Chapter 340 - 227: Sea Bream Join the Fun, and a Panda Fish?

Chapter 340: Chapter 227: Sea Bream Join the Fun, and a Panda Fish?

Gu Nan’s face twisted into a pained expression. ’I didn’t even do anything to offend my girlfriend,’ he thought. ’She was in a great mood this morning, so why the sudden urge to mess with me?’

It seemed happiness truly was built on the suffering of others. While he was miserable, all the women in the group were bursting with glee.

Gu Nan suddenly felt a pang of regret. ’I should’ve waited for my dad and An Jun’s group to get here,’ he thought. ’Then we could have suffered through this together.’

The group didn’t end up picking many oranges. To their surprise, the orchard also had a small animal farm with chickens and rabbits.

Yi Chen: "Bunnies are so cute. I bet they’re delicious when you roast them, right?"

Xu Zhina: "That white one is adorable. It would be even more adorable if we made a hat from its fur."

Jin Enfei: "Omo, is this what women in China are like? I feel like I’ve blended in, yet I haven’t blended in at all."

There were many farmhouse restaurants near the orchard. Gu Nan asked around to find out which one had the best food, then bought a chicken and a rabbit to have them cook for the group.

The large rooster would be made into a spicy chicken pot, while the rabbit would be roasted.

Farmed rabbits were quite plump, so their high fat content meant the meat wouldn’t be too tough after roasting.

A short while later, An Jun and his friends finally arrived, panting for breath with sweat beading on their foreheads.

They immediately sat down to rest upon reaching the restaurant, and a full pot of tea was drained in minutes.

"You guys are pathetic. Look at the state you’re in after just climbing a mountain. Don’t think eating all those testicles and kidneys will do you any good; you need to exercise more. Without a strong body, when you run into a big fish, there’s no telling who will be catching who."

Gu Nan sat to the side, relentlessly teasing An Jun and Ye Jing.

"Easy for you to talk, you drove up here. If you’ve got the guts, go climb it yourself," An Jun retorted, clearly not convinced.

Ye Jing gave a wry smile and patted his shoulder. "Get real. You’ve seen Ah Nan fish before. A little hike halfway up a mountain is nothing to him."

An Jun’s expression froze. He glanced at Gu Nan’s faint, unreadable smile. "What did you just say? My head feels a little foggy. I didn’t catch that."

"..."

After a decent lunch at the farmhouse restaurant, the group took advantage of the good weather and went to the beach to do some tide pooling for fun.

However, the island was a developed tourist spot, so there was never anything good left in the easily accessible areas of the beach.

After a busy afternoon, the whole group had only managed to find a dozen or so swimming crabs. They were lucky it was even crab season; any other time and they probably would have found nothing at all.

The two relaxing days passed in a flash. Early in the morning, Gu Nan drove his grandma home, then took Yi Chen to the shop.

"Chenchen, I’m going to be out at sea fishing for large yellow croakers for the next few days. I might not be coming home most nights, so I won’t be able to pick you up and drop you off from work. You’ll have to take the electric scooter for a bit."

"Once you get your driver’s license, I’ll buy you a car."

The Mid-Autumn Festival was just around the corner, and Gu Nan didn’t plan on staying in the shop. He wanted to seize this opportunity to make some good money—it was a prime time for anglers.

"Okay. You make sure to get some rest, too. Don’t get too carried away with the fishing," Yi Chen said, nodding obediently.

As for the car, they had already discussed it. They’d decided on a small electric car, something like a Wuling, mainly for her commute. It would also be much easier to park, so she had no objections.

After waiting a little while for Ye Jing to return, Gu Nan set off with him.

Since Ye Jing had decided to change careers, and Gu Nan was focusing solely on large yellow croakers lately, he decided to take him along.

As for An Jun, he had his own small shop to run. Besides, fishing was just a hobby for him, so of course he wouldn’t tag along every day.

"Everything squared away at the shop?" Gu Nan asked.

Ye Jing: "All taken care of. Nana already quit her job and is starting at the pet shop today."

"Good!" Gu Nan nodded, then drove to buy some Antarctic krill and bristle worms.

He actually preferred using bristle worms for large yellow croakers. He had only used shrimp last time because Yi Chen was with him, and the worms weren’t exactly easy on the eyes.

The bristle worms Gu Nan bought today were especially thick and large.

But don’t be fooled by their thickness; even a large yellow croaker weighing over half a pound could swallow one in a single gulp.

Seeing the large box of writhing bristle worms made Ye Jing’s skin crawl.

It wasn’t that he had trypophobia, but the sight was just deeply unsettling.

"Ah Nan, didn’t the shrimp bait work just fine last time? Why buy this stuff?"

"Bristle worms are actually better. A lot of guys who fish for large yellow croakers prefer them. You don’t get the same feel for the bite with shrimp bait."

Gu Nan shot him a glance and teased, "What, too squeamish to handle them?"

Ye Jing gave a wry smile. "It’s not that bad. I’ll just have to bite the bullet and do it."

Seeing his earnest response, Gu Nan stopped teasing him. He clapped him on the shoulder and smiled. "As a professional angler, there are plenty more things you’ll have to get used to!"

Yesterday had been partly cloudy, but today was completely overcast. The sea was already choppy near the shore, which meant the wind and waves would be even stronger out on the open ocean.

This kind of weather was actually perfect for fishing. After all, the rougher the seas, the more expensive the fish!

Besides, the tides were influenced by the moon, so it was normal for the waves to be bigger around this time.

After finishing his shopping, Gu Nan drove to the pier. He restocked his fresh water, refueled with diesel, and gave the boat a quick cleaning.

A small boat was manageable, but cleaning a bigger one in the future would be a lot more trouble.

But money could solve anything. Gu Nan already had it all planned out: he’d have a laundry service pick up his bedding twice a month, and he’d just hire people to clean the boat, inside and out.

That’s how Wang Junhe and Guo Xiao handled it, and he had already gotten the cleaning crew’s contact information from them.

A boat just over twenty meters long would take him a full day to clean by himself, if he could even finish, and he’d be dead tired by the end of it.