Chapter 23 Chapter Twenty

The snowflakes fluttered and there was no sound. The pattering of spring rain, the splashing of summer rain, the rustling of autumn rain, and the dripping of winter rain all solidify into this white silence. It was the first winter snow in Washington in 1994. After finishing her work, Xiangmei walked out of the White House and raised her eyes to see the snowflakes in the sky. Without her rain gear, she leaped childishly between the sky and the earth. She opened her arms and twirled lightly a few times. It was so pleasant!Because she is Xiangmei, she loves Baixue very much. A person in her late 70s, but the liveliness and innocence of the girl has not disappeared completely.People are their own masters, you are as old as you think you are, and you are young if you feel young; but people can't master themselves, the vicissitudes of time, the beauty and white hair, the laws of nature, no one can I can't resist, I want to stay the same but it is also changing.Originally, she didn't like black the most, but this time she wore a pure black cheongsam with only a red plum embroidered on the breast.She has always rejected black, thinking that it is a long dark night without moonlight and starlight, which is heavy and oppressive, and covers up too many fake ugliness, she doesn't like it.Even at the funeral of General Chennault, she also wore a white mourning dress, contrary to the Western custom. When meeting with the Pope of Rome, she also went against the convention of wearing a white dress instead of black.But after experiencing a lot, seeing a lot of flowers and plants, and knowing that pure white is hard to find, you can understand that black is the beginning of the world, everything in the world is born in black, black is mysterious, magical and sacred, and the connotation of tolerance is real. Too much too deep.The snowflakes fell on her dyed brown hair, and it took a while to melt into a wet piece; the snowflakes fell on her black cheongsam, and then melted quickly, leaving only spots of bright wetness, as if silently bearing The pain in the world is more like accepting the nourishment of love quietly.In fact, black is the least tolerant of dirt. If you don’t believe me, try it. A drop of oil, a smear of dirt, or a grain of rotten rice is more shocking than any color in black!

If you understand the tolerance of black, you also understand the tolerance of life. She remembered the farewell party at the White House on November 15, 1992.It was the first farewell of about 70 Republican elites to President Bush and Vice President Quayle. Chen Xiangmei was the only Asian friend invited.The gala was full of sadness from the solemnity and enthusiasm. After all, the country has changed hands, and the young Clinton of the Democratic Party is now in power.Bush's closest friends presented him with an oil portrait of Frank, a veteran of American independence and one of the drafters of the U.S. Constitution.Mrs. Bush, Barbara, did not attend the party. She is looking for a house in Houston, Texas.So Bush said quietly: "The new house we moved in has at least one chair, two lovely dogs, and the oil painting you gave me today." The dog is Barbara's pet, and the chair is every day. Every retiring president was given a chair that he used during his tenure. During the short and long years, how many documents that affected the United States and the world did he sit on the chair? The chair is a symbol of power and a pity for power. No one can own this chair forever!Perhaps, this is also a symbol of democracy?Bush walked towards Chen Xiangmei, held her hand and said, "Anna, we have been friends for thirty years. Do you still remember the lively scene when you went to Texas to campaign for me?" I haven’t forgotten.” Bush still held her hand: “When I was a new Congressman, you introduced me to many Asian ambassadors.” She sighed softly: “President, the ones who can stand the test are the real Friends." The world of windmills is turning, the tide is ebb and flow, power is gained and lost, and it is sincere friendship that will leave people with a long aftertaste.Vice President Quayle also shook Chen Xiangmei's hand before the end of the party, and said earnestly: "Anna, our work in the next four years will not be easy. I hope you will continue to assist the Republican Party as always. We will make a comeback in 1996." It's hot again, but it's cold soon.Not to mention that it is not easy to make a comeback, but she has deeply realized that this political system, which is elected every four years, is not the most perfect system after eight years of vicissitudes.Although it is once every four years, the next term is being planned shortly after taking office, and the people are also involved in protracted elections. The rhetoric is exhausted, the attacks are all-inclusive, the politicians are speculating, and they are wasting money. When will there be improvement?However, this kind of election provides a choice after all. No one dares to say that this choice is absolutely right and that choice is absolutely wrong, but at least they are two different choices. Perhaps this is democracy.Chen Xiangmei thinks so.

In January 1993, President Clinton held his inauguration ceremony. Chen Xiangmei was not forgotten. She was invited to watch the ceremony, and a good seat was arranged for her on Capitol Hill. Many people forced her to stand, but she was still very beautiful.When the Republican Party was in power, she racked her brains to arrange the seats for the inauguration ceremony when the Republican Party was in power.However, no one can occupy the stage of history forever. "How much can a lifespan last for a hundred years, and later the bride becomes a wife." She had already figured it out, but her love did not change.

