I Can Fish Up Everything!

Chapter 300: Chapter 200: Proactively Gifting Fish

"Chenchen, look! What’s this?" Gu Nan yelled as he approached the fishing boat.

"A giant Spanish mackerel? You can already spear fish this big?" Yi Chen said in disbelief.

They had learned to dive at the same time. Even though Gu Nan had some prior experience, she still saw him as a novice. ’It seems his spearfishing skills are pretty incredible now!’

"Of course! Don’t you know who I am?" This was a fish he had caught with his own two hands, so Gu Nan couldn’t help but gloat a little.

He handed the tail to Yi Chen while he hauled the body, and together they got the fish onto the deck.

He then climbed aboard, grabbed the fish by the tail to stand it upright, and had his girlfriend take a couple of photos to send to Guo Xiao and Wang Junhe.

As for the even bigger seven-banded grouper, he would wait to show it off until his two friends arrived.

After gloating with his phone for a bit, the two of them went back into the water.

Spearfishing while diving was actually very efficient, and highly selective.

An hour passed quickly. Gu Nan had returned to the boat twice, spearing a total of twenty-five fish.

Other than the thirty-to-forty-jin Spanish mackerel, the rest were all valuable fish and groupers. They were all at least two or three jin; he’d let all the smaller ones go.

But an hour of diving had left him exhausted, so he decided to return to the boat for a rest.

Yi Chen was already resting on the boat. She had a weaker constitution, and Gu Nan had thoroughly worn her out over the past two days, so she hadn’t even lasted half an hour before returning.

However, neither of them planned to shower or change clothes. Clearly, they intended to go back in the water after they had rested enough.

The sun slowly shifted from its zenith to the west. Gu Nan once again handed a stringer full of fish to Yi Chen, who had already showered and changed back into her clothes.

She had been busy until three, resting when she got tired and then continuing. She had dug up a full eighty-eight pen shells larger than her palm. Each one weighed over a jin, with the largest weighing three jin.

She hadn’t touched the smaller ones, only returning to rest after she had completely cleared out that small patch of large pen shells.

As for Gu Nan, though he was tired, his recovery was quite fast, so he managed to hunt seventy or eighty fish.

Spearfishing was much harder than gathering pen shells. It was now four-thirty, and for him to have hunted so many fish was already amazing.

Plus, his aim had improved significantly, mainly from accumulating so much experience.

Even a physically strong expert spearfisherman who dives year-round can only stay in the water for an hour at most at a time.

They have to rest afterward. Going in twice in one afternoon is already considered impressive.

Gu Nan didn’t have any other advantages when diving, but his stamina was far superior, which was why he could spearfish for an extra hour.

The moment he returned to the boat, Yi Chen came out and handed him a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and a sandwich she had just made.

"Eat something to tide you over. We’ll have dinner soon. How do you want your slipper lobster cooked?"

’This girl... I wouldn’t trade her for the world. She’s so good at taking care of people.’

He was exhausted from using up so much energy, so Yi Chen’s afternoon snack was a godsend.

Gu Nan took a sip of orange juice and said, "Garlic style. And make extra food, Brother Wang and Brother Guo will definitely come over for dinner."

Yi Chen nodded. "Okay. Then I’ll braise the swimming crabs and poach the blue-tailed shrimp?"

"Sounds good, sounds good. You decide. Cook the lamb and beef we bought, too. We’re heading back tomorrow, so there’s no need to save any of it."

"Alright."

Yi Chen went inside to prepare dinner. Gu Nan rested for a bit, then untied his last stringer of fish, placing them one by one into a box in the refrigerated hold before heading in to shower and change.

That concluded the day’s spearfishing. If he still had energy later, he’d do some fishing. All in all, it was a bountiful trip.

After he got out of the shower, Gu Nan picked up his phone and saw a message from Wang Junhe saying they were about to arrive.

The message was from ten minutes ago. He hurried outside and, sure enough, saw a fairly large speedboat racing toward him.

Gu Nan had thought they would bring some people to help, but he was surprised to see it was just the two of them.

A huge box was strapped down with ropes at the back of the boat—it must be for transporting the Giant Grouper.

"Ah Nan!" Wang Junhe stood up from the passenger seat and waved. His normally smooth hair had been blown by the sea breeze into a Super Saiyan style.

Gu Nan smiled and waved back. The speedboat was incredibly fast, arriving alongside his fishing boat in the blink of an eye.

Wang Junhe tossed him a mooring line, docking their boat right at the stern before climbing aboard.

"Living the good life, huh? Rented a boat to go fishing and didn’t even think to call us!"

"I’m having a romantic getaway with my girlfriend. Why would I invite you guys? Did you think I needed a couple of third wheels?" Gu Nan retorted.

Wang Junhe burst out laughing. He pulled Guo Xiao over and pointed at Gu Nan. "Old Guo, look at this! Bros before... well, you know! This kid totally ditches his friends for a girl!"

Guo Xiao nodded in agreement. "Totally! This can’t be forgiven without at least one big Spanish mackerel!"

"Are you sure a Spanish mackerel is all you want?" Instead of arguing back, Gu Nan just gave them a mysterious smile.

The two of them paused. Then, as if realizing something, Wang Junhe hurried toward the refrigerated hold. "Well, I’ll be. You little punk, you’re definitely hiding something good."

