What do I mean? It's quite simple.
He's not welcome. Ask him to leave right away.
Also…
I bought that coffee for you,
not for any Tom, Dick and Harry.
Fine, Jiang Defu. Just you wait.
Fine, I'll wait. I'll wait right here.
Sorry but my husband is sea-sick
and he's lying down right now.
He said… He said he's sorry too.
No need to apologize. It's my fault really.
We've come at a bad time. We should leave now.
Then I shall leave with Mr. Xia too.
Really sorry about this.
-Goodbye. -See you.
Dad, you're back?
This is my house. Why can't I come back?
Why are you so snappy? Who is it this time?
Where's your mother?
What has she done?
Where's your mother?
I don't know, I haven't seen her. I've been at my auntie's.
Auntie's making meat buns.
She wants me to tell you not to make dinner tonight
and go eat at their place.
Come here… Ding Xiaoyang.
Come let Uncle hug you.
Here… Come over.
Dad, look at you. You're happy as long as there's food.
When did you learn to make fun of me?
I bet you got that from your mother.
Dad, watch what you say. I'll tell Mom.
Go and tell your grandmother. See if I care.
Isn't that right, Ding Xiaoyang?
Ding Xiaoyang.
Xiaoyang, why are you so ugly?
Must be your father, right?
I'm going to tell my uncle you said that.
What else do you do besides telling on people?
Go and get your mother.
Say "Uncle"…
Damn!
I have to come here for a decent meal ever since my sister married you.
That's such an understatement.
Ever since I married your sister,
your entire family eats at my place three times a week.
You've caused a food shortage here.
How can you say something like that?
Hasn't my brother brought enough food over here?
How can you say that?
Go… Go somewhere and stay quiet.
This is no place for a woman. Where did you learn to butt in like this?
Ding, is this how you've been treating my sister?
Totally unacceptable.
Why must I be courteous toward my own wife?
Especially when there's a guest. I need to act up a bit.
I don't think you're acting at all. I think this is how you are.
My dear friend, don't worry about your sister.
Dehua hasn't learned anything at your place
except the sneaky ways of your wife.
She's always fighting with me.
Sometimes I can't get a word in.
Where is your wife anyway? It's dinner time already.
Is she posing for a portrait again?
No.
How would you know?
She's not over there. At least not today.
What did you do?
I beat her into shape. She got scared.
What's that supposed to mean?
See? Did you see that?
Your wife's classic expression. She's mastered it already.
Enough. Stop standing there.
Go and do your thing. We'll call when we need you.
Here…
You opened fire?
I opened fire.
And my fire-power was so strong, it drove my enemy away.
My dear brother.
You've got to hang in there. This is going to be a protracted war.
Protracted war? How protracted?
Running a family is like fighting a war.
There are two armies in the same household.
The stronger one always gets the higher ground,
where they'd set up their machine gun.
And you?
You're the weak army under their control. You must follow orders.
If you don't,
the other army will just attack until you surrender or die.
Am I right?
Listen to yourself.
What makes you think I'm the weaker army on the lower ground?
Isn't it obvious?
Anyone can tell how low you rank in your household.
Bullshit.
You don't know anything.
That's just the surface. You don't know the real situation.
So, what is the real situation?
I have absolute leadership.
I don't get mad easily, but when I do, they're scared out of their wits.
See how I just scared one off?
Is she really scared or has she run away?
What if she ran away?
She doesn't have the balls.
You think so?
Here. Have some more to drink.
Auntie…
Uncle.
Any buns left? My mom's hungry.
Where did your mom go?
Nowhere. She was on the roof all the time.
Why didn't she just come over then?
She wouldn't come. She's eating cookies at home.
I save some for her in the boiler.
Here I am, thinking she had run away.
I guess she used up all her energy being mad.
I know my wife just too well.
She throws tantrums, but never anything too serious.
I'll follow this familiar path...
What are you doing?
Hey, you.
What are you doing?
I'm an artist. I'm sketching here.
