Now he's become a ghost.
How can he possibly rest now?
How can this happen?
Madam Zhou swallowed her pride,
and found the person she least wanted to see.
Whose letter is this?
I regret wasting your time.
Please forget me
and enjoy the rest of your life.
BASED ON PAI HSIEN-YUNG'S WORK A GREAT LITERARY FIGURE OF TAIWAN
He left me alone
and asked me to enjoy the rest of my life?
Then what?
After he finished writing it, he gave it to me.
He even beat me up.
He said it was difficult for him
to let me take care of you.
Zhen wasn't up to snuff.
In Dongbei,
why didn't he beat you to death?
That's because he was mentally unstable.
He had your photo with him all the time.
Every time he got in the plane,
he would put it on the instrument panel.
He talked to himself while staring at your photo every day.
Okay.
That's the end of the memorial service.
He's already dead.
But he's still bothering me.
I'll be handed over to somebody or forced to follow you.
Enjoy the rest of my life?
That's exactly what I'm doing now.
Burn it.
Zhen told me not to pray for him.
Between enjoying my life and committing to you,
I choose to enjoy my life.
Because that's easier.
There's no special place for Zhen
in your heart?
There is.
There's a special place for him.
A pile of scrap metal in Dongbei.
I couldn't even take it away with me.
The will
and the box. I've burned them all.
There's no place to keep all of his pilot stuff.
I've burned them all.
Qing. Please forget me and enjoy the rest of your life.
If I see from heaven that you're lonely,
it will hurt me to my core. My soul won't be able to rest in peace.
I'm almost done with packing.
You should go back to the airport.
I'm not going back.
I've been transferred to the reconnaissance team.
That's great!
You're a good fit for them.
You keep your eyes set on the target.
Keep the rest for me.
I will come back on holidays.
As long as you're still around,
I will always follow you.
No matter where you go and who you're with,
I will follow you until I get to see you with a bigger smile
than in the picture in the lounge.
And?
Then...
Then I'll leave.
Zhao-jun.
The reconnaissance team flies further than the 11th Wing.
Please take care.
I will throw a farewell party for you in two days.
We are friends.
The village head is also throwing a farewell party for me in two days.
Don't go back to the village.
It's not worth it.
Time is a kind of medicine.
There's no color and odor.
It's hard to predict whether the medicine would work.
And no one knows if there will be any side effects
and whether it will expire.
Qian-yi. Your uncle said he forgot to give you this.
-Some people would take expired medicine -Check on it.
-because they believe old things -I'm leaving if it's okay.
give them a sense of comfort.
The deed to our family house.
We still have our house.
We still have it.
Did you read it?
Mom has made supper for you.
I will stand guard tonight.
I'm not going back tonight.
Some people hesitate to throw out the medicine.
They keep it in a drawer instead.
They don't care what changes the medicine will cause.
ZHI-JIANG SHAO
ADMINISTRATION BUILDING
Hop in. We'll go home together.
Are you here to ask me
whether I've read the letter?
I've read it.
Have you thrown it away?
I'm now a group leader.
I have to go back and write the meeting minutes.
Class meeting
Live freely
Someday,
you'll grow to like the campus during the break.
Empty classrooms.
Empty fields.
No classmates.
No teachers.
Only your own lazy self.
No one else.
And no people to cheer you on.
Let me get Zhi-jian.
She's not allowed here. This is my house.
She's sick.
Send her some money, okay?
So that she can seek treatment in Hong Kong.
This is your house.
There can be only one woman in a house.
Do you want him to hate me forever?
When they were retreating, did you see what she was like?
She was at the airport,
begging for Zhi-jian to take her on the plane with him.
He didn't have the courage to look at her.
Where were you?
No one wants to come home anymore, right?
I stayed in school to write the meeting minutes.
Ask your dad to come home.
He's at my house.
Mo-ting.
-Lieutenant Jiang. -What's wrong?
Father, you should go back to the airport first.
When Mom calms down in a few days,
I will throw away the letter.
Then you can come home.
The time is ticking.
We have to quickly send the money to Hong Kong.
I'll get going.
Zhi-jian.
I'll send her some money tomorrow.
I'll also tell her that I can't bring her to Taiwan.
You're not allowed to send her my money.
I'm not that cruel.
She looked for you in Nanjing before.
But I got rid of her.
I told her to wait for ten years,
until Mo-ting gets older. Then I will let you go find her.
It's almost time.
She is alone and ill in Hong Kong.
