other fishing boats returned the previous night, a few of their tuna were bought up by wealthy clients, but the vast majority went to hotels, restaurants, and tuna brokers. Very little of that catch ever made it to the general market.

Forget other places; even within the seafood market where Gu Nan’s shop was located, you’d be hard-pressed to find any stalls selling tuna. At most, a shop owner would source one if a customer placed a special order.

Next, Kang Ye placed the silver pomfret on the scale. It was 5.7 jin—quite large. At two hundred sixty yuan per jin, that came to one thousand four hundred eighty-two yuan.

The flowery ghost grouper weighed the same as it had on the boat, 12.3 jin. Its unit price was one hundred fifty yuan. It wasn’t a top-tier grouper, but it still came to one thousand eight hundred forty-five yuan.

Gu Nan packed all three fish together in the single large styrofoam cooler.

The total came to seven thousand three hundred seventy-seven yuan. Kang Ye transferred the money directly from his phone without asking to round down the price.

He knew the score; Gu Nan had already given him a discount of five yuan per jin on the tuna, which saved him over three hundred yuan right there.

After helping Kang Ye load the cooler into his car and seeing him off, other customers began to arrive at the shop in steady succession.

Gu Nan and Yi Chen ended up working some rare overtime. Eleven more customers came after Kang Ye, making a total of twelve, all of whom had paid a deposit in advance.

They sold eleven more tuna: seven of them were under fifty jin, totaling 326.2 jin, for a total price of nineteen thousand five hundred seventy-two yuan.

The four that were over fifty jin had a total price of a little over sixteen thousand two hundred yuan. Gu Nan rounded off the cents, so in total he collected thirty-five thousand seven hundred thirty yuan for these fish.

They also sold some silver pomfret and other fish from the catch, bringing in another seven thousand-plus yuan.

Once they had finished with the customers, Gu Nan closed up the shop, and Yi Chen began to tally the sales from the group chat.

Twenty-five tuna had been pre-ordered in the group chat, totaling over eighty-six thousand yuan. Surprisingly, all the other miscellaneous fish they had caught also sold, bringing in another thirty-five thousand five hundred yuan.

Many customers who didn’t buy tuna ended up snapping up all the smaller fish instead.

The total revenue for this trip was over one hundred seventy-two thousand four hundred yuan. However, they had bought sixteen albacore tuna from Wang Junhe and Guo Xiao at a price of forty-one yuan per jin, which was a cost of just over thirty-four thousand yuan.

They had four leftover fish, but Gu Nan had intentionally set these aside as a buffer in case they ended up short.

Besides, they were easy to sell; Zhao Jie’s Japanese restaurant could always use them.

So after deducting this cost, the remainder was their actual profit.

As for the other trip-related expenses, Guo Xiao had covered them, so Gu Nan’s costs were negligible.

Earning nearly one hundred forty thousand yuan from a two-night fishing trip was an excellent result, even for him.

This money didn’t need to be recorded as shop revenue. It was considered income earned as a fisherman, which wasn’t taxed, so he deposited the funds into a separate bank account.

Gu Nan wasn’t against paying taxes, but he didn’t mind a bit of legal tax avoidance. He certainly wasn’t foolish enough to pay a tax that other people in his position didn’t have to.

All the fish for shipping had been sorted and packed into individual styrofoam coolers, each with a label showing the customer’s address and phone number.

They moved the boxes back into the walk-in freezer, and only then did the two of them lock up the shop and head home to sleep.

Back at his rental, Gu Nan didn’t try to sweet-talk Yi Chen into staying the night; he just took her home.

She’d already ridden the high tides with him that first night on the boat, and then she’d pulled an all-nighter fishing for tuna. She didn’t have a cheat system like he did, and Gu Nan was afraid of wearing her out.

Lying in bed after a shower, he thought back on the evening’s work and sighed. ’It was so much easier before. I’d just send the fish to the shop and be done with it.’

’The cleanup work alone took all evening. A real miscalculation. I should’ve just let Dad stay and help. I really thought it wouldn’t be much work.’

「The next day.」

Gu Nan slept until he woke up naturally. He checked the time; it was just a little past seven. Seeing that it was still early, he leisurely got out of bed to wash up.

’The new shop is great. I only have to open at 8:00 AM, no more getting up at the crack of dawn like before.’

He headed out and sent a message to Yi Chen. When he learned she was at home eating breakfast, he started driving over to her place.

He bought some pork buns on the way and ate them in the car.

After picking her up and saying a quick hello to her grandmother, they set off for the shop.

Gu Nan didn’t plan on going out to sea today. His cheat system wasn’t so powerful that it turned him into a robot; he needed to rest, too.

Otherwise, if he went out fishing every single day, he was afraid he’d develop a phobia of it in less than a year.

As he was driving, he happened to run into An Jun, who was riding his electric scooter.

He pulled up beside him and rolled down the window. ”Well, I’ll be damned. What are you doing up so early?”

”Are you kidding me? Your daddy’s a businessman now. Can’t be lazing around like in the old days.”

”The hell you are! I’m your daddy!”

”And I’m your grandpa! Since I ran into you, I’ll head to your shop first. I’ve got something good to show you, something I happened to snag at the pier this morning.”

”Fine. My shop happens to have some good stuff, too. Maybe your raw-marinated seafood place can use it.”

After trading a few of their usual jabs, An Jun changed his route and headed for Gu Nan’s new shop.

Gu Nan parked the car, and he and Yi Chen walked through the market to their storefront. An Jun was already waiting, a small styrofoam box resting on his scooter. There was no telling what was inside.

Opening the door and stepping inside, Gu Nan finally asked, ”Alright, spill it. What’s in the mystery box?”

An Jun chuckled and opened the styrofoam box, revealing a dazzling golden sheen to the three of them.

”Large yellow croakers?” Yi Chen couldn’t help but lean in for a closer look.

She had been out to sea with him several times but had never once come across a large yellow croaker, which she was a little disappointed about.

”I thought your business was raw-marinated seafood. What are you doing buying these?” Gu Nan asked, surprised.

An Jun explained, ”I was here to buy some swimming crabs for marinating, but I saw a boat with two boxes of large yellow croakers and couldn’t resist buying a few. I’ll keep a couple to try for myself and give the rest away as gifts.”

”Well, let’s have them for lunch here, then. We can call Ah Jing to come over, too. And hey, since you’re giving them away, make sure you send a couple to my parents.”