I Can Fish Up Everything!

Chapter 309: Chapter 206: Hiring Another Fish Cleaner

When he got to the old shop, Gu Nan saw his mom, Zhao Suying, cleaning a fish—a Blue-striped Gidai.

He didn’t recognize the customer; they were probably new.

Gu Nan first helped his father unload the crabs from their catch and place them in the shop. Then, he started serving some customers who had gathered around, wanting to buy sea bass.

But for every fish he sold, Gu Dacheng would ask if the customer wanted it cleaned.

The customers hadn’t really thought about it, but once asked, they’d look at their fish, decide it was too much trouble to clean at home, and just have it done right there before leaving.

This left Zhao Suying stuck at the entrance, cleaning one fish after another without even a moment to take a sip of water.

The corner of Gu Nan’s mouth twitched. ’No wonder Mom has such a love-hate relationship with this. Who wouldn’t dread cleaning fish from dawn till dusk!’

’The fishy smell gets all over you, and you can’t wash it off.’

After the rush died down and he had a free moment, Gu Nan hurried to offer his parents some advice.

"Mom, Dad, business is good. There’s no need to proactively offer to clean fish for customers. Otherwise, how are the two of you supposed to manage everything?"

"Chenchen and I never used to offer. We’d only do it occasionally."

Zhao Suying sighed. "I just want to provide good service to every customer. That way, the next time they want to buy fish, they’ll think of our shop first!"

Gu Dacheng nodded in agreement. "We can’t just stop now. It’s the kind of service seafood shops are expected to provide, so it wouldn’t be right to stop offering it."

Gu Nan knew they had a point, so he said, "Then let’s hire someone just to clean fish. It’s only a few thousand a month for a salary."

"I was looking at the numbers today, and business from walk-in customers is definitely better than before. Part of that is because the fishing season has started, but offering to clean the fish is definitely helping too."

When she heard him mention hiring someone, Zhao Suying immediately shook her head. "No need. I can do the cleaning, and your father can help when he’s free."

Gu Dacheng nodded in agreement. Their ancestors were farmers, and they were used to hardship. Cleaning a few fish was nothing, as long as it made money.

But Gu Nan saw things differently. He had let his parents run the shop in the first place because his father was unhappy with his old job.

The idea was to give them something to do, and running a seafood shop wasn’t supposed to be exhausting.

But making his mother clean fish like this all day long defeated the purpose.

It would have been one thing if they didn’t have the money, but their daily revenue was quite high now. He could earn the four or five thousand for a monthly salary in a single day—sometimes even more. Hiring someone to help clean fish was no problem at all.

"Mom, if you clean fish all day, you get that fishy smell all over you that you can’t wash off. You don’t want to go out with your friends smelling like fish, do you?"

"Besides, the person we hire wouldn’t only clean fish. They could help with other things, like making deliveries."

"I’ll be spending more time out at sea in the future, and sometimes Yi Chen will come with me. When that happens, the new shop will need you to look after it, Mom. If we have someone here to clean fish, it won’t disrupt the normal operations of either shop."

At his words, Zhao Suying faltered. He had hit her right where it hurt.

Most people of her generation could endure hardship, but she also cared about her appearance. She especially loved chatting with her friends over tea, and she certainly didn’t want to show up reeking of fish.

His other points were secondary, but she could now clearly see the benefit of having someone else to clean the fish.

"Gu Dacheng, you’re on fish-cleaning duty whenever you’re free from now on, at least until we hire someone!"

"Alright, alright. I’ll clean the fish when I’m free," Gu Dacheng quickly agreed. He didn’t want his wife smelling like fish all the time either.

"Okay, I’ll leave you two to handle the hiring. I’m going home to sleep. I didn’t sleep at all last night; I’m dead on my feet." Gu Nan yawned, looking exhausted.

Zhao Suying was instantly concerned. "Why did you even come over if you didn’t sleep all night? Gu Dacheng, hurry up and drive our son home."

"It’s okay, Mom. I can get back on my own."

Gu Nan waved a hand and made a quick exit.

After staying up all night and working for half the morning, he slept like the dead.

It was already 6:30 p.m. when he woke up. Gu Nan jolted upright and quickly got out of bed to head to the new shop.

Just as he walked in, he saw Yi Chen washing two food containers. It looked like she was about to pack up dinner and bring it to him.

"Oh, you’re up! I thought you were still sleeping. I was just getting ready to pack dinner to bring to you." Yi Chen looked a little surprised to see him, smiling as she held up the containers in her hands.

"Aw, you’re the best." Gu Nan grinned and walked over to hug her.

"Go on and eat. Are you going out to sea again tonight?"

"Yeah, gotta keep the money coming in. The season just started, so there’s a lot to catch. In another month, it’ll be hard to get a good haul inshore; you have to go offshore."

"Alright, just be careful. But don’t pull all-nighters too often. It’s bad for you."

"I know. By the way, in a couple of days Brother Wang and Brother Guo invited me to go fishing offshore. Do you want to come?"

Yi Chen thought for a moment, then shook her head. "I’d better pass. The new shop just opened, so I should stay and look after it. But when your new boat is in the water, you have to take me with you!"

Gu Nan chuckled. "Of course. We’ll have to test how sturdy the big bed in our cabin is."

"Oh, you! Can you ever be serious?" Yi Chen said, exasperated, as she placed his dinner in front of him.

After dinner, he helped her clean up the shop. Then he closed up, walked Yi Chen home, and finally bought some bait and Antarctic krill before heading out to sea.

Tonight he planned to fish according to his game map, so he avoided crowded areas and didn’t bring any crab pots or floor cages.

He did bring his shrimp pots, however. He had plenty of crabs already; it would probably take two or three days to sell them all at the shop.

The previously empty tanks at the old shop were now almost completely full of swimming crabs. With the aerators running, the crabs could survive for a week or so.