She has traveled the world.Not once, but several times.In some countries and places, it is repeated dozens or even hundreds of times.She has read all the scenery in North and South America, and her favorite is the strangest Niagara Falls in the world.The border between the United States and Canada runs through the waterfall.Tourists love to appreciate the grotesque waterfall scene under the colorful searchlights at night, which is as intoxicating as dreaming.But Chen Xiangmei likes to charter a boat and go into the water. When the waves suppress the flying boat, listening to the roar of the huge waves is like rolling thunder, and watching the splashing of the water curtain is like a galloping horse.Life is to advance bravely in the torrent!She has visited Europe countless times, especially after serving as the vice chairman of the White House Export Committee, she has led delegations to Europe many times.The most unforgettable thing for her is Notre Dame de Paris, a Gothic church standing on the Ile de la Cité in the Seine River. The bells from the pair of giant bells weighing 13 tons inspired her soul. She went on a pilgrimage piously, but Victor Hugo's story made her unforgettable, and she wanted to find the true breath of this story.She would be in a trance, did Notre Dame create Hugo, or did Hugo enhance Notre Dame?Hugo once praised Notre Dame as "a huge symphony of stones" and "great buildings are the product of hundreds of years like mountains", but her heart clearly said: only immortal works are immortal.She has a writer's complex in her bones, and she can't get rid of it in this life.She loves literature the most, and literature is human studies.

In the winter of 1983, she visited the Soviet Union for the first time on behalf of the White House Export Council.The walls of the Kremlin are all made of ocher red bricks, the slope-shaped square of the Kremlin is all paved with red stones, and several palaces built of white stones stand proudly.Strolling in the Red Square, Chen Xiangmei's imagination was full of imagination. In 1937, Chennault chose China. Before that, the Soviet Union had hired him to be an air force instructor in the Soviet Union with a high salary, but he refused.He has never been to the Soviet Union in this life, but her feet have stepped on this ocher-red square.She lived in the big hotel opposite the Red Square. The hotel was huge but empty, the pillows and blankets were thin, the bath towels had been washed beyond use, the soap was small, and the paper for the wash towels was hard and thick. The first impression is that there is a lack of food and clothing.On Sunday, I went to visit the ancient church on the outskirts of the city, and there were quite a few men, women and children worshiping devoutly.Chen Xiangmei has mixed feelings. Religion may be the home of the souls of the weak, but how many people in the world can be called the real strong?

She had longed to go with Chennault to Jerusalem, the ancient city full of religious mysteries, but she failed!By the end of the 1980s, she had visited this ancient city in the mountains of Judea several times, and became friends with the female Israeli military officer Maria Dodd.As an adviser to the Ministry of Defense, she invited Maria Dodd to visit the United States, and wrote to the Israeli Defense Minister, suggesting that Maria Dodd be promoted to major general.Soon, Maria Dodd visited the United States as a female general, and was later transferred to New York to work, and her friendship with Chen Xiangmei became stronger and stronger.But Chen Xiangmei discovered that this woman, who was under 40 years old and had nearly 20 years of military experience, was a general and even a mother.Maria Dodd said to her: "My father is a soldier, my husband is a soldier, and my seventeen-year-old son is about to serve as a soldier. However, I began to feel that war cannot solve the problem, and it is time for us to negotiate in good faith with the enemy. "Can Chen Xiangmei's heart, who has suffered so much from the war, not resonate with it?Jerusalem means "City of Peace" in Hebrew.Around 1000 BC, the Jews established their capital here, but there is no peace in the city of peace. The holy city has been ruled by Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, Turkey, France, Britain, etc., destroyed and rebuilt countless times!A remnant of the western wall of the Jewish Temple of Herod is called the Wailing Wall, because when the Romans occupied Jerusalem, Jewish disciples often gathered under this wall to weep and weep.To this day, believers often come here to mourn and pray every Friday.The pain of not having a home is probably the greatest pain of mankind, because there is no ground to take root!Chen Xiangmei came to the Wailing Wall and thought: Why can't the world be filled with love?

