I used
the last of the ammo in my aircraft on him.
Taking care of his dependents is obviously my duty.
-Don't you want to get married? -I didn't want this to happen.
One year ago, the whole squadron was destroyed.
When I was in high school, a pilot fell from the sky.
After that, he left a note. He signed it 513.
BASED ON PAI HSIEN-YUNG'S WORK A GREAT LITERARY FIGURE OF TAIWAN
Stop running, naughty girl! Come back here!
I'm covered with dog hair! How dare you say no!
You must pick one,
or I'll give you a Manchurian tiger from my hometown.
Come back here!
-Mo-ting? -I want 513.
You want to hide? Hide there forever then!
Hunger strike? Go ahead and starve!
What's going on?
Are you happy now?
She's going on a hunger strike today, the day I finally decide to cook.
It's okay, I can eat in the canteen.
-Lady Qin. -Right.
Are you packing up to leave?
Are you quitting school?
Can you tell me what's on your mind?
Do you need something?
I want to buy your cat.
Mo-ting has turned the village upside down.
My cat is not for sale.
I've got a lot of packing to do. Would you mind leaving?
I'm sorry
about 513.
I won't apologize.
Are you still on a hunger strike today?
A half hunger strike.
I thought you'd say you're prepared for a protracted war?
A half hunger strike? I'm not cooking for you.
Go eat at your godmother's place.
Time for time.
Time for time?
Those are our chairman's words. You got it wrong.
It's "time for space."
This is Mo-ting's admission ticket. I got it from the elementary school.
Right.
We're family now. Families shouldn't be formal.
-So... -Today...
I've cooked something today.
-Would you like to eat? -Okay.
Bai is leaving.
It's time for us to return to our normal life.
We are living in a democratic society now.
I hired her, so you can't send her away.
If Qing's not here, Mo-ting won't stop acting up,
and Shao won't feel comfortable eating here.
How can I hold this family together if this keeps up?
You've seen 513...
and how I sent Bai away.
Do you still want to be her tutor?
I'll tutor her until she gets into the modern elementary school.
Suit yourself.
What about your payment?
She gave it to me, but I'm not going to give it back to you.
I will take it as a compensation for Mo-ting's recent behavior.
Compensation?
Shao is from the South and you feed him all those spicy food.
I think you should pay that compensation to Shao.
What's wrong with my food?
I...
Mo-ting, am I a good cook?
-No. -What?
You naughty girl, you...
Lady Qin.
When you came to me to buy the cat,
I asked you to leave.
I'm sorry.
Sorry for asking you to leave.
It was not the first time somebody did that to me.
At least you didn't wreck my home.
Dear Father, I wish to come home for a visit.
Lady Qin.
I even failed at dying.
The Japanese are not so lame after all.
I was going to hit them and end it for all of us,
but I missed.
Zhen.
Eat slowly. Here.
Thank you, Lady Qin.
It's been more than a year since I ate your cooking.
I was hiding in the Army hospital.
But I'll never forget the taste.
Stop hiding.
Bai has left.
The squadron leader came back,
but all the squadron members were gone.
Lady Qin.
I came back to visit my brothers...
and to borrow some money from you.
After that, I'll leave.
You have no family left. Where will you go?
Your captain carried your chest off the base yesterday
and said he would bring you back.
I couldn't believe it then.
The chest is no good to me.
Lady Qin.
Please tell the captain that I'm sorry.
I won't come back to the squadron.
I'm healthy and strong. I'll find a way to support myself.
I'll go to a place
where I can't hear the sound of airplanes.
Otherwise, I'll always be hearing my comrades cursing me over the radio.
It sounds so real
that I can't sleep well.
I must eat as much as I can. This might be the last time.
The chests
store the entire lives of their owners.
The biographies they wrote when they got into the military school,
the photos of their first flight on their own
and the first love letters they wrote.
Even when their owner is gone,
the chest remains,
waiting for someone to take it back.
Xu-hui.
I must move on.
Farewell.
Mo-ting, are you doing your homework?
Are you free today?
Yes. I'm not busy today, so I came back to see Mo-ting.
Hey.
You could at least say hello to me when you come in.
Right.
Wei-xun, I didn't have any duties today, so I came back to see Mo-ting...
and you.