If I were her who saw the plane take-off
and fell sick,
I would feel so lonely.
If all you did for me was send me money to brush me off,
as soon as I feel better,
I would crawl all the way to Taiwan to get my revenge.
Give her back what you owe her.
Bring her to Taiwan.
You always like to keep quiet like this.
Back then you should have told Qian-yi and Wei-cheng
that you didn't want to marry me.
Now I've realized you are a good husband, but you want to leave me.
I'm sorry.
If I want to bring her to Taiwan,
I'll have to do it on the grounds of a family reunion.
I'm in the military.
I'm sure my application will be rejected.
Unless
you help me out.
You may be a good husband but I'm not a good wife.
I'm not generous enough to treat her like a sister.
Are you throwing me out?
So I'm supposed to wait for her to throw me out?
I will help you with the application.
I'll say my cousin wants to reunite with her family in Taiwan.
Tell her to find a place to stay.
You can have my bank book.
I'm indebted to her.
I'm indebted to you, too.
BANK BOOK
I didn't think that nurse would have such a good memory.
My mom told her to wait for ten years.
Now she's really coming.
Lady Qin.
Have you seen her before?
Is she as beautiful as my mom?
She's not as beautiful as you.
Zhi-jian has left.
Must I change my surname again?
Captain told you to wait before you leave. He wants to buy you a meal.
Don't worry about it.
Put the books in the box.
A one-month leave
is gone.
I'm returning to the reconnaissance team.
Isn't your friend there as well?
Say hi to him for me.
I've been away for too long.
I have worked hard together with the rookies.
My friend is not there anymore.
The reconnaissance team has lost many planes recently.
I heard they're flying farther.
They even flew to Wuhan.
Zhao-jun.
Talk it through with the captain again.
It's better to join the transport team than the reconnaissance team.
Why should I fear death?
Now I'll get even closer to where I was.
The transport team?
Life is more fragile than glass.
There's no time for fear.
But once the glass is broken,
somebody has to clean it up.
I just came back from leave.
I got this from the recon team.
It's my friend's.
He was single like you.
No one went to claim his box.
Since I was the closest to him, I went to get it.
I wanted to keep it at home.
But my wife thinks it brings bad luck.
I had no choice but to bring it here.
But I can't keep it with me forever.
I will also be transferred.
To put it bluntly,
when something bad happens to me,
is my wife supposed to keep two boxes?
You can go.
But find a woman to claim your box. Don't end up like my friend.
I claimed it yesterday.
Do you know where they put the box?
In the warehouse.
I shed some tears.
Their superior felt that it'd affect their morale if they put it in the dorm.
So they just hid it in a corner.
What was his name?
Zuo.
Zhong-lun Zuo.
ZHONG-LUN ZUO, THE 12TH RECONNAISSANCE TEAM
An unknown hero has a name too.
Is there any more?
Bastard.
The Military Police received an anonymous complaint.
Someone complained that you're taking drugs.
What's this?
It's marijuana.
It's an illicit drug.
The superiors are racking their brains over how to make you disappear.
Well, fine then.
You don't have to join the recon team.
You don't have to go to Jinmen either.
They should just send you to rehab.
It would be nice if you stay there for a few years.
Chief.
I didn't know those were drugs.
I picked it up at the U.S. military housing and started smoking it.
The housing of the U.S. Army's advisory team?
Whose housing?
A major named John.
Really?
A translator we stationed there reported
that a pilot was recently seen entering and leaving
the U.S. military housing on numerous occasions.
He was even hanging out with the bargirls they hired.
So it's you?
You're really fearless.
You're hung out with the Americans without telling us.
She's not a bargirl. She's Zhen...
I won't go there anymore.
Go.
You shouldn't stop going there.
The Americans said they wanted to help us.
But they've been conducting surprise checks on our troops.
They flew helicopters over the Department of Defense to conduct surveillance.
Their main concern is that we'll launch a counter-attack.
They're getting in the way of our plans.
As for you...
You should continue hanging out with them.
You should approach your friends.
Find out what they're up to.
You forced me to get into a sham marriage.
And now you're asking me to use my friends?
No way.
No?
Then I'd tell them that you got involved with a woman and revealed official secrets
to help the U.S. Army's advisory team get information on our movements.
I didn't reveal official secrets.
Well, if I say you did, you did.
I just need to make a phone call, put my stamp and signature
and you will disappear immediately.
I'm done being pushed around by you.