Sketching or sneaking?
This is a military area. It's off limits to civilians.
Dear comrades… Comrades from the People's Liberation Army.
I didn't know this was military area.
-Take it easy with my drawing. -Stop arguing.
Come.
Where are we going?
Upper body exercise. One, two, three, four…
five, six, seven, eight.
Two, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight.
Three, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight.
Four, two, three, four…
Hello? Commander Jiang please.
Hello?
Was it you who gave the order?
-What order? -They arrested Mr. Xia.
Who did that? How come I didn't know?
Hello?
Hello? Why aren't you speaking?
I have nothing to say.
Six, seven, eight.
Three, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight.
Why are you all quiet?
Give me some feedback.
No bad. Not bad at all.
That's it?
Not bad is good enough. What else do you expect?
You're not being honest here.
Really? What do you think then?
I think it's very good. Exceptionally good.
How's that any different?
Look at it. The subject is so lifelike.
Why don't you just say Mrs. An? Subject, my arse.
That's where you're wrong.
It's Mrs. An, yet it's not Mrs. An. It's a piece of art.
Sir, there's more here.
What are these?
Sketches.
Watch your tone there.
These are sketches, Commander Jiang.
He even has photos of her.
Confiscated... Confiscated...
Confiscated.
All confiscated.
Anything to do with my wife shall be confiscated.
This one's really good.
Most importantly…
It's so lifelike.
Yes, lifelike. So lifelike.
This reminds me of the first time we met.
Keep it?
Of course. Keep it.
Confiscate this too.
-What about the rest? -Give them back, of course.
-All of it? -All of it.
His head hit the ground and he never got up again.
Mom, what's wrong?
What do you mean?
You seem upset.
Must I smile all the time?
Who did you call this morning?
She called me.
Why would she call you?
Must I report everything to you?
Now you're speaking like Mom too.
I'm just speaking on behalf of your mom.
I asked around.
No one arrested that artist.
They just questioned him and confiscated some of his film and drawings.
What right do you have to do that?
He took pictures of our cannons and drew our look-out posts.
What else can we do?
That's right. You're an expert in this.
You know him better than me.
Just tell me this...
What exactly does he do?
Why is he so interested in military facilities?
Does he have an ulterior motive?
There's even photos of you in his film.
A model, huh?
Not only for drawings, but for photos, too.
Listen.
Should we buy that guy dinner?
As an apology.
Not only that, but also to send him off.
Why? Is he leaving?
Yes, he's leaving. He's made up his mind.
You should really celebrate now that he's finally going.
Why should I celebrate? You're exaggerating things.
Let's get this done.
You invite the guy to your place and I'll provide the goods.
Sure. Let's drink until he passes out.
Not me. You can drink with him.
Why is that?
I have standards.
I don't drink with stinky intellectuals.
Say that again. Who stinks?
That's right. I forgot you're a stinky intellectual too.
So is your wife.
No, she's not.
She's just an ordinary primary school teacher.
Cheers.
-Cheers. -Cheers.
You're quite a drinker.
I'm a little tipsy already, yet you still seem fine.
I admit defeat. You win.
I have a high tolerance for alcohol.
I can drink down two of you, no problem.
I should've invited him.
What?
I said, I should've invited him.
-Here, try this. -Who?
My commander, Mrs. An's husband.
Look at my eyes.
What's wrong with them?
I don't see any difference.
That's for sure. The eyes are the window to our soul.
So, a person's eyes cannot reflect another's soul.
Then what do your eyes say?
They're peaceful and calm.
They're contented and sweet.
Yet, they're also pure and clean.
Don't look at me. Look at the drawing.
To tell you the truth, I don't see anything at all.
But I do like this drawing a lot.
You know what this drawing reminds me of?
What?
It reminds me of the very first time we met.
My heart beat so fast then.
-You'd be dead if it didn't. -It's true.
Come feel it for yourself. It's still beating now.
Why do you think my eyes
are still so pure
after all these years?
