Coach: Coaching the Grizzlies at the beginning, playing the bantam

When they returned, they found a series of plum-shaped footprints at the fork in the road. Hannah squatted down and gestured: "These paw prints are clearer than the sand crabs on Jinbo Beach!"

Lu Yong took out the park manual: "The footprints of raccoon dogs are in estrus recently."

Before he could finish his words, a gray shadow suddenly emerged from the bushes, stared at them with round eyes for two seconds, and then disappeared into the sea of ​​reeds, dragging its fluffy tail.

The aroma of lotus leaf porridge wafted through the visitor center at noon. Hannah poked at the GPS locator and wondered, "The electronic map shows that there is a hidden viewing platform in the east district?"

The administrator wiped the bird atlas and laughed: "That is the iron tower used by the bird banders. The approach bridge was washed away by heavy rain last week."

Lu Yong suddenly pointed to the bulletin board. In the yellowed photo, a 20-meter-high observation tower stood tall, with a weather vane on top wrapped with faded prayer flags.

Hannah's fingertips stroked the glass of the photo frame: "Does it look like a scene from Howl's Moving Castle?" She didn't notice the administrator quietly pulling out the registration book and adding two names to the column for today's visitors.

While packing, Hannah's sunscreen spray rolled into the gap between the tool cabinets.

When she bent down to pick it up, she caught a glimpse of an old boating photo at the bottom of the cabinet - the German couple who had carved poems on a tin box twenty years ago were holding up the oars covered with algae towards the camera.

Before the shuttle bus started to leave the park, Hannah suddenly grabbed the door and said, "Wait! My sun protection sleeves fell down." Before she finished speaking, Lu Yong pulled out a lotus leaf green fabric from the side pocket of his camera bag and said, "It fell down when I tied up my luggage."

The asphalt road was steaming up a mirage under the scorching sun. Hannah covered her face with her sleeves: "Looking at the world through green, even the dark clouds look like emeralds."

In the distance, the sluice gates were opening to release water, and flocks of wild ducks dived in the whirlpools, like bronze arrowheads thrown into the air.

When turning, the road suddenly collapsed and the car body shook violently.

Hannah's forehead hit the glass window and her sleeves slipped off. She saw the reed maze slowly spinning behind them, like a huge green compass closing.

Lu Yong's palm cushioned her second impact in time, and his body temperature penetrated through the sun protection sleeve, leaving vine-like red marks on her skin.

.........

At dawn, Lu Yong was stuffing a waterproof map into his backpack. "We're going to the Weihai Wetland Scenic Area today. I heard there are more than 20 bird nests hidden under the plank road." Hannah bit the rubber band to tie her ponytail, and the ends of her hair were still stained with cattail debris from the Liaohe Wetland last night. "We have to bring a telephoto lens. I couldn't sleep all night because I didn't take a picture of the Chinese bush warbler in the bird watching tower last time."

The taxi passed through a signboard with dewdrops on it, and a giant reed sculpture stood at the entrance of the scenic spot. Hannah poked the navigation on the center console: "Master, is the route to this 'reed sea maze' by water or land?" The driver showed his work ID in the rearview mirror: "This year, our scenic spot has launched a new combination ticket. First, take a glass boat to explore the reed marsh, and then walk on the aerial plank road to watch the bird waves!"

The dock platform swayed gently with the footsteps, and Hannah's sun hat was blown up by the lake breeze: "Can you see the fish under this glass bottom of the boat?" The boatman held a reed in his mouth and laughed: "Girl, sit tight, it will be more exciting to go through the reed alley than riding a roller coaster!"

The bow split the dark green waterway, and Hannah suddenly leaned to the bottom of the boat: "Look! The crucian carp are dancing the figure eight dance!" The sparkling light penetrated the glass, dyeing her blonde hair into flowing amber. When Lu Yong raised the camera, the boat tilted suddenly - the reeds in front suddenly narrowed into a three-meter-wide natural tunnel, and the drooping reed spikes swept across their heads.

"Lower your head!" the boatman shouted. The moment Hannah drew back her neck, a kingfisher suddenly jumped out from the water stirred up by the propeller at the stern. Its blue-green feathers brushed against her wrist, and the silver fish it took away threw out strings of pearls in the sun.