You don't want to be pushed around
and you want a way out.
Of course, you can.
But look at your what happened to your lieutenant colonel, Wei-cheng.
That's what happens when you want out.
-Thank you. -It's crowded here.
Move closer to the door.
Mrs. Shao.
-Yes. -Is the colonel on leave?
Yes, I came back for a visit.
I went to a meeting with the Women's Federation on your behalf.
A priest said he wanted to set up a church in the Air Force village.
The Women's Federation asked him to prioritize our village.
Why so?
They said a lot of things have been going on in our village lately.
Everything looks fine. What's wrong?
Am I right, Zhi-jian?
Yes, everything's fine.
What's wrong?
Then I'll tell the priest not to come.
I'll get going now.
Hold on.
Ask the priest to come.
A church sounds like a good idea.
We can hold wedding ceremonies there.
Who knows, someone might want to get married soon.
Got it. I'll get going now.
It's for this month.
Has she arrived?
Yes, she has.
She got off the ship two days ago.
I will rent a place.
-Then I'll wait... -I don't want to hear about her.
Where did you rent a place?
In the Army's village.
That's just close by.
I don't want to be far from home.
Don't you need it for the treatment and rent?
-What about Mo-ting? -I will take care of my own daughter.
What are you doing? Stay for another five minutes.
You just came back and now you're leaving.
People will find out.
See yourself out when it's time.
Yesterday Li-ting Zhao told people in the dorm
that people saw your father with a woman.
He rented a place next to her village.
People didn't believe her.
So she climbed the wall with them at night to check it out.
Did they see anything?
I don't want to talk about it.
Your father cried.
He's also bought a quilt.
He's staying there.
That's my mom's cousin.
She's sick.
My father is taking care of her.
Isn't she your mom's cousin?
Why is your father taking care of her?
She and my mom don't get along.
Your family is really weird.
Just get used to it.
It's time to lower the flag.
Do a roll call.
I've got something to do.
Help me with the roll call.
That was quick.
Aunt Wang brought this.
She said you haven't eaten anything since this morning.
Yes.
I woke up at noon.
Your father came to hand over his salary.
Come here.
Here's your allowance.
I don't want his money.
He's your father.
Do you remember your biological father?
I don't.
You're still young.
You don't have to remember too much.
Only I have to remember.
We can't keep secrets in this village.
They'll know what your father is up to.
Throw away that food from Aunt Wang.
Don't you want to live on campus?
Go ahead.
You're still young.
You shouldn't hear such gossip.
My schoolmates have already found out.
Someone saw that
Father rented a place with the nurse.
Qing wants me to stay with her for a few days.
No way.
She's a bad influence.
She's no longer the same person that you once knew.
It has stopped snowing.
Hurry up, Gong. Zhen has made an emergency landing.
Wei-cheng.
We're preparing for combat.
Unauthorized persons aren't allowed to enter.
Lieutenant Colonel.
It's Lady Qin. Your wife!
MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE
Here you go.
Don't worry. I won't forget.
Go to school now.
I'll be waiting for you to return.
I will be home until them.
All right.
Wei-cheng Jiang, you're an embarrassment.
How is your wife supposed to face others?
You're the lieutenant colonel.
I just learned from math class
that by proof of contradiction,
the square root of two is an irrational number.
I always don't get
why the square root of two can never be written as a ratio of two integers.
The numbers in the decimal of the fraction would go on forever.
MATH TEST PAPER
Hello.
Yes.
She didn't go to school?
He doesn't recognize me anymore.
He's just lost while flying.
Just let him fly a bit more, then he'll find his way back.
Just like what happened to Zhi-jian.
He'll definitely come back.
Stop crying.
Useless pilots.
Look.
There's a church in the village.
Come and pray more often. You'll feel better.
JESUS LOVES YOU
Are you the head of the village?
Yes, I am.
Qian-yi Qin?
She's Qian-yi Qin.
Thank goodness I found you.
My posting to Renai East Village is just temporary.
The American priest that the church appointed
can't be here for the time being.
But she sent me a telegram.
She said
she knew a woman called Qian-yi Qin in Renai East Village.
America...
Which priest is that?
It's Gretchen.
She used to serve in Jinling Girls' College in Nanjing.
She cares a lot about you.
Priest Gretchen at the Jinling Women's University?
-Yes. -We're old friends.
I'm glad they're sending her here.
In her telegram, she mentioned that if I found you,
she wanted me to tell you that she had been praying for you
since you parted ways and escaped from the boat.