Would you like some tea, Mr. Shao?
-Okay. Thank you, Wei-xun. -What are you talking about?
Do you think you're at a teahouse?
You still have duties here in this family.
Mo-ting won't change her surname to yours.
It's all right.
-Let her keep it, don't push her. -Keep it?
Then how about me?
Should I assume your family name?
That's absurd.
At that time, changing your name was very difficult.
Maybe you should think about it. I have something to do for the squadron.
I'm going to go now.
It will follow you for a lifetime once you assume your husband's family name.
How well your name would sound and how you feel about the change
depend on who you married.
Here you go.
Your mom has docked all my wages as your tutor.
Now, I have to pay from my own pocket for you.
I want to read the comic books.
Don't go too far.
513.
Lady Qin is not with you today.
Let's go.
Lady Qin will be angry with you if she finds out you bully the tutor.
What can Lady Qin do?
She's not from the village.
A tutor?
I think she's merely a slave.
You are a slave.
You're actually a slave from the feudal society.
You're in college. Can't you understand the rules of the new society?
You should show some me some respect.
What's wrong with you? Why did you scream? Did you see a ghost?
Hello, Sir!
Hi.
Hello, Miss.
Slave?
What fun. Let's play pool.
Come on.
Set up the balls.
Okay.
Is she your girlfriend?
-Is she from Jinling Girls' College? -Yes.
Excuse me.
Does studying in a foreign school make you a foreigner?
I've never seen a girl as ugly as you.
You scared me. Let's play again.
It slipped, Miss. It's a new ball. It's not easy to use.
-What a coincidence. -Sorry.
Little slave.
You have to sign a contract to sell yourself.
How pitiful.
What's the rush? Stay and watch us play.
It will be fun. Come.
College girl.
Water can swallow a ship as well as float it.
It was horrible.
The nation was doomed.
When the Japanese
saw the soldiers of Qing dynasty hang their underwear on the warship,
they attacked us.
If the Japanese knew how our college girls...
have become,
the Mikado would become very excited...
and order them to attack us again.
That's not their fault.
They study in a foreign college
which has low standards and a bizarre way of judging beauty.
What do you mean by that?
Which squadron are you from?
The 11th Wing.
THE 11TH WING
My old friends...
You're all there.
Mo-ting.
Why did you do that, Mo-ting?
An angel.
You took Mo-ting out
and made her see the dead come back to life.
Now, I have to find someone to call back her spirit.
-I'll deduct two hours' payment! -Keep your voice down.
How did you find him?
If you'd come here earlier,
you could've helped me find Xu-hui.
When he went missing, Qian-yi said he might be saved by someone...
and he would come back to me
safe and sound.
SQUADRON LEADER, ZHEN GUO
I was going to send out people to find you,
but Zhi-jian said there was no need.
You couldn't go far
because you knew nothing except piloting.
He's right. You got caught by a college girl
before you ran away.
Let me send his reuniting report to the Aviation Commission,
or they will assign a new pilot to us.
Send it another day.
Captain, we have to find him a plane.
Let him have my plane, 417.
Your plane?
He already flew my plane when he was a cadet
at the Air Force Academy.
In the Air Force,
what the commander needs is the facts, not the truth.
Keep the truth to yourself.
You ignored orders, faced the enemy without authorization
and led the whole squadron to its doom. That happened during the war.
Now the war is over,
my superiors don't need to know about that.
Captain, you haven't seen what I wrote on the first page.
I've seen it.
To leave the Air Force, you need your direct superior's permission.
Rewrite your report. Don't include the first page.
This is the painkiller I made for myself,
on which I've written
the names of every member of the 11th Wing
who didn't make it through the war.
I can finally scratch out a name.
ZHEN GUO
Fewer people will appear in my dreams.
My dreams are already very crowded.
That's what the captain is for.
To send off the old and welcome the new.
Sir, I've done things you haven't. Send me off.
If you really have the guts to leave,
why did you stay in the Army hospital for a year?
You took the 1st Squadron out and didn't bring any of them back.
If you want to leave, a few salutes and several papers won't be enough.
The 1st Squadron was sent out and they were all destroyed.
Whoever did it must bear responsibility for it.
I wasn't going to come back.
I thought it over and decided to come back to Nanjing, to the squadron.