She is happy.She is full.She is American, she is Chinese, and her motherland is China.Since returning to the motherland for a visit in the winter of 1980, she couldn't help shouting excitedly and proudly: I am no longer a rootless duckweed!She has a safe and secure sense of belonging.The time is rushing, fourteen springs and autumns have passed, and she returns to her natal home at least three or four times a year!From the Heihe countryside in the northernmost corner of Harbin to the Tianya Haijiao in the southernmost city of Sanya, she has left layers of footprints.Realize the four modernizations, traffic first.Since 1984, she and her partners have traveled to Sanya more than a dozen times, and some parts of the bumpy and rugged road can be called a narrow path.Arriving at Yalong Bay, at the ends of the earth and the ends of the earth, you can see the purple-white soft sandy beach, the blue sea and blue sky, and the white sails of fishing boats.Poetic and picturesque, she determined to build Phoenix Airport here.The phoenix is ​​also a beautiful totem of the Chinese nation. She believes that after going through hardships and twists and turns, she will usher in a new take-off.She was invited to fly to Harbin to participate in the Ice Sculpture Art Festival in the severe winter of minus thirty-six degrees. It is crystal clear and beautiful. Although it will melt in the end, as long as it is beautiful, it is enough.Visiting Shenyang, visiting the former residence of Marshal Zhang Xueliang, wrote a poem with a brush: "Xi'an is a game of chess in the past, and the wind and waves are really sad. The young marshal now has gray hair, and the north and south of the city look forward to returning." She went to Xi'an and wrote "Life with Tears Stained on Clothes".Xi'an is Chang'an in history, a place that ancient military strategists must contend for. Eleven dynasties successively established their capitals here after leaping swords and leaping horses and blood flowing into rivers. Since ancient times, the state of emperors".However, after dimming the shadows of swords and swords and disappearing the contention of drums and horns, where is the eternal emperor?What has a long history and is dazzling is the immortal culture of the Chinese nation!She bowed down for the terracotta warriors and horses, she sighed for Famen Temple, and she stayed in Xi'an Forest of Steles for three full days, forgetting to sleep and eat.Be mesmerized, the calligraphy art of Koutong! In the early autumn of 1991, she climbed Mount Tai, "will be the top of the mountain, and see all the small mountains at a glance."She specially went to Confucius' hometown to sing about Confucius.She stood in front of the couplet of the mansion of Confucianism for a long time.What came to her mind was: "worry about the world's worries first, and enjoy the world's joys later", which seems to be the portrayal of traditional Chinese scholars.When talking about Confucius at the Confucius Institute, she couldn't help but be silent: "Confucius is not good at all. He discriminates against women and says that 'only women and villains are difficult to raise'. But I think this old master has no intention of saying this. When talking, it must have been awkward with Madam the night before." Everyone in the room laughed, and she was still naughty in her old age.She loves China's mountains and rivers, and she loves Chinese culture.The benevolent enjoy mountains, the wise enjoy water.She enjoys mountains and waters.She said: "Go up to the high mountains, condescending? All four things are empty; look at the rivers, look at the sea water, ever-changing. The same is true of life." She loves Chinese landscape painting, thinking that it is the emotional photography of Chinese mountains and rivers, yes, great Chinese painters are painting When it comes to mountains and rivers, which one doesn't bury his whole soul in it?She once studied traditional Chinese painting under the tutelage of Mr. Huang Junbi, who inscribed two lines of poems for her: "Books are like green hills, often piled up in chaos, and lights are like red beans, the most lovesick". It is a blend of scenes.For Mr. Zhang Daqian, a master of traditional Chinese painting, she admires and has a cordial relationship with him.Mr. Zhang Daqian was short of money in Taipei for a while, and Ye Gongchao told her that she immediately donated money to help.Since the 1980s, Chen Xiangmei has been particularly appreciative of the paintings of Masters Li Kuchan and Huang Yongyu, as well as the calligraphy of Master Qi Gong, and began to collect them. In 1988, Chen Xiangmei had the honor to meet Master Li Keran and Master Qi Gong in Beijing. At the beginning of 1989, she negotiated with Li and his wife to send Master Li Keran's paintings to Taipei for exhibition.The Ministry of Culture of China has agreed to this move, and 50 photos of Chinese paintings have also been handed over to Chen Xiangmei, but Taipei is still unable to make a decision on Master Li Keran's going to Taiwan!Chen Xiangmei arrived in Beijing at noon on December 5th, and made an appointment to meet the next day. However, Master Li Keran suffered a heart attack and died suddenly in his apartment!Apart from sighing deeply, what else could Chen Xiangmei say?It is reasonable and reasonable for the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to have the same roots, the same ancestors, and cultural exchanges.She is looking forward to the day when the motherland will be reunified, and she believes that all patriotic Chinese are moving on this road.

