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

"Let's try this volcanic rock pool first." Lu Yong's glasses were covered with white mist, but his fingertips were accurately pointing at the sulfur spring on the guide map.

Hannah squatted by the pool to test the water temperature. The hem of her bathrobe became a darker green after being soaked.

When her toes just touched the water, bubbles suddenly gushed out of the ventilation holes at the bottom of the pool. She was so startled that she grabbed the belt of Lu Yong's bathrobe and fell into the pool.

Hannah floated in the light blue hot spring in the mist, watching her fingers that were scratched by the reeds yesterday turn pearly white after being soaked in minerals.

Lu Yong's mind started working again: "There are seven springs at the bottom of Lianhuan Lake, and the water temperature is distributed in a stepped manner from 38℃ to 45℃..."

Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by the splash of water she caused. The waterproof watch on his wrist was covered with water droplets, and the second hand crawled slowly in the mist.

In the afternoon, we went to the open-air hot spring area, where the wooden boardwalk was hot from the sun.

Hannah trotted in her rubber slippers, the shell bells on her silver ankle chain jingling, waking the tabby cat sleeping in the canna bush.

They chose a granite pool under a maple tree, whose shadows cut the water surface into tiny pieces of gold foil.

When Lu Yong took the hot spring egg from the vending machine, he found that she was using her mobile phone to secretly take pictures of her arms with rolled up sleeves - the red marks left by crabs in Panjin last week had turned into a light cherry pink after being soaked in the hot spring.

"Look under the water!" Hannah suddenly lowered her voice.

Through the swaying hot spring water, you can see the ochre-red volcanic mud rising and falling at the bottom of the pool as if breathing.

When she dived underwater, the lotus hairpin accidentally slipped off, and her long hair spread out in the spring water like ink.

Lu Yong sneaked in to help her salvage the hairpin. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw through the swaying waves that the shell bells on her ankles were flashing with tiny lights, as if she was carrying a piece of the Bohai Bay with her.

When they moved to the fish spa pool, Hannah was frightened by the schools of small fish and shrank into the corner of the pool.

"Do they really eat dead skin?" Her tense appearance reminded Lu Yong of the frightened red-crowned cranes in the museum. It was not until the first hot spring fish pecked her fingertips that she relaxed and laughed: "They are much gentler than the crabs in Panjin."

The floating ginkgo leaves happened to land on her shoulder. When Lu Yong used the hot spring ladle to scoop water to wash away the fallen leaves, he found a red mole on the back of her neck, like cinnabar dripped on a gouache painting.

As dusk fell, they lay on the inflatable mattress of the floating dining table.

Hannah poked the kvass in the float tray with a straw, and the bubbles rose in the glass like a miniature pump.

Lu Yong's waterproof camera was placed on the edge of the dining table. The indicator light for automatic continuous shooting flashed every ten seconds, recording the moment when the water droplets condensed on the ends of her hair fell into the lake.

"Do you want to go to the Petroleum Science and Technology Museum tomorrow?" Lu Yong flipped through the scenic spot brochure, the pages softened by the water vapor. Hannah's toes drew ripples on the water, scattering the reflected sunset: "I want to go to the wetland plank road to watch the sunrise first." She turned her wrist, and the red mark from the burn on Panjin Snack Street the day before yesterday had faded to light brown, and was now slightly shiny from the hot spring water.

As the moon rose, they strayed into a hidden herbal pool. The scent of angelica and mugwort intertwined in the night. Hannah counted the flickering candlelights in the stone lanterns by the pool: "It's warmer than the spotlights in the museum." Lu Yong's glasses finally fogged up completely. In the dim light, she could only see the salt-carved keychain on her wrist refracting the moonlight when she raised her hand, casting a silhouette of a red-crowned crane on the pool wall.

