Chapter 29 Chapter Twenty-Eight

One noon in July 1938, when Ding Jieqiong was tending dozens of pots of bluegrass, loosening the soil, pruning, fertilizing, and watering, the postman delivered this letter from Su Guanlan.She had just finished reading it, and when she was about to read it carefully for the second time, there was a knock on the door of the room.She knew it was Om when she heard it.She put the letter away and opened the door.Yes, it was Orm, but Hull stood beside him. "Welcome, Lieutenant!" Ding Jieqiong smiled and stretched out her right hand. "Hello, dear Joan!" Hull is Olmhoth's younger brother, five years younger than Ney, and five years older than Joan. He is thirty-three years old this year.But every time they met, they were so respectful and meticulous: stand at attention, give a military salute, and then shake hands.Even when he sat down, he always put his hands on his knees, his back was straight, and his chest was high.And whether in person or by letter, it always begins with "Dear Joan."When Hull was a teenager, he often drank heavily, was obsessed with dancing, and went to a dance school. In the end, he became a student at a military academy in New Mexico. After graduation, he joined the Army Air Corps and became a pilot, from a second lieutenant to a lieutenant.Among the officers, he was still known as a good dancer.His unit is based at Wickenburg, Arizona, and he often drives to Pasadena on vacation.Not long after Ding Jieqiong became Aum's student and assistant, when she saw Hull for the first time in the early winter of 1934, she laughed and joked, "You are more handsome than your brother!"

Hull knows Roman is in love with Joan.So what about Joan?Hull believes that Joan undoubtedly likes Roman, but she is trying to maintain the reserve of oriental women.Hull decided to help his brother.The method he chose is to try his best to get rid of the boring campus life, get rid of the laboratory and library, and go out more to create an atmosphere in the beautiful nature, which is conducive to men and women getting along and producing Emotional atmosphere.Hull believes that traveling by car is a good way to do this. Therefore, Hull often drives to Pasadena during vacations and invites Roman and Joan to go out together.It will be even more abundant when it comes to the winter and summer vacation of the Polytechnic Institute.Together, they traveled to almost all the scenic spots and some "weird" places in most of the United States: Yellowstone Park, Grand Canyon of Colorado, Niagara Falls, Mount St. Helens, Great Salt Lake, St. Augustine City, Fort Sanmark, New York Liberty The Statue of the Goddess, the Jack London House in the woods on the outskirts of San Francisco, and more.

The White Mountain Scenic Spot in New Hampshire is intoxicating: sixty-eight peaks with an altitude of more than 3,900 feet and reflecting white light on the top of the mountain stand continuously. Most of them are named after the early American presidents, 6288 The tallest peak in ft. is called Mount Washington... As far as the short history of the United States is concerned, Philadelphia is considered "quaint".It is the early capital of the United States, and the historical sites in the early days of the founding of the country, such as Independence Hall, Philosophy Hall, Liberty Bell and Society Hill, as well as Fairmont Park, the largest urban park in the United States, will make every visitor full of interest.Another reason why Ding Jieqiong wanted to go to Philadelphia was that her teacher at Jinling University, Mrs. Baker, had returned to the United States in 1934 and settled in a farm near Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.However, this female writer had divorced the agronomist Baker, and in 1935 married a well-known journalist and magazine editor Richard Walsh, so it was obviously inappropriate to be called "Mrs. Baker" again.But Ding Jieqiong did not change to call her "Mrs. Walsh", but "Mr. Pearl", because the Chinese name given to her by her parents was "Pearl Buck".Female writers are unwilling to be lonely, lively and active, and they are still writing non-stop. They still like to use China as the theme, like to socialize with Chinese people, and like to receive guests and friends from China, let alone Ding Jieqiong!The teacher and student, who are eighteen years apart in age, embraced each other for a long time after they reunited at a farm in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

Ding Jieqiong also traveled to Canada, Mexico, Alaska and Cuba with the Olmhouse brothers.Hull sometimes took girlfriends with him.In this way, sometimes they travel in threes, and sometimes in fours.But either way, wherever she went, Joan always insisted on having a room to herself—almost unthinkable in America.In this regard, Hull was full of emotion, admiration, and helplessness!At the same time, he felt sad for his brother; there was no shortage of lovely and beautiful women around Roman who loved him very much, but he had to fall in love with such a...Chinese woman.But Hull thought again, only "such a Chinese woman" deserves Roman's infatuated and wholehearted love!