Do you know why?
Don't ask me. I know nothing about eyes.
Old fool.
It means I've had a happy life.
That I'm happy with where I am.
Who said that? Who told you that?
I said it. I figured this out myself.
No, that's not true.
You're not like this normally.
What am I like normally?
This. This is more like you.
Old fool.
-Dehua. -Coming.
-Come. Come over here. -Look after your sister.
You're finally up?
So much for drink until he goes down. He didn't even bat an eyelash.
Enough with your nagging. Look.
What's that?
-Right. As if you don't remember. -What do you mean?
You don't remember?
Remember what?
You asked him for this.
He even went back home for this.
You told him to put it up there.
You said you wanted it close to your heart.
It was so embarrassing to watch.
What did you say?
You put up a drawing of someone else's wife in your bedroom.
How's that not embarrassing?
It's not someone's wife.
It's a…
It's a portrait. An artwork.
What artwork? That's my sister-in-law.
Any fool can see that. Why would you lie?
-I lied? -You lied.
Can you say it's not her?
It's a waste of time talking to you.
Listen to me carefully.
This…
is a portrait of your sister-in-law,
but it's not really your sister-in-law.
Not her? Who is it then?
It's art.
Art, you understand?
Who's art? Who is she related to?
-She's related to you. -See.
It is my sister-in-law then.
Geez…
I can't reason with you.
You can't reason with me because you have no reason at all. No wonder...
No wonder what?
No wonder Xiue said…
What did she say?
Tell me now. What did she say?
She said you always want what you can't have,
and you have a thing for my sister-in-law.
Bullshit.
See? Now you're dizzy.
-Are you still dizzy? -Just go away.
I don't need you.
Don't get mad at me when you're the one who's wrong.
Stop it.
Mrs. An, going home?
Commander Jiang, going home too?
-You live this way too? -What do you think?
I think you do.
Mom... Mom.
-What's wrong? -I've got bad news for you.
What bad news?
Your portrait is in Siyang's room.
Auntie said the person in it deserves to smell Siyang's stinky feet.
Take a look first.
Dad, this one.
My dear Lord. What is this?
-It does stink in here. -We're here to see my mom.
Look at you all. It's not that stinky.
This is unlawful possession. What have you got to say about this?
Dear God, is that really me?
Mom, who else could it be?
Are you blind or something?
You've never seen it?
This is your first time?
It must be you. Aren't you his model?
I never saw the final drawing.
So, what do you think?
What do you think?
Not bad. Not bad at all.
Lifelike. Very lifelike.
Why are you staring at me? I'm just repeating Ding's words.
Ding asked him for this drawing. He almost died from drinking too much.
How commendable.
Yaning, go take it down.
Why?
This is outright robbery.
What are you on about?
How can you put your sister-in-law in this stinky room?
You should be grateful that we're taking this so lightly.
That's right.
Fine. You guys can have it.
-Okay. -Retreat.
What are you doing?
How could you, in broad daylight?
Uncle, this is a revolution.
-Since when is stealing a revolution? -How is this stealing?
You don't know who this is?
It's my mom.
No, it's... it's...
It's what?
What was it?
-It's art, you silly woman. -Silly, my arse.
Let's go.
So? Looks like Mom, right?
It's... It's just like a photo.
Yafei, why are you so quiet?
I don't even know where to begin.
Uncle said this is not our mom, but an artwork.
He's full of crap.
-You're full of crap. -You're full of crap.
-Where did you learn to speak like that? -Yeah.
Sorry. I apologize, okay?
Don't apologize to us. Apologize to Uncle.
Why should I? He's not even here.
What if we tell him?
Enough already. Listen to me.
Yafei, what is it? What were you going to say?
This is art.
It's the charm of art.
Mom is so lucky to have this drawing.
If only I could have one done when I grow up.
Isn't it just a plain old drawing?
You're worse than blind.
I think you're exaggerating too.
You're worse than blind too.
In a good mood?
Of course.