On the shuttle bus back to the hotel, Hannah dozed off on Lu Yong's wet bathrobe. The car radio was playing the history of the formation of Lianhuan Lake, and the commentary on the intersection of geological fault zones and water systems was mixed with her even breathing. Lu Yong looked out the window and suddenly saw the white shadow of a night heron passing through the reeds. He thought of the clam shells in the interlayer of the suitcase at the moment - the gift from Panjin was wrapped in the moonlight of Daqing.

Midnight hot springs gushed out of the water inlet of the private bath in the room. Hannah turned an empty blueberry juice can into a floating lamp, and a few unmelted fruit pulps floated in the warm yellow halo. Lu Yong discovered that a tender green saltwort had emerged from the cracks in the volcanic rocks at the edge of the bathing pool, and its dark red roots still had the salty and astringent taste of Panjin. When Hannah's toes accidentally rubbed his calf, the timer at the bottom of the pool suddenly rang - it turned out that he secretly set a reminder to prevent her from getting dizzy after soaking for too long.

As the morning mist once again covered the Lianhuan Lakes, Hannah's lotus hairpin lay quietly on the windowsill.

The silver chain I took off when I was soaking in the hot spring last night was hung on the desk lamp, and the shell bell was filled with Daqing dew.

When Lu Yong was sorting out the memory cards of his camera, he found a blurry night photo: in the shaking lens, the steam rising from the herb pool blurred the starry sky, and only the salt-carved keychain on her wrist was as clear as a lighthouse, guiding the two wet souls to land in the northern swamps.

.........

The next day, the asphalt road was shining darkly in the morning dew. Hannah breathed through the taxi window, and her fingertips drew a crooked oil pump pattern in the mist.

"The Iron Man Square is in front of us." The driver's northeastern accent was wrapped in the smell of diesel. Hannah suddenly rolled down the window, and the early autumn wind blew the faint melody of "I Dedicate Oil to the Motherland" in her face. Hannah stopped at the 47 steps at the main entrance of the memorial hall. She counted the years engraved on the granite: "The year Comrade Wang Jinxi died, the output of Daqing Oilfield was just..." Lu Yong's leather shoes unconsciously rubbed the words 1960, and the year soaked in oil was glowing with bronze. A group of elderly people doing morning exercises passed by them holding small red flags. The corners of the flags swept across Hannah's canvas bag, and the fluffy cloth bag stained with clam shells made a small sound.

"Don't move." Lu Yong suddenly grabbed Hannah in the lobby. The dome spotlight cast the shadow of the Iron Man statue on her white sneakers. She kept her feet up and watched his camera lens slowly move down from an upward angle. In the viewfinder, her hair and the Iron Man's aluminum helmet accidentally overlapped. The moment the flash came on, the guide's voice penetrated the morning light: "The clay embryo of this statue was taken from the soil of the 1205 drilling team's operation that year."

Hannah leaned over the display case, and a projection of Wang Jinxi's notebook floated on the glass. The words soaked in crude oil were unfolding under virtual reality technology: "This page of the work diary was written on April 1960, 4..." "It was the day when the foundation of the hotel we stayed in was laid." Lu Yong's fingertips hovered on the touch screen, and his sensitivity allowed him to instantly calculate the complexity of the underground pipe network. Hannah's earrings swayed across the screen reflection, reflecting the four words "people pull and shoulder carry" on the concrete pillars of the exhibition hall.

The simulated drilling scene in the underground palace exhibition hall made both of them hold their breath. The vibrating steel plate floor recreated the scene of the Sa-55 blowout. Hannah grabbed Lu Yong's wrist and barely stood firm. The salt-carved keychain in his shirt pocket hurt her. When the holographic projection of Wang Jinxi jumped into the mud pool, Hannah suddenly put her forehead on his shoulder: "I seem to smell the salty smell of Panjin river crabs." Lu Yong then realized that the simulated smell released by the ventilation system was mixed with the smell of Bohai Bay deep in his memory.