The aerial plank road meanders among the reeds. Hannah clenched the telescope tightly: "There is a brown shadow moving at ten o'clock!" In the light spots leaking through the gaps in the antiseptic wood, the reed warbler was sewing its nest with spider silk, and a piece of reed flower like willow catkins was stuck on the tip of its beak.

Lu Yong suddenly pulled her down to squat, and the iron grid revealed the scene below: four newly fledged red-crowned crane cubs were practicing dancing on the mudflat, their gray-brown fur falling with their clumsy tapping movements. Hannah's breath misted the telescope lens: "A hundred times cuter than the domesticated version in the Berlin Zoo!"

The electronic screen at the corner of the plank road suddenly lit up a warning red light, and the administrator's urgent voice came over the radio: "Attention, tourists, a bird wave is about to form in the southwest direction. Please do not stay on the observation deck for a long time..."

Hannah had just set up the tripod on the observation deck when the sky suddenly dimmed three degrees. In the distance, gray-brown clouds rose above the horizon of the reed sea, and a flock of tens of thousands of starlings began to change their formation.

"Does it look like Sunflowers blown away by the wind?" Hannah's camera followed the flock of birds. Lu Yong suddenly pointed at the changing bird formation and said, "Look! They are putting together a map of China!" The flock of birds just flew over the sun, and the shadows they cast matched the map of Liaodong Bay perfectly. The location of Panjin was flashing with scaly spots of light formed by the overlapping wings of the birds.

The wind blew down and Hannah's sun hat flew off. Lu Yong leaned over to catch it, but saw a lone starling swooping down, grabbing the hatband with its beak tip and hanging the trophy on the 30-meter-high signal tower.

At noon, the visitor center was filled with the aroma of reed leaf rice dumplings. Hannah was worried about the guide map: "Should I take the red or blue route for this afternoon's hike?" The administrator wiped the bird banding pliers and smiled: "You can see whiskered gulls raising chicks on the blue route, but..." He suddenly lowered his voice, "There is a pair of black-winged kites in the southeast corner of the reed maze recently, and even drones can't catch up with their flight trajectory."

The smell of humus soil became stronger, and Hannah's hiking pole suddenly poked a hard object. After peeling away the layers of reed leaves, half of the sunken ship's mast was covered with barnacles, and a rusty bronze plaque was embedded between the wood grain - "1987 Research Ship Grounding Point". When Lu Yong wiped out the blurred handwriting with a wet wipe, Hannah suddenly pulled his sleeve: "Shh! There is a flapping sound above your head!"

Two black-winged kites were flying over the reeds, and the water drops from the silver fish between their claws exploded into rainbows in the sun. Hannah's camera was almost sparking when she pressed the shutter button, but she didn't notice that her sneakers were slowly sinking into the soft swamp.

The moment Lu Yong grabbed Hannah's backpack strap, her left foot had sunk into the black mud. Her struggle startled a rail in the reeds, and its fluttering brown shadow knocked her sunglasses crooked. "Don't move!" Lu Yong pulled out his trekking pole and placed it across her chest, "Lean back slowly, this mud pit won't swallow you."

Hannah's back just touched the reeds when she suddenly felt something cold brushing against her calves. Bubbles emerged from the muddy mud, revealing a grayish-blue dorsal fin. "It's a catfish!" She burst into laughter. "Is this the wetland version of a hero saving a beautiful girl?"

When the rescue team arrived, the two were making a fishing basket with reeds. The captain stared at Hannah's sun-protection pants covered with mud and shook his head: "This is the third swamp sinking incident this year. Are you guys trying to survive in the wild?" Hannah shook a plastic bottle filled with snails: "Look! The black-winged kite sent us an apology gift!" As the sun set, Hannah refused to leave the rowing boat: "Paddle for another half an hour. What if we meet a heron returning late?" The boatman pointed at the rising mist and shook his head: "If we are any later, we will run into a flock of night herons. They dive like bombers..."