I'm a man who gets to look at his wife's portrait every day.
Then you must buy me a drink. I got you that drawing.
You're lucky I didn't punish you for keeping it.
You used me.
And?
So heartless. Don't ever come over again.
We must go on as usual,
or else Dehua would think we're holding a grudge against her or something.
We like her, but we don't like you.
Why don't you like me?
Your plan to get that drawing back was not only immature but full of flaws.
It led to unnecessary misunderstandings.
I have an idea.
Isn't this a bit out of line?
We should at least give it a try.
-I won't get into trouble, right? -What trouble?
Right?
I didn't know you were that kind of person.
Now I'm worried about my sister.
Who is it?
A telegram for the commander.
Hello, I'm here to deliver a classified telegram.
He's inside. Please come in.
Why did they send you? Isn't this the job of the Secrecy Office?
I've been temporarily transferred to the Secrecy Office.
Is it my telegram? Come in.
Sit.
It's okay. I'll stand.
Mom.
Do you know who she is?
No, do you?
Wasn't she an announcer with the Propaganda Team?
She looked so dumb when she first started the job.
"The next program is rhythmic storytelling."
That's why she looked so familiar.
When did she transfer to the Secrecy Office?
Maybe they needed someone.
So she's quit announcing?
Why are you so curious?
It's kind of strange.
What's so strange?
Who'd trade announcing for delivering telegrams?
Get the chief to sign this paper when you get back.
Make sure he reads it.
Okay.
-Bye, Commander. -Bye.
Why are you staring at me?
Dad, why did she transfer?
How would I know?
Why wouldn't you know?
They don't need my permission to transfer a lower-ranked officer.
Do you know her?
How would I know her?
Then how do you know she's lower-ranked?
By her age, I guess.
She can't be very high up at that age.
What age?
I don't know her exact age. Why would you ask me?
You said you could tell.
I said I guessed.
Then guess.
Why would I do that? Such a waste of time.
Why are you looking at me like that?
I feel sorry for you. You don't have the upper-hand anymore.
So? How was it?
How was what?
How was your "telegram"?
Fine. Not bad.
Not bad?
Got a reaction alright.
Success already?
Not quite, but I got her attention.
That's "not bad"?
That's not good. Not good at all.
What good is her attention?
Commander.
I need you to sign this paper.
Thank you, Commander.
Why is there a telegram every day?
What do you mean by "every day"?
Today and yesterday. Isn't that every day?
It's just two days, not every day.
Do you wish for more?
Why would I wish for more telegrams?
It's not the telegram, but the person who delivers the telegram.
It's her job to deliver telegrams whenever necessary.
What's wrong with that?
-Everything's wrong. -What do you mean?
She's too young and beautiful.
Aren't you happy to see someone like that
delivering telegrams for you every single day?
I don't get to decide who gets transferred where.
Why must you think of me like that?
Do you doubt the military too?
My dear comrade.
Please have faith in the Party, the military, and us.
You shouldn't go around pointing fingers. That's not nice, not nice at all.
How wonderful.
Using work to get closer to pretty young girls.
Not only in the office, but at home as well.
Not only during office hours, but even after that.
Disgusting.
How are we disgusting?
We're decent, righteous men.
Please don't look at us with your dirty mind.
To us, she's just an ordinary officer,
no different to other male officers.
Then why must you use a female officer?
A good-looking one too.
People who work around leaders must be presentable.
The male officers who work around me are all quite handsome too.
You're just jealous.
Me? Jealous?
So full of yourself.
Why would I be jealous?
Why would you be jealous, you say?
You're jealous of Gong, obviously.
Gong? What's that?
That female officer.
What's her full name?
I think it's...
Gong Xiaomei.
Like you don't know it.
Why bother putting on an act?
Something smells funny here.
What smells funny?
Come, tell me, what is it? What smells funny around here?
I'm serious. I can't smell anything.
Jiang, come and help me.
How could you have me doing this?
Why can't I ask you to help me with this?