Hull also recalls a novel she read more than a decade ago when she dreamed of becoming a dancer.The protagonists of the work are a young couple. Due to the influence of certain religions or beliefs, the two regard the relationship between men and women as unclean, or even a desecration of gods and human dignity. Therefore, although they are married, they have no intimate contact. When both of them travel, they always live in one room each.This aroused the suspicion of the landlady and the proprietress, who peeped in the middle of the night.The two rooms are connected by a door, and the door can be opened from both sides at will; but the couple live in one room, and both study hard in their own rooms.As I was reading, the "wife" probably encountered some problem, got up to ask the "husband", and suddenly found that because she had been reading on the bed, her hairstyle and pajamas were not neat.She immediately turned around and dressed up, put on a neat coat, and then walked slowly to the door between the two rooms, reaching out and knocking lightly.The "husband" also stood up from the sofa in a polite and orderly manner, walked over, opened the door, nodded politely to the "wife", kissed her hand, and then made a gesture of "please come in"... …

"No matter what, the two protagonists in the novel are a legal couple after all..." Whenever thinking of this, Hull couldn't help shaking his head and sighing: "But what are Roman and Joan?" But Hull didn't dare to shake his head and sigh in front of Roman and Joan. At noon in July 1938, when the Olmhus brothers arrived, Ding Jieqiong thought they were going to invite her out again.Since the "July 7th Incident" and the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War in China, Ding Jieqiong has never been out of the house, and has no interest in traveling so far.Unexpectedly, although Hull opened his mouth, he said this: "Dear Joan, today I come to say goodbye."

"Farewell," Ding Jieqiong was surprised, "Where are you going?" "China." "What, what did you say?" Joan's eyes widened, and he grabbed Hull: "Quickly, what's going on?" "Didn't Ms. Pearl Buck translate a Chinese classic novel "All Brothers Within the World"?" Hull still stood upright, speaking calmly: "I want to join Song Jiang like the heroes in that book." "Who is your Song Jiang...?" Ding Jieqiong was stunned. "Chennault." Sino-Japanese relations are becoming increasingly tense, and an all-out war may break out at any time.Japan deployed thousands of combat aircraft to face China at that time, while the Chinese Air Force had only ninety combat aircraft at that time...

Song Meiling, the nominal secretary-general of the Chinese government's Aviation Committee and actually the commander-in-chief of the Air Force, wrote to Chennault to hire him as an advisor to the Chinese Air Force. Chennault is a famous flight instructor. His training methods and air force tactical textbooks when he was teaching in the flight school had a great influence in the world. He retired in 1936 due to deafness.He accepted Song Meiling's invitation to go to China, and the occupation on his passport was "farmer".He set off from San Francisco on the cruise ship "President" on April 1, 1937, arrived in Shanghai in May, and went to Nanjing immediately.On the night of meeting with Soong Meiling, he wrote in his diary: "The queen in my heart is forever!"

During Chennault's stay in China, the "July 7th Incident" occurred.On July 27th, Chennault resolutely accepted the offer from the Chinese government and immediately commanded the weak Chinese Air Force into battle.He himself drove the Eagle-75 fighter jet down the river from Nanjing to "supervise the battle". The Chinese Air Force shot down twelve Japanese planes in one fell swoop, severely damaging the flagship "Izumo" of the Japanese Third Fleet.Chennault also built a telephone alarm network in the Beijing-Shanghai-Hangzhou triangle area, which