The oars broke up the sky full of rosy clouds, and Hannah suddenly scooped up water and splashed it on Lu Yong: "Look! Do the ripples on the water look like the formation of a flock of birds during the day?" When the ripples spread to the shore, a purple-backed bittern was startled. Its slender figure flew over their heads, and the water droplets falling from the tip of its beak just wet the camera memory card.

Passing by a patch of fallen reeds before approaching the shore, Hannah suddenly called for a stop. A faded ring was stuck between the rotten reeds, and the number showed that this was an old warrior who had survived seven migratory seasons. Lu Yong wiped the mud stains off the aluminum ring and asked, "Do you want to give it to the nature reserve?" Hannah put the ring on a necklace and said, "When it migrates south in the fall, we'll come back here and wait for it."

The ecological wooden house where we stayed overnight was filled with the scent of mugwort. Hannah adjusted the focus on the silhouette of the reeds outside the window: "Does the bird's nest under the moonlight look like a floating lantern?" She suddenly noticed a flashing light in the viewfinder - the infrared camera captured a grass owl returning to its nest, and the outline of the vole between its claws glowed dark green in the night vision mode.

When Lu Yong lifted the mosquito net, Hannah suddenly exclaimed, "Something is moving under the bed!" In the flashlight beam, the hedgehog was standing there with a berry in its mouth. The two held their breath and watched the little intruder carry food. The reed flowers stuck on its spines trembled with its steps, casting a slender shadow on the wooden floor.

As the moonlight shifted, Hannah's ankles suddenly started to itch. She lifted the thin blanket and saw that the Polygonum seeds that had gotten into her trouser legs during the day had sprouted new buds as big as rice grains on her skin. She smiled and woke Lu Yong up: "Look! I've grown a tattoo to commemorate the wetland..."

The next morning, the plank road was still covered with night dew. Hannah suddenly squatted down and touched the cocoon shell on the reed stalk: "It's the trace of a dragonfly's emergence!" There were spots of blood in the translucent empty shell, and a new individual not far away was drying its blue-purple thin wings.

Lu Yong suddenly pointed to the sky: "Yesterday's black-winged kite!" Hannah looked up, and the scales from the raptor's claws fell into her palm. The moment the sun shone through the fish scales, the contour map of the Weihai wetland emerged in the rainbow, and the ripples were just like the outline of the swamp they were trapped in yesterday.

As the return shuttle started, Hannah pressed the scales against the window.

The morning light shone through this natural prism, casting flowing spots of light on the floor of the carriage, as if tens of thousands of starlings were circling under their feet.

Lu Yong suddenly held her hand that was stained with grass juice and said, "Wait until the banding number reaches K337, and then we'll look for the old migratory bird?"

Amid the roar of the engine, Hannah's response was crushed in the morning breeze.

The sea of ​​reeds outside the rear window of the car was slowly closing, like a giant beast swallowing all the secrets.

The migratory bird numbered K337 was now flying over the salt marshes of Liaodong Bay, its wingtips stained with the morning dew that they had not been able to take away.

.........

At this moment, Hannah was frowning at the scenic area guide map: "Jiangnan Style Garden? Building Suzhou Garden in Northeast China?"

Lu Yong adjusted the camera strap and said, "National Geographic China took a photo of this last year. They said that reeds from the Liaohe River were used to make the eaves and corners." The white wall appeared and disappeared in the morning mist. There were really three red-crowned cranes perched on the black tiles, their vermilion crowns piercing the gray skyline.

The ticket gate was designed in the shape of a moon-shaped door, and Hannah's sun protection sleeves were hooked on the carved window lattice. The administrator smiled and handed her an oil-paper umbrella: "Girl, change to this, the park's mist spray system will start in half an hour." As soon as she opened the umbrella, she found that there was a ceramic wind chime tied to the end of the umbrella rib. The twelve zodiac signs jingled with her steps, startling the koi in the pond to flick their tails and escape into the depths of the water lilies.

The inscriptions on the curved corridor were still covered with morning dew. Hannah's fingertips swept across the patterns on the rubbings: "This Yan style calligraphy is smoother than the replica in the Chinese Pavilion in Munich." She suddenly stood on tiptoe, "Look! There's a stone sculpture of a water-avoiding beast hidden at the foot of the stele!" In the mouth of the moss-covered strange beast, there was actually a living tadpole shaking its head and tail.

