I Can Fish Up Everything!

Chapter 344: Chapter 229: The Profit of the Large Yellow Croaker

The docks had been bustling for the past few days, with fishmongers everywhere looking to buy up catches.

In business, you have to be proactive if you want to earn your keep. After all, opportunities rarely just land in your lap.

The moment Gu Nan’s fishing boat docked, an eager fishmonger jumped aboard.

The main reason was that word of the large yellow croaker run had spread, and everyone knew that many people had caught a ton of them the previous night.

The potential profit was too great for these fishmongers to ignore.

"Boss, how was the catch last night?" the fishmonger asked as he came up, offering cigarettes to both of them.

Seeing this, many of the veteran fishmongers on the dock sneered.

These veteran fishmongers had all dealt with people like Gu Nan before. They knew his operation wasn’t small, that he had his own sales channels, and that he wouldn’t sell his catch to them.

Thus, they were used to seeing him around and would just exchange familiar greetings, never embarrassing themselves by trying to buy his fish.

It was only because seafood prices had surged recently that so many people were trying to make some extra cash buying large yellow croakers, coming to the docks to compete with the veteran fishmongers.

In a civilized society, you couldn’t use tactics like intimidation and brawls anymore. These people openly messing with the prices was enough to thoroughly disgust the old-timers.

Now, seeing someone go to Gu Nan and waste their effort, they were naturally happy to watch the spectacle.

"As for my catch..." Gu Nan waved his hand. Just as he was about to say he wasn’t selling, he had a thought.

’Fish prices should have gone up these past few days,’ he thought. ’I can use this fishmonger to find out the current rates.’ So, he accepted the cigarette.

"The catch was decent. We caught quite a few large yellow croakers last night. Speaking of which, have the prices for them gone up?"

Ye Jing didn’t take the cigarette. He had expected Gu Nan to refuse bluntly, just like before, and was surprised to hear him say this.

At the mention of large yellow croakers, the young fishmonger, who was clearly just trying to make a quick buck, felt his eyes light up. He nodded repeatedly. "They’re up! The Mid-Autumn Festival is almost here, of course they’ve gone up."

"But let me see the goods first. You know how it is with large yellow croakers; the price depends on the size and quality."

The fishmonger didn’t wait for Gu Nan or Ye Jing to reply, immediately reaching out to open their containers.

The moment he opened one, he saw it was full to the brim with large yellow croakers. He broke into a grin so wide he couldn’t close his mouth.

Gu Nan smiled and picked up a fish from the one-jin class. "How much are you paying for one-jin fish? I have a good number of two-jin ones as well, what’s the price for those?"

The four containers made it clear to the fishmonger that they had caught a lot last night.

If he could land an order this big, he’d be set for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Just this one container alone held roughly fifty or sixty jin; as long as he kept spoilage low, he could make thirty to forty thousand on the price difference.

"For fish around one jin, I can give you 760 per jin. For ones around seven or eight taels, it’s currently 260. The two-jin ones are expensive; those are going for 1,600 now."

"Since you have a large quantity, how about I add ten yuan per jin for you?"

That last sentence showed that the fishmonger was dead set on buying this batch.

But Ye Jing’s expression was odd. ’This is supposed to be the *higher* price?’ It was much lower than the buyout price Gu Nan had given him last time.

Last time, An Jun had spent a little over 30,000 for twenty fish, and those were all just over one jin, with the largest being only 1.7 jin.

Ye Jing had asked about the prices during dinner back then. The one-jin fish went for 1,200, and the 1.7-jin fish went for 1,700.

This guy was offering 760 for a one-jin fish. ’We work our asses off fishing, just so someone else can flip them and make a profit of over four hundred? No way I’m agreeing to that.’

And this was supposedly the *increased* price. He estimated that the current market price for a one-jin large yellow croaker had to be over 1,300.

Gu Nan now had a clear picture of the market. He shook his head and refused, "Never mind. The price is too low. We have other channels that pay much more than what you’re offering."

The fishmonger was stunned. This was the normal purchasing price, and he had even added an extra ten yuan. He never expected to be told it was too low.

This sort of thing was rare at the docks. Generally, as long as a fishmonger wasn’t obviously lowballing them, fishermen would sell their catch for the price offered.

That was how the veteran fishmongers did business; they didn’t need to haggle like these newcomers who were trying to muscle in.

The fishermen weren’t fools, either. They had long-standing relationships with their buyers and wouldn’t easily sell their catch to a newcomer, even for a slightly higher price.

Of course, the new fishmongers weren’t entirely without success. With so many fishing boats, there were always a few catches that slipped through the cracks, as well as a small number of new fishermen who had just started going out to sea this year.

Yangjiang Port wasn’t some small village where local fishermen would drive out outsiders. Every year, people left the business and new people entered it; the same went for professional anglers.

"Then what’s your price?" the fishmonger asked.

"Let’s just forget it. Our fish are already spoken for, and at a much higher price. I was just asking you to get a feel for the market. If the price was right, I might have sold you some, but if this is the going rate, I’d be losing two or three hundred per jin. So, never mind."

Gu Nan smiled and waved a hand, then took out one of his own Hua Zi cigarettes, offered it to the man, and lit it for him.

He had just accepted a Liqun, and was now being given a Hua Zi in return. The fishmonger had definitely come out ahead on that exchange.

With Gu Nan having laid it all out so plainly, the fishmonger didn’t know what else to say.

He took a few drags from the cigarette, exchanged a few more words of small talk, and then hurried off to try and buy from someone else.

The two of them continued cleaning the boat. Two or three more fishmongers came by during this time, but after they were all turned away, no one else bothered them.

Just as they finished up, Ye Jing took the cigarette Gu Nan offered him and lit it. "Ah Nan, thanks!"

He hadn’t known the wholesale price before, and only now did he understand what a huge advantage Gu Nan had given him.

The difference between the fishmongers’ buying price and the actual market price was enormous. He couldn’t imagine how much he would have lost if he’d sold to them.