Did something happen on the boat?
Go away!
-Qian-yi. -Go away!
Qian-yi, what's wrong?
Qian-yi.
It's me...
-Wei-cheng. -Qian-yi.
Let's move out.
But if we move out,
I'll get lost.
Don't worry.
You have me.
I won't let you get lost.
Again,
when I go out,
I will lock you up in the house.
Okay, lock me up in the house.
I don't want to cause any trouble to Zhi-jian.
I don't want to embarrass you.
I'd like to go home for a visit in two days.
Will your wife scold you?
Even if she does, I have to go back and visit them.
Your father is caught in between.
He wants to keep both homes and women.
He's reached his limit.
You're the third.
You're beyond what he can take.
If you go there, he will go crazy.
If that's what you want, then go.
I can see that he cares about you.
He doesn't talk much.
Pilots who don't talk much are rare.
Take our flight instructor for example.
Whether he's 30 or 50 years old, once he puts on his flight jacket,
he looks so cool.
Female teachers in our school often get excited when he tells jokes.
I've never met a pilot
who's as genuine as him.
Isn't that good?
Let's go. You won't get an answer.
Let's go back in.
When I lived in Pingtung,
I would see my dad gamble when I went home. I hated him.
In military school, I tried to focus on his strong points.
During my break, I would go back to hating him.
Then I would feel okay again.
I'm not angry at him but I also haven't forgiven him.
An equal reaction for every action. It's equilibrium in physics.
My schoolmates have found out about it.
Initially, they were just talking behind my back.
But the other day, someone confronted me about it.
Have you seen the junior high yearbook?
In the end, these people are just represented by their mugshots.
You won't flip through it.
They are just passers-by. We come across many of them in our lives.
You are also in the yearbook.
It's not that great,
but it's not too bad either.
You're just a boring mugshot among many.
If you don't want to look too boring,
you could wear earrings.
Okay. Come on, smile.
Hey. Could you please think of something happy?
Okay?
Good.
Here we go...
Hey, pilot. You two should take a picture together.
It's not cheap to take pictures.
It's better to take pictures together than separately.
Come on.
People in our line of work
place great emphasis on capturing the right moment.
Some images will disappear in the blink of an eye.
There are extremely rare.
Now's a good time. We'll take pictures now, okay?
Move forward a little. All right.
That's good.
Look at how beautiful she is.
Okay, are you ready?
Okay, ready.
Think of a moment in the future when you've become a pilot.
You look very handsome. Okay, that's right. Here with go.
You're not allowed to go.
If Wei-cheng and I stay here,
we'll cause trouble someday.
I'm the only one left in the village.
Everyone's abandoned me.
Zhi-jian will be back.
We've all waited before.
And we always got what we waited for.
If you leave,
he'll have no place to land.
He's just making a detour
by going to another airport first.
This is his base.
This place
holds too many memories.
The small house can't contain all of them.
I should get going.
Wei-xun.
When the plane started up the other day.
I don't know how I even got in it.
I just want to help Qian-yi,
all of you
and the 11th Wing
to save the last bit of your dignity.
I can't embarrass the 11th Wing.
I'm not going too far away.
I'll pass by here when I go to school.
I'll drop by to see you.
I'll see you arguing with Zhi-jian.
Qian-yi.
Don't go. Come back.
Wei-cheng, let's go.
Qian-yi.
Don't go.
There's hope for Wei-cheng.
The priest told me
the church has an American doctor who can treat Wei-cheng.
What's that, Qian-yi?
This is an experimental drug.
What if it doesn't work?
My husband is not a guinea pig.
Wei-cheng.
We can't take this risk.
Qian-yi.
There are no risks.
If it doesn't work, then it won't make any difference.
Everything will be the same.
I will eventually forget you.
Give me an opportunity.
Consider this as an opportunity for yourself.
We can't go on like this. Otherwise, I'll be as good as living dead.
Let me try.
Isn't it too early for a drink?
I'm not joining the recon team.
I'm staying in the 11th Wing.
They almost sent me to the mental hospital.
Someone complained about me.
Was it you?
Why did you do that to me?
I was worried that you'd be bullied
and get in trouble at the reconnaissance team.
I want to bring the box here.
I like crowds.
I fear that I won't have anyone to play with
during my holidays.
You're still young.
It'll be a pity if you die.
A playmate who's still alive
is better than a dead box.
Besides, I don't want
this house to be empty during my holidays.