Lu Yong's wide-angle lens suddenly caught a reflection. There was a bronze mirror hanging under the wisteria trellis deep in the forest of stele. Hannah leaned in to take a closer look, but the reflection was not herself - a woman in a horse-faced skirt was painting the stele in red, with a silver hairpin in her hair dangling giant clams unique to Liaodong Bay.

"This is a holographic projection of our curator's grandmother when she was young." The voice of the tour guide startled the phantom in the mirror, "When the park was built sixty years ago, she used shell powder from the mouth of the Liaohe River to make an anti-moth paint..." Hannah's sun protection sleeve accidentally swept across the mirror frame, and the bronze mirror suddenly played clips of tourists laughing in the 1980s. Her own blonde hair glowed with a strange white light in the black and white image.

The Nine-Turn Bridge was suddenly shrouded in thick fog. Hannah clenched the handle of her oil-paper umbrella and said, "This fog is coming faster than the rising tide on the Red Beach!" She heard the creaking of wooden boards under the bridge. She thought it was a koi carp hitting a pillar, but when she looked down, she saw a bronze tortoise carrying the boundary marker slowly moving, and the three words "Yingyuetan" on the monument were slowly sinking into the water.

Lu Yong suddenly pulled her down to squat, and a model of a black-sailed boat rushed out of the fog wall. A mechanical boatman in a Zhongshan suit stood at the bow of the boat, handing over a pottery jar with the sound of his joints turning: "Collect three drops of lotus dew from different hours, and you can exchange them for the fragments of the brocade map." Hannah's mineral water bottle just stretched out to the lotus leaf, and the mechanical arm suddenly retracted: "You must use the Ru kiln teapot specially provided by the park!"

The sound of pipa fingers rang out in the rain and fog, and Hannah followed the sound to Tingyu Pavilion. The music box was hidden behind the plaque. When she tiptoed to wind the string, the rockery outside the pavilion suddenly moved half a meter away, revealing a secret compartment full of buttons. Lu Yong pressed the brightest blue and white porcelain button, and the mist spray system of the entire lotus pond stopped instantly, and eight hundred red lotuses bloomed at the same time in the sudden silence.

The Lu Ban lock in the Dougong Pavilion was missing a key component. Hannah bit the flashlight and lay on the beam: "Are there any parts hidden in the brackets made of Northeast pine wood?" Her hair rope hooked on the hanging flower column, pulling off a cluster of gray spider webs, and she was surprised to find the ink writing on the beam - "The maintenance team's wine storage place in 1983".

Lu Yong scanned the mortise and tenon structure with his mobile phone, and AR restored the scene of the year: young men in work clothes were stuffing glass bottles between beams, and a bronze arrow was sunk in the medicinal wine soaked with ginseng. Hannah suddenly pointed to the edge of the holographic projection: "The work permit of that female technician!" The yellowed ID photo actually overlapped with the appearance of the woman in the phantom of the stele corridor.

The miniature model in the display case suddenly assembled automatically, and Hannah's scream was stuck in her throat - the three hundred parts did not form a hall, but the Dougong Pavilion they were in at the moment. When the last tile was put into place, there was a muffled sound from the beam of the real building, and the medicinal wine bottle that had been sealed for forty years fell down and was caught in the air by Lu Yong with his camera bag.

A wooden signboard reading “Silkworm Raising Experience” was hung in the mulberry forest. Hannah’s tweezers were trembling: “These silkworms are softer than the dragonfly larvae in the Weihai Wetland!”

She didn't notice that there was a tiger-spotted longhorn beetle lying on the back of the mulberry leaf. Its elytra suddenly trembled, startling the silkworms and causing them to raise their heads and spin silk, instantly weaving an irregular piece of gauze on her cuffs.

The administrator brought the silk reeling machine and laughed: "This material is enough to make a handkerchief!"

Hannah's pedal rhythm is always half a beat slower than Lu Yong's, and the raw silk floating out of the boiling water pot is tangled into a mess. (End of this chapter)