"The Fisheries Bureau?"
Everyone stared blankly for a moment, then understanding dawned, and they immediately began whispering among themselves.
"Would the Fisheries Bureau bother with this fish?"
"What would they take it for?"
"Would that actually work?"
"Hard to say. What if the officials find it unusual and keep it to study?"
"This fish needs studying?"
"Who knows? Educated people's brains don't work like ours..."
Hearing Ye Yaodong suggest contacting the Fisheries Bureau, A-Cai thought it over and felt it could work.
"That's an option too. Since you can't sell it and nobody wants it, don't let it go to waste. Contact them and donate it. That'd be better than throwing it straight back into the sea."
"Donate it?"
"If you don't donate it, were you hoping to sell it? To a government office? You're dreaming. All you can hope for is whatever compensation they give you afterward. Hope they give you a little extra and an honorary banner so you get a moment of glory."
"Uh..."
Ye Yaodong patted their shoulders. "Just like when I donated the Bronze Ding. Getting something as consolation is good enough. Besides, this thing of yours is so ugly, and nobody even knows what it is. Nobody wants it."
"Donating it would save you some trouble too. Otherwise, you wouldn't know what to do with it. You went to all that effort to drag it back. You can't just abandon it, can you? Just donate it and be done with it."
The Zhou brothers exchanged glances, all finding this difficult.
The middle-aged man with the two tufts of mustache added, "Donating it sounds good. To be honest, nobody really wants this thing of yours. It's just unusual, something new to look at. It's too ugly, and nobody knows whether it's edible. If you can