I didn't mean it. I really didn't mean it.
Commander.
Commander, I need your signature.
Coming...
-What is it? -You wash it.
Come...
Sir, have you read them all?
Yes.
But there's still a few pages left.
I've read those already.
You read them?
But this...
But what?
Isn't this a new telegram?
You're new around here, right?
You must learn when to keep quiet.
Don't speak your mind.
Especially when you're not asked, understood?
Anything else?
You haven't signed.
Really?
Let me see.
Thank you, sir.
Dad.
Why was she here this morning?
Was it something urgent?
Didn't I tell you?
What could be so urgent? Can't it wait until he's at work?
What would you know?
Do you even know how to spell "urgent"?
And you do?
What was that for? I'm losing brain cells because of you.
Quit whining.
-I'm not done with you yet. -Not done with me what?
Eat your food. We'll talk later.
I know.
You failed two subjects this term.
Why did you fail again?
Why are you looking at me? It's not my fault.
You're a teacher and his mother. Of course it's your fault.
I'm their teacher and their mother too.
How come they always get top scores in class?
I think he might be an idiot.
The topic for our writing exam was dusk,
and he wrote, "The sky lit up with blinding light."
Weimin, what do you spend your time on?
You must study harder.
Knowing what an "urgent telegram" is won't get you very far, understood?
Your father is right. So what if you know what an "urgent telegram" is?
Besides, who knows if that telegram is real or not?
Who knows if it's really urgent or not?
I'm talking about Weimin. Could you not meddle with me?
Am I meddling now?
What's wrong with you?
Why was she there this morning?
I need to speed up the process.
Speed up what process?
You'd better not screw it up.
No... I've had it, the war is officially over.
Why? She sensed something?
Not yet.
But she just might if you keep at it.
Then I'll send her in the evening.
Enough already.
The war is over. Clean up the mess.
Fine, I'm leaving.
Oh, yeah.
I almost forgot something important.
Dehua's making noodles for lunch today.
She wants you guys to come.
Then we must hurry.
I have to pick up someone at the wharf.
We shall all wait for your command, okay?
That's all.
What happened to the telegram girl?
I thought you didn't like her.
-But isn't it her job? -Of course it's her job.
But why would she come when there's no telegram?
She can always deliver fake ones.
What's that face?
You seem to know quite a lot. What else do you know?
I know everything.
You better watch out.
Watch out for what? Watch out for what?
You know very well what.
There's an old saying
that goes, “Murder will out."
People talked so much crap back then.
See? A daughter is better, right?
Of course. A daughter is like a little angel.
Isn't it right, my girl?
Look at her sleeping.
So...
why did you call our war off?
You call it a war? I call it trouble.
How was it a trouble?
-It gave you the upper-hand, right? -Not at all.
I almost lost my mind, but she's not even close to a surrender.
Why is that?
Tell me. What happened?
That girl you sent...
She just stood there like a wooden post while I read those telegrams.
Not only that...
She kept looking at me with her big eyes too.
There's no way I can concentrate on those telegrams like that.
How can you laugh at me?
People call it...
What is it?
"Skipping a heartbeat."
It means you're excited by her presence.
Nonsense.
My heart kept beating fine. It skipped nothing.
Not even a beat.
-What are they on about? -This means...
you're attracted to her.
That's nonsense too. Why would I be attracted to a little girl?
What do you want?
What were you talking about?
What?
Nothing.
You think I'm dumb? Who's that little girl?
Defu, who is it? Who's that little girl?
-I'm going to tell your wife. -You'll do no such thing.
She's so suspicious.
She'll kill me if she finds out.
And it will all be your fault.
Then you shouldn't do something like that.
All your fault.
Why were you so loud?
Mrs. An, bit late today aren't we?
What's that for?
What do you think?
Why would she snub you while I'm here?
That's where you're wrong.
She snubs whenever and wherever she likes.
But why is she so angry?
-Why do you think? -I think she asked for it.
Subtitle translation by Lisa Lai