I served as Li Bai's page.

Beihu is a few kilometers away from Dongmenli. It has a wide body of water and a pleasant climate. The lake is surrounded by reeds, and various swans and migratory birds fly around it. There is a wide flat area on the north side of the lake, where guesthouses, restaurants and teahouses are built for tourists to rest. Beihu Wharf is built on this flat area by the lake.

After resting on the boat for a while, Uncle Sun found us on the grassy area by the lake. At that moment, Boqin's kite and Pingyang's kite were competing to see who could fly higher. Sun Fan helped Pingyang hold the kite string and ran around on the beach, while Li Bai and Boqin also ran around following the kite. After a while, they couldn't determine who was better.

I opened my luggage, took out a cloth I had prepared beforehand, spread it on the lawn, placed the fruit and pastries I had brought on the cloth, and called to Xu Ziyan and Uncle Sun, "Madam, Uncle Sun, please sit here."

Xu Ziyan sat down next to him, while Uncle Sun remained seated at a distance, watching the people flying the kites.

I called out to the four people flying kites, "Come on, everyone, have something to eat before you compete."

Pingyang and Boqin replied simultaneously, "No, I'll eat after I win."

Li Bai placed the kite string in Bo Qin's hand and sat down next to Xu Ziyan on the lawn. Without Li Bai's pull, Bo Qin's kite quickly began to fall, and Bo Qin cried out in alarm, "Father, Uncle, help me!"

I stood up and walked over. After launching the kite high, I deliberately pulled it towards Pingyang's kite, and the two kites successfully joined together.

"That's great, everyone's won. Let's rest for a bit, eat something, and then we'll play again," I said.

I released the two kites from the air, took the three children to the lake to wash their hands, and then we all sat around eating fruit and pastries.

Li Bai took some fruit and pastries and went over to eat with Uncle Sun. I could almost see tears in Uncle Sun's eyes.

Originally, after resting, they were going to go boating on the lake, but the children were only interested in flying kites, so Li Bai immediately decided to stay overnight at the Beihu Inn.

Li Bai said to Uncle Sun, "Let's rent it for another day tomorrow, Uncle Sun. Is there anything inconvenient for you?"

Uncle Sun replied, "No, Fan'er and I live on the boat; we're fine anywhere."

Following Li Bai's instructions, I booked three rooms at the inn and led everyone there after dark. After dinner at the inn's restaurant, Uncle Sun wanted to take Sun Fan to sleep on the boat. I quickly said to him:

"I've already booked a room for you and your grandson, so you don't need to sleep on the boat tonight."

"Let's cancel the refund and go back to the boat. Don't waste money," Uncle Sun said.

Li Bai said, "Uncle Sun, this little bit of money is nothing. Stay with the child for one night and make him happy."

Uncle Sun hesitated for a moment, then decided to stay at the inn. Sun Fan was relieved to see that his grandfather was not leaving, and a happy smile returned to his face.

I led them to their respective rooms. Pingyang and Boqin shared a room with Li Bai and the others, so we got a large one with two beds. The three children played in their room until very late and didn't want to sleep. Li Bai pulled Xu Ziyan to my room and said to me:

"Yuehua, go keep those three kids company. We're going to bed."

Xu Ziyan hesitated for a moment before saying, "Will this work? Yuehua is quite tired too. I'd better go and keep them company."

"Madam, just because of what you said, I'll go. You and the young master should rest." After I finished speaking, I picked up the clothes and went into the main room.

The three children were overjoyed to see me.

"Shh, stop making noise, it's not a good thing. It's already late. How about we go boating on the lake tomorrow?" I whispered to the three children, pretending to be mysterious.

The three children huddled together and whispered, "Okay."

"Then let's go to sleep."

I took Sun Fan to Uncle Sun's room. Uncle Sun was still sitting at the table waiting for him. When he saw that Sun Fan had returned, he happily took Sun Fan's hand and led him to the bedside.

I went back to my room, and after arranging for Pingyang and Boqin to sleep, I also went to bed and slept soundly until dawn.

"Uncle, get up." Three children squatted in front of my bed and kept shaking me.

"Let Uncle sleep a little longer, you guys go play by yourselves." I turned over and went back to sleep.

Li Bai walked in and said, "Yuehua, get up. After breakfast, we'll go boating on North Lake."

I sat up in bed, rubbed my eyes, and the three children grabbed me and pulled me down hard.

"Don't pull me down, I can get down myself," I said.

"You don't seem to want to come down. We'll help you," Pingyang said.

"My lady, please move aside and I'll get down." The three children let go, and I lay down again.

The three children surrounded him again, shouting, "Lazybones, liar!"

I jumped out of bed with a thud and said, "When has your uncle ever lied to you? Come on, let's wash our faces and eat."

I brought the three children to the hostel restaurant, where Li Bai, Xu Ziyan, and Uncle Sun were already seated at the table. After we washed up, we also sat down at the table to eat.

After dinner, Li Bai led us to the North Lake Wharf, where we boarded Uncle Sun's boat and leisurely rowed on the lake.

Because Uncle Sun had been sailing on lakes and rivers for a long time, he knew where to anchor and where to have fun. He led us to a sandbar on the south side of North Lake, which was surrounded by reeds. Uncle Sun led us through the reeds, and countless water birds took flight from them, which delighted Pingyang and Boqin, who danced with joy on the boat.

"There are many birds and squirrels on this sandbar. After I moor the boat, everyone can go up and take a look," Uncle Sun said.

Uncle Sun moored the boat to the sandbar shore, Li Bai helped Xu Ziyan, and I led the children off the boat. We walked towards the center of the sandbar and suddenly saw a flock of red-crowned cranes leisurely strolling on the sandbar.

"What beautiful red-crowned cranes!" I stopped in my tracks in surprise. Seeing that I wasn't moving forward, everyone else stopped behind me. I whispered to the three children, "Let's keep our voices down, so we don't disturb the cranes."

Bo Qin put two fingers to his lips and whispered "shh" as he passed the message back to the crane. Despite our carefulness, the red-crowned crane seemed oblivious and continued to stroll leisurely back and forth on the sandbar.

We approached the red-crowned cranes and sat down quietly. We observed them carefully. The red-crowned cranes have long necks and legs, are mostly white, with bright red heads, black throats and necks, white from the ears to the head, and black legs. When standing, the feathers on their necks and tails spread out, and the tail feathers on their wings are black. When flying, they fly straight forward like arrows, with a clear distinction between black, white, and red, which is extremely beautiful.

"Uncle, can I take one back with me?" Boqin asked me.

"No, the red-crowned crane is a divine crane, the mount of immortals. How can mortals play with it so casually?" Li Bai said.

"Don't talk to the child in such a literary way; he'll never understand what you mean," Xu Ziyan scolded Li Bai.

"Then how should I explain it to the child so that he can understand?" Li Bai asked.

"Let Yuehua speak," Xu Ziyan replied.

I looked at them, bewildered, and said, "How did this become my problem again? The big ones, the ones that can fly, are beyond our reach; they belong to the gods. We can just pick up an egg, hatch it, raise it, and then it'll be ours."

The three children said in unison, "That's a good idea."