"Help me find this." Hannah pointed to an old photo on the wall, showing oil workers checking in equipment on a train platform in 1961. Her fingertips hovered over the corner of the photo: "Does the blue fabric sticking out of that wooden box look like my grandma's coarse cloth scarf?" Lu Yong turned on the flashlight of his phone and took a closer look, and found that there was indeed a smear of indigo between the cracks of the box, which formed a wonderful echo with the half-exposed reed woven coaster in Hannah's backpack.

In the restored rammed earth housing exhibition area, Hannah knocked down the straw curtain when she entered the low door frame. Lu Yong bent down to pick up the simulated wheat straw and found real foxtail seeds hidden in the inner layer. "Will Suaeda grow in these cracks in the wall?" She stroked the earth wall mixed with crude oil, and her fingertips were stained with the black color that was deliberately made old. When Lu Yong wiped her hands with a wet towel, he suddenly remembered the record in the "Daqing Flora" on the bedside of the hotel: the first batch of wild flowers did bloom in the cracks of the rammed earth.

The drill bit model in the interactive experience area weighs 1962 kilograms. Hannah stumbled and crashed into the exhibition line as soon as she lifted it. Lu Yong supported her elbow from behind, and the shadows of the two overlapped in a cross shape under the projection of the simulated derrick. "Could the female geologists carry such a heavy weight back then?" she asked panting, and beads of sweat from the tip of her nose rolled down the protective cover of the booth. Lu Yong pointed to the wall display board: "The women's oil production team established in , the pipe clamp was three pounds heavier than this."

As the midday sun shone into the souvenir shop, Hannah was hesitating about the Iron Man badge. Lu Yong quietly bought the aluminum 1205 drilling team badge, and the sound of scanning the code at the checkout startled her: "Isn't this the drilling team number mentioned in your paper?" He pinned the badge next to the shell ornament on her backpack: "When we get to Dunhuang, we can put it together with the sand from Crescent Lake." Hannah suddenly grabbed an old photo postcard sealed with petroleum resin, and paid as quickly as if she was answering a question: "This one will be sent to the Panjin Museum!"

The swing outside the museum swayed gently in the wind. It was restored based on the old items from the school for children of oil workers. When Hannah swung to the highest point, the unsealed postcard in her backpack slipped out, and Lu Yong jumped to catch it, just like the sculptures in the exhibition hall trying to save cement. They sat side by side on a bench shaped like a cast iron derrick and shared a roasted sweet potato. Hannah suddenly carved a word on the back of the chair with potato peels: "It's harder to leave a mark than the salt sculptures in Panjin." Lu Yong's glasses were covered with heat, so he didn't see that she carved the initials of their names.

As the sunset dyed the memorial hall's exterior wall the color of an oil pump red, Hannah paused in front of the electronic message wall. Her fingers hovered over the virtual keyboard for a long time, and in the end, she only drew a crooked heart. Lu Yong pretended to study the data screen next to him, and saw her graffiti being lifted up by countless visitors' messages, flickering in the digital ocean. When the closing music "Walking in the Footsteps of the Iron Man" played, he suddenly grabbed her hand and ran to the exit, and the sweat on his palms left a faint white mark on the salt sculpture on Hannah's wrist.

On the bus on the way back, Hannah looked through the snapshots in her camera: Lu Yong's profile as he checked data in front of the derrick model overlapped strangely with his figure photographing bronze artifacts at the Panjin Museum forty days ago. The nodding machine outside the car window was rising and falling in the twilight, and she suddenly pressed her forehead against the glass: "The rhythm of these machines is the same as the tides in the Bohai Bay." The wetland bird song recording in Lu Yong's headphones suddenly stopped, and was replaced by the "Oil Workers Suite" he downloaded last night.