Guo Xiao, a step behind, quickly followed.

The two opened the refrigerated hold and gasped when they saw it was packed with fish. A giant grouper, frozen solid and lying to one side, especially made their eyes light up.

Guo Xiao clicked his tongue in amazement. "Holy crap, a seven-banded grouper this big! The one I caught last year wasn’t even half this size!"

Wang Junhe’s face lit up with joy. "You have to leave this one for me! I’m hosting some guests in a few days. I was just about to ask Ah Nan if he had any good catches, and here it is before I even asked. Perfect, perfect."

Hearing this, Gu Nan quickly interjected, "I can’t sell this fish yet. I don’t know if a fish this big has ciguatera toxin. I don’t want to send all of you to the hospital."

"I need to get it tested first. If it’s clean, then it’s yours."

Wang Junhe froze, then slapped his forehead. "I completely forgot about that. Good thing you reminded me. You’re right, it has to be tested. I wouldn’t feel safe eating it otherwise."

Compared to cities further south, the situation in Yangjiang Port and its neighboring coastal areas was relatively better. Due to environmental factors, there wasn’t much of the toxic algae that carries ciguatera.

Cases of ciguatera poisoning here were exceedingly rare. But the fish was so big, it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Brother Wang, Brother Guo, there’s only one Spanish mackerel, so it’s hard to split. I also got a particularly large slipper lobster that I was planning to give to Boss Su along with it. But I do have a few red groupers I caught on the boat. You guys can take them home and try them."

"Later, you two can look through the rest. Take whatever you like!"

There was also only one humpback grouper, which was also difficult to split. Fortunately, he had speared three red groupers that afternoon—all decent-sized ones of three to four jin—which were perfect for giving away.

He made his real money from the seafood in his game map. He didn’t mind giving away the fish he personally caught or speared to the two "big brothers" who had looked out for him.

He had also thought through giving the Spanish mackerel to the shipyard owner. He’d gotten a huge discount on the fishing boat, and they had an agreement that he would let the owner know whenever he caught a big fish.

Gu Nan planned to give him some good catches from time to time, as a form of interest payment.

This Japanese Spanish mackerel would fetch three or four thousand on the market. Paired with a Legendary Scalloped Slipper Lobster from his game, it would make for a very suitable gift, and he wouldn’t seem tactless.

"You’re a sharp kid. Old Su gave you a huge discount, so you definitely should be sending him stuff from time to time." Guo Xiao smiled and pointed at him. If Gu Nan hadn’t brought it up, he would have reminded him in a few days anyway.

’Good thing this kid didn’t disappoint me,’ he thought. ’He knows what needs to be done.’

As for the red groupers and other fish Gu Nan had mentioned, he and Wang Junhe had no intention of being polite.

Even if Gu Nan hadn’t offered, they would have helped themselves to some on their way out, just to experience the thrill of getting a good deal and then playing coy about it.

In fact, they were even a little disappointed. Gu Nan being so proactive took away the mischievous fun they could have had.

"Anyway, should we get in the water and find that fish? Get it on board first?" After a bit of banter, Guo Xiao got down to business.

He had put the most effort into making all the arrangements for the Giant Grouper, so his sunk costs were considerable. Naturally, he was the most invested in it.

Gu Nan replied, "No need to look for it. I was spearfishing all afternoon and just came up half an hour ago. I made sure to check on the Giant Grouper’s location. It hasn’t moved all afternoon."

"How about we catch it now? By the time we’re done, it’ll be time for dinner, and you guys can experience Chenchen’s cooking."

The other two had no objections, so they started discussing how to catch it.

But Gu Nan was already prepared. When he’d come up after spearfishing, he had brought out a box of sardine bait. He had Wang Junhe move it onto the speedboat, drive over to the grouper’s location, and start chumming to attract the fish.

Meanwhile, Gu Nan and Guo Xiao chummed with sardines from the fishing boat to ensure the fish would come right underneath them.

About ten minutes later, Wang Junhe, who was tossing bait from the speedboat, suddenly spotted a massive shadow appear in the water.

A jolt of excitement went through him. ’The fish is really here!’

He began steering the speedboat back toward the fishing boat, tossing out large amounts of bait to lure the fish along.

As he neared the fishing boat, he stopped throwing bait and pulled back completely. Gu Nan and Guo Xiao had already dropped plenty of bait on their end, which would surely attract the big Giant Grouper.

The appetite of this big Giant Grouper was monstrous. Wang Junhe had only used a third of his box of bait, and it was the same on the fishing boat’s side. This amount was nowhere near enough to satisfy it, especially since much of the bait sank or was snatched up by other fish.

Gu Nan had already switched to a large hook, which he baited with a relatively cheap parrotfish.

The price of parrotfish varied wildly, from over a hundred yuan for expensive ones to around thirty for the cheap ones.

He was using the cheapest kind. Gu Nan had chosen it mainly for its size. At around five jin, it was large enough to stand out from the chum and attract the grouper’s attention.

Moreover, the parrotfish was still alive. The hook pierced its back, with the point clearly exposed.

This way, the fish wouldn’t die immediately. An injured, struggling fish was much more effective at attracting a predator’s attention.