Your complaint has backfired.
Chief forced me to come here to get information on the Americans.
Don't you get it?
I have to be a spy.
I'm not interested.
I just want to leave this place as soon as possible.
I can leave with you.
I've told you.
I will follow you wherever you go.
This is our opportunity.
This will be my last time being a puppet.
When it's over, I can leave the military.
I don't have to fly anymore. I won't need the box anymore.
I won't have to worry about who will keep it for me.
We can't be like them.
These are train tickets for an entire semester.
I've bought them in advance.
You want to be in university and leave the village.
Here is a ticket I've already used to get here.
I'll come here by train to help with your assignments.
I'll come every week
and give you used tickets.
For now, you owe me the money for the tickets.
When you graduate from the university
and get a job, you can give me back the money.
I don't even know where I will be then.
By the time,
I'll have already become a pilot.
My classmates have taken an interest in palm reading to read the heart line.
Let me read yours.
Isn't it the right palm, for a woman?
It doesn't matter.
Qing's lines
were different from mine.
Her lines looked really nice.
The meandering lines.
They broke at some parts
but crossed again.
My classmate said
that every cross signifies a meeting.
She said if you don't feel like going,
you don't have to force yourself.
The other day,
that woman didn't let go of my hand at all.
I didn't get to read her palm,
to see if the lines are just like Qing's.
They break but cross again.
She met someone but had to part again.
I want to know how the U.S. Army's advisory team reacted
to that batch of equipment.
The communication equipment has been confiscated.
I don't know
when we can launch our counter-attack against the mainland now.
Didn't you manage to get any information?
Were you overpowered by that woman?
What's her name? Tell me.
Which nightclub does she work at? I will go and find out.
I can tell from your reaction
that when it comes to women
you're too soft.
Don't let her checkmate you.
I'm sure she's not an easy woman.
She manages to be close to the U.S. Army's advisory team. Listen.
Be careful.
Or you might reveal
all our strategies to them, without getting information on them.
Remember.
When you see her again,
be careful.
Always be fully armed.
Go.
Getting into a war with China.
I'm only responsible for throwing parties,
take baths with people and be friends with them.
These things are too complicated for me.
I don't know how to do it.
If you want to make it to the States, you'll have to work harder.
Haven't I worked hard enough?
Did your boyfriend make any move?
I don't know.
I helped you in the past
because you were still young and I didn't want anything bad to happen.
But too bad.
That's all the help I can offer.
I'm tired of being taken for a fool.
Go back to the base.
I don't want to go back to the base.
I feel more at ease when I'm with you.
I will stop asking you questions.
Stay with me here.
It's okay if you don't want to talk.
Can I sit next to you?
Chief.
I've been watching you from outside for a long time.
I was wondering who it was. She looked familiar.
Come on.
Today
I have brought your reward.
In this world,
there's no such thing as making sacrifices without expecting a reward.
Ms. Zhu.
I was just telling Zhao-jun
that I can't help him anymore.
Chief.
Let her go back.
If the Americans find out
that you're sitting next to her,
not only will we no longer be able to get any information,
but she'll also get in trouble.
Shut up!
You deserve
the money.
When you left Nanjing in the chaos,
I forgot to make death gratuity payment for Zhen.
Am I right?
Mrs. Guo.
I didn't think
that the widow of a martyr of the Air Force would end up like this.
You're losing all sense of morality.
You didn't get the death gratuity payment.
So you had to throw yourself at the Americans.
My boyfriend is waiting for me.
If you want to reminisce about the past,
you can come to the U.S. military housing.
It's late. I have to go back.
I fear that if I don't go back soon,
my boyfriend will send the American military police to look for me.
You're trying to intimidate me using the U.S. Army?
Don't you know the U.S. Army has communist phobia?
If the Americans find out that you're a communist,
I'm sure their military police will be looking for you.
They will even send you directly to our military police.
Don't you believe me?
Have I said something wrong?
In Nanjing, you helped the spies and released a lady
who had been taken in by the Communist Party.
I remember that her name was Deng.
Does your boyfriend know about this?
Do you want me to make a phone call to his liaison officer?
Sit.
Do you know what this is? Look.
You've forgotten your identity.
You don't remember your ID number.
A poor girl now has money to spend.
You've done much better than I have.
I'm a double agent.
He's a spy for the communists.
You came to me
only after you had been rescued from this?
I'm going to kill you today.
I'll kill you.
Hurry!
Subtitle translation by Hui Hsing