When the lights of the night market came on, Hannah squatted in front of a roadside stall to choose an agate bracelet. The stall owner used a screwdriver to knock on the paperweight made from oil pump parts: "Girl, pick the red one, to match the shells you wrapped." When Lu Yong paid, he found a faded memorial badge on the old man's apron, and traces of solidified black crude oil on the metal surface. The moment Hannah put on the bracelet, the stall owner suddenly hummed a piece of "I Dedicate Oil to the Motherland", and the off-tune notes scared away the sparrows foraging for food.

Under the hotel bedside lamp, Hannah's postcard was never sent. The clam shells brought from Panjin and today's Iron Man badge lay side by side on the windowsill, and the moonlight cast their shadows on the pages of Daqing Flora. When Lu Yong was washing his shirt stained with the smell of simulated crude oil in the bathroom, he heard the sound of Hannah running barefoot - she was using her mobile phone flashlight to project the light and shadow of the drill bit on the ceiling.

The next morning, Hannah secretly stuffed a bag of oil sand samples into the suitcase. Lu Yong pretended not to see the black particles on her socks, but moved the stomach-strengthening and digestion-promoting tablets to the side pocket, which was more accessible. The moment the taxi passed the memorial hall, Hannah suddenly pressed the shutter. In the frame, the elderly people doing morning exercises were doing Tai Chi. Their white-clothed figures and the steel derricks were close and distant in the autumn fog, like an unfinished hazy poem.

On the isolation strip of the highway, the last nodding machine disappeared at the end of the sight.

Hannah looked through the screenshots she had taken on the electronic message wall yesterday. The heart shape made of pixels had been covered by a new message. She suddenly raised her phone in front of Lu Yong and said, "Actually, I drew the shape of Suaeda salsa seeds." Lu Yong, who was checking the Dunhuang guide, pushed his glasses up. The navigation prompt suddenly interrupted: "We are passing a wind power station ahead, please pay attention to the crosswind." The agate bracelet on Hannah's wrist hit the car window, making a dull sound like petroleum resin.

As dusk fell, they stopped at an unknown service area.

Hannah found a bottle of mineral water with the Iron Man's quote printed on it at a convenience store. The code on the bottle was exactly 1205. When Lu Yong unscrewed the bottle cap, the sound of bubbles gushing out reminded her of the simulated blowout sound at the memorial. When the night wind blew away the promotional label on the bottle, they didn't notice the small words printed on the back: The water source was taken from the operating area of ​​the women's oil production team back then.

When the moonlight illuminated the lock of the suitcase again, the Iron Man emblem and the salt-carved keychain nestled in the interlayer.

Hannah turned over in her sleep, and the agate beads on her wrist slipped into her sleeve, leaving a light red mark on her skin, which looked very much like the calluses caused by pipe wrenches in the memorial hall.

Lu Yong was sorting photos under the desk lamp. In one blurry snapshot, Hannah's silhouette in the dry-rammed earth exhibition area had a similar outline to the archival photo of a female geologist from sixty years ago.

.........

The next day, as the morning mist spread over the wetlands like melted cream, Hannah's rubber wellies were stuck in the mud beside the plank road.

Lu Yong grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. The waterproof camera shook with the movement, startling the green-winged teal preening its feathers in the reeds. It had just rained last night, and clusters of Suaeda salsa emerged from the cracks in the wooden plank road. The dark red stems and leaves made her feel as if she was back at Panjin Red Beach.

"You're holding the telescope upside down." Lu Yong held back his laughter as he adjusted the bird-watching telescope in her hand. Hannah's exclamation was suppressed by the wet air: "That red-crowned crane is dancing!"

On the shallows a kilometer away, a group of cranes are performing a courtship ritual. The geometric shapes formed by their slender necks are reflected on the water, forming an absurd collage with the abandoned oil pipeline at the cruise ship dock.

She took out the dried shrimps she had brought from Panjin and scattered them on the water. The silvery white crumbs immediately attracted a flock of red-billed gulls, whose circling shadows obscured the warning sign "Beware of Oil Leakage". (End of this chapter)