I want to see my captain
and visit my brothers' graves before I leave for good.
-I'll go visit them tomorrow. -You son of a bitch!
I'll put you in jail if you insist on leaving.
Go back.
Go back to where you belong!
Tomorrow, the Aviation Commission will throw a party here.
I want everyone from the 11th Wing to be there. Do you hear me?
Do I have to go?
I might get arrested if I go.
What are you talking about?
You used to
had me and my date arrested.
You must be civil when you date college girls.
Like what I did to my wife.
I always asked her out during the daytime, unlike you idiots.
You always asked the girls to some dark and secret corners.
If the Military Police hadn't arrested you,
the girls' school and their parents would've called the real police.
You were gone for a year.
It will take time before you get your wages.
If you don't have any money, ask my wife for some.
I already have some.
Lady Qin is broke.
Lady Qin, should I keep this?
Throw that away. The Air Force doesn't believe in that.
They won't wear it.
They usually have something strange in their jacket.
For example,
their captain carries a note with the names of the deceased soldiers
with him.
It has been a month.
Bai doesn't write to us.
She must have forgotten our rules.
That's good for her.
Leaving this place will make her forget her loss.
Then she can move on.
Lady Qin, everything will be fine.
There will be someone new to join us.
Some of the new pilots have been seeing the college girls.
I'll get another bowl of water.
Lady Qin!
You locked her in?
Are you addicted to locking people in?
-Lady Qin! -Hey!
You made Mo-ting see the ghost. This is your punishment.
I'm amused.
That afternoon,
-I thought someone else was calling me -Lady Qin, let me out.
when I heard Qing calling me "Lady Qin."
Lady Qin!
After I went to Taiwan,
everybody changed,
-Look at her. -but she still called me "Lady Qin."
THE AVIATION COMMISSION
The Aviation Commission is changing to the Air Force General Headquarters.
We've all been promoted.
Thanks for your hard work.
Please accept these gifts.
We are going to replace our planes with the new P-51.
Okay, that's all.
You two, come with me. Let the dancing begin.
Chinese always speak of manners.
Showing proper manners means a proper distance.
You should keep a proper distance
from the boys.
The military instructor in the Air Force Academy says,
"Fight civilly,
date wildly."
Zhen Guo!
That doesn't sound right.
I just came back. I'm still confused.
"Fight wildly,
date civilly."
-Do you understand? -Yes!
Why are you clapping? Go.
Qing.
This is your job for today.
Did you forget? Serve the coffee.
There are only enough new planes
for one wing.
I can give up the parade to the 11th Wing.
-I want the new planes. -No, I want both.
Wei-cheng, you get to attend the training in the States.
You can't have it all.
Then you can go to the States. I want the new planes.
Right.
After your training,
you'll be promoted to colonel and sit in your own office.
And I'll be subordinate to you.
I can't stand the office.
I prefer flying and being accompanied by the blue sky.
I'll have the entire sky to myself.
My archenemy Wei-cheng Jiang is going to sit in the office
and quit flying.
-Wei-cheng. -Yes?
Sometimes, you should share opportunities with others.
Not every captain has the honor to attend the training in the States.
If you were in the army,
you would wish to be a colonel and sit in the office.
-But I'm not in the army. -What?
I think we should have a fair competition for the new planes.
You want to settle this the way you did in the academy?
Yes.
Okay, we'll send our 1st squadron to do low-level flying.
The one who flies the lowest wins.
Fine.
-It's a deal. -Okay.
Let's dance.
Qian-yi is going to the States with Wei-cheng for his training.
She can get some rest.
Thanks.
The Aviation Commission became the General Headquarters.
So the girls and I should find some time to treat the general's wife.
The commission got promoted and so did the chief,
from colonel to major general. You are the general's wife now.
As far as I can tell, Qian-yi is the sweetest
-among the wives. -Yes.
Unlike Wei-xun. She's nothing like her.
If Wei-cheng hadn't vouched for him,
I wouldn't have made Zhi-jian the vice-captain.
He's too indecisive to lead a war.
I don't think he can be a good vice-captain.
-Chief. -Yes.
Ninety percent of the pilots are reckless.
Only one percent of them are cautious.
When they are flying in the sky,
there must be someone to warn them to slow down.