With a pure heart, she traveled all over the famous mountains and rivers of the motherland, all the historical ancient cities and modern cities, and all the cities and villages Chennault visited in China.She went to Zhijiang and invested in the construction of the Surrender City. The Chinese should remember the hard-won victory of the War of Resistance.When she went to Nanchang, Chennault shook her head when she stayed at Nanchang Airport, but she admired the old city's new look.She drove thousands of miles to the top of Jinggang Mountain for the first time. In the autumn wind and rain, green hills and green bamboos, she looked up at the Monument to the Martyrs of Huang Yangjie in the rain, and immediately wrote two poems: "Jinggang Mountain is full of autumn rain, camphor trees and pine branches are full of maple forests, how many heroes are there?" matter, the Iron Horse Flying Bow breaks through." "The red flag flutters on Jinggang Mountain, the great river goes east to the stele of the strong man, the azaleas dye the maple forest late, and the military strategist will determine the outcome now."

The slanting wind and slanting rain wet her temples and soaked her shoes and socks, and there is sincere sadness between her brows.Has her emotion really changed from the bottom of her heart?Why not?If Chennault can live to this day, I'm afraid it will change. She believes that the biggest weakness of the Chinese people is disunity. Once united, the dragon will take off, and the 21st century will be dominated by the Chinese. She is willing to dedicate her love to the early arrival of this day. She is still busy, flying around the world.She said, I am a ox, born to work hard.It is not all praise, but also criticism, misunderstanding, and her own faults. She remembered what Nixon said, I am old, and no one can hurt me anymore.

She said: "I don't get a name, and I don't want profit. My gain is self-sufficiency. I don't claim to be brave, but I am definitely not weak. I have never bowed to anyone, as long as I think it is right and selfless. You should do it seriously, after all, in troubled times, there are too many puzzling things, there is no need to make a fuss, and you don’t need to ask for a deep understanding. It’s not easy to be a Chinese.” The snowflakes fluttered and there was no sound. She walks gracefully and lightly. She has gone through the four seasons of her life, the gentleness of spring, the frenzy of summer, the sadness of autumn, and the sternness of winter.

The rhetoric of Chinese men: "A man bleeds but not tears." She is not a man, nor can she be a man.Chennault said to her when he was seriously ill: don't shed tears.But she always shed tears, and sometimes wailed aloud, she was always a woman!But she always avoided tears in public, or at least to people.Now she had a world of her own in Washington, a world she had single-handedly earned with her blood and sweat. She also longed for the artistic conception of the Zen world.From "The mountains are full of fallen leaves, where can I find traces"?It's perfect to go to "the empty mountain is deserted, the water is flowing and the flowers are blooming", and to "the eternal sky is full of wind and moon".But can she get in? Rolling in the world of mortals, hard to give up! She also has all the vanity of a woman and the narrow-mindedness of a woman. She likes to talk about the noble enjoyment of the presidential suite at the Kennedy Center, and she can't forget the old days on the "Sitia Potato" presidential cruise ship!She gets mad at the ungrateful and bitter at the celebrity who doesn't return her business card.She is an extraordinary legendary woman, and she is also a trivial and ordinary woman. It's snowing, it's time to go home. Where is home? Washington is the battlefield where she has experienced vicissitudes with bare hands. There are blood and tears, sorrow and joy, but it is not the place where the roots are tied. She is more like a floating cloud floating in the sky. Taipei is her nest after marriage. The sweetness of love and the pride of being a mother are all left there, and the warmth and coldness of human relationships and the coldness of the world are also engraved there.Today, she donated her former residence in Taiwan to the Ministry of Communications as a dormitory.She is lost, and even more concerned and nostalgic, bit by bit, thread by thread, cut constantly! Beijing is her real home, and it is also the home that overseas Chinese long for and yearn for!Keep the roots!Keep the roots! Her eyes were wet again, and a woman's tears would rarely dry up. After she became a new widow, she went to Switzerland alone. The winter in Switzerland and the silent snow kept her awake at night. She wrote: At first, it was to commemorate her deceased husband Chennault. Later, she gave it to several of her dearest people, including life partners, platonic lovers, and pure friend Bill. The road of life is short and long, and the warmth of love is needed even more in the cold winter. Don't be stingy with your love, don't imprison your love, let the narrow love grow, and let the winter in the world be filled with broad love. Plum and snow should be an indissoluble bond. She is Chen Xiangmei, and she loves snow.