But when he is too cautious,
he won't be able to seize the opportunity.
A vice-captain is the highest position he can get.
It's not appropriate to talk about the war on this occasion.
Why don't you talk about your "heroic deed"?
It was in the paper.
You were shot down by the Japanese. The plane crashed on the hill,
and you were gone.
Gong even started to collect the pension for me.
Luckily, I had you back then.
Otherwise, I couldn't have kept my original number.
After the guerrillas saved me and I returned to the squadron,
Gong told me you were always staring at him when I wasn't here,
so he wouldn't dare take my 417 apart.
And you asked Zhen to pick up willow sticks for you.
Did you want to beat me up?
They say the ghost comes home seven days after people die.
So I waited at home...
until midnight.
Luckily, you didn't show up.
-Otherwise, I would've beaten you up. -Lucky me.
Where were we?
Where is Mo-ting?
She's in Qing's dormitory playing with the cat.
Zhi-jian.
Go on.
Yes.
Qing, come here.
Hurry.
Did you put sugar in this?
It's horrible.
I'll dock your wages.
You are a tutor. In ancient times, they would call you the grand master.
Why are you working like a waitress here?
Sit down.
Qing.
Look over there.
-That's the guy you've been looking for. -Impressive.
-Lieutenant of the 1st Squadron. -You were a lieutenant.
He used to be the most valiant.
He was the first to face the enemy and covered his brothers.
He won a fight when he was only a cadet.
Yes.
When the captain was an instructor at the academy,
the Japanese sent planes to bomb the school.
Zhen didn't follow the order to evacuate.
He flew the captain's plane and fought the enemy.
They tried to reach him over the radio, but he didn't reply.
Just when we thought he was shot down, he came back, and won the fight.
What were you doing?
Captain was the head of the instructors and I was his fellow instructor.
I was making the timetable.
You seem so excited about it. I thought it was you who did the fighting.
Zhen.
Come here.
-Lady Qin. -Hi.
-I haven't seen you in a while. -Why did you play dead?
You scared Mo-ting so bad.
It was you who caught me.
She was transferred here to find you.
She said she saw you fighting the Japanese in her school.
After you defeated the enemy, you made a low-level flyover,
which piqued her interest in you.
Where did that happen?
Zhejiang.
I don't remember it. I always do that.
Unbelievable.
Well, you just came back to life and I just got married.
Let me share my good luck with you.
It's okay, go ahead.
All the pilots...
look alike.
Lady Qin, I should go and serve coffee.
What? Don't you want to dance with me?
Have some tea.
-Sir! -Sir!
Lady Qin asked me to escort you back.
I ordered a cup of tea for you on the train
and said we might meet again one day.
Do you remember that?
He was an army man.
Army man, Air Force man, we are all the same.
If we got shot, the lucky ones would be lying on the ground,
and the unlucky ones would be buried. We all belong to the ground.
You just came back to life, but you don't seem to be frightened,
Mo-ting was so scared that she got a fever.
When I was in the hospital, I came back to life many times.
I don't know how I got there.
I woke up bandaged like a mummy.
I'd better go back to the dormitory.
-Let me walk you there. -There's no need.
I have to hang the laundry
because an Air Force man puked all over me.
I couldn't help it.
When I saw your senior schoolmate, I felt like vomiting.
I had seen many female students,
but she was the first to make me feel so nauseous.
Hey, Zhen.
Look, what should I do now?
We're out of cold water. That means no more cocktails.
The newbies have drunk it all. There is nothing left for the officers.
I'm desperate.
We're Air Force men. We can make cold water.
Hey.
Later, stand there and be my beacon.
I'll fly into the sky and bring the cold water down.
We'll have cold water then. Do you believe me?
I'm not a telegraph pole. What should I stand there for?
I can find you even if you move.
Which plane can I fly?
-This one. -This one?
-Yes. -Stay here.
-Mechanics. -Yes?
-Help him get ready. -All right.
The 1st Squadron, please come in.
The 1st Squadron.
Please come in.
Captain.
The Japanese soldiers are here.
They are aiming at me.
Captain!
Help me!
Hurry!
Zhi-chu Zhang.
I'm sorry.
I...
Zhen is the smartest among us.
It's colder at higher altitudes, so the water in the tank becomes cold.
-Go get that drop tank. -Yes, Sir.
Now that you've returned,
aren't you going to move that back?
Your captain doesn't have many friends.
Zhi-jian is the only one left
from the academy who is still following him.
And then you.
He's got you. He'll never be alone.
I'm not his friend.
Friends could drink and talk,
brag about how brave they are.
But he never talks to me about that.
He comes home
reeking of engine oil.
When he has nightmares,
he always pretends like nothing happened the next morning.
Dreams are merely fabrications.
Enemies, classmates, fellow soldiers, they're all mixed up together.
It's a mishmash.
You don't want to dream about that again after you wake up.
It doesn't matter if we get the new planes.
Even if the 9th Wing gets to change their planes first,
we won't have to wait long before they change ours.
Lady Qin.
I'm tired of flying.
He wants you to lead the 1st Squadron in the competition
because there is no time.
He keeps delaying the departure to the States.
He says he wants to wait for his mates and doesn't need to hurry.
I've asked the Aviation Commission.
Going to the States is...
for staff officer training.
After he comes back, he will be promoted to Colonel and sit in the office.
It feels like retirement
to leave 11th Squadron
and quit flying.
I guess he just wants to try the new planes...
before he leaves.
Your captain and I, we treat you like family.
Help him, please.
Shift change. Ammunition ready.
The guards have changed shift
and your husband is still not home.
I will fly for him.
Forget about this.
Lady Qin, after you're done, tell the captain
that the day he sits behind that office table is the day I leave.
I'll leave this here.
I've given you all my money and you still can't leave?
You even got caught by a female student.
I was going to visit my brothers in the cemetery,
but I don't have the guts.
Who knows?
I could get caught by the same girl twice.
I guess I can't leave now.
It's destiny.
"In spleen..."
Mo-ting.
It's "How suddenly the morning comes in spring," not "in spleen."
Remember that.
I found something.
My goodness, Zhen is very audacious.
I'll wash the clothes before I patch this up.
-It's coming undone. -Listen to this.
"Now I'm on your bed because I am injured."
"I hope to meet someone to spend my entire life with."
My goodness.
Someone replied.
"Don't forget me, take care of yourself for our country and for me."
"For me"? Cloying.
"Hong Yu, 83, Military Hospital, Gansu."
He even seduced the girls in Gansu. They are so naive.
He's evil.
-Where should I put it? -Here are the ones he's written.
Who would write those beforehand?
During the war, Zhen would always go to the hospital.
He's quite experienced at it.
Before he flies, he would write notes and put them in his jacket.
When he is sent to the hospital,
he would wait to see which nurse would look at the note first.
Where's mine?
What do you get if you multiply five by one?
Three.
This is yours.
No way.
Are you a victim of his too?
Did you hit him with a ball at the club that day because of this?
He used to teach Mo-ting math.
He always eats at my place before he flies.
He told Mo-ting to grow up faster and wait for him.
-Isn't that right? -Yes.
Listen.
From now on, don't accept any notes from strangers.
Otherwise, I'll break your arms. Do you hear me?
He's a serial dater and he would bring girls to my place.
He dates a different girl every time. I have to memorize all their names,
in case I have to get involved in their relationship.
Qian-yi, this is for you.
Don't touch that. That's his will.
His parents are gone and he's not married yet.
He is afraid that no one will visit him after he dies.
He wrote,
"Lady Qin, burn incense for me at every Qingming Festival.
The pension will pay for Mo-ting's college education."
It's the same every year. He just writes these two lines.
Remember,
don't touch this paper.
If the pilot who wrote it had a wife,
this paper would be her last consolation.
Our husbands wrote notes for us and we've all seen them.
But we're not going to tell you the content
because we are the dearest people to them for their whole lives.
What's written on that paper is every wife's secret.
If it's revealed to someone else,
that means they have a mistress
as young as Qing.
Maybe they wrote about her on the paper.
A mistress as young as Qing?
I'd kill them myself.
I'd destroy the runway and watch where they land,
if they have the guts to land.
The Air Force men are fierce in the sky but not on the ground.
That's the right thing to do.
I'm sorry to do that to you.
If you bully my beacon, I'll do the same thing to Gang Wang.
He's so annoying.
Dive!
Hurry!
Subtitle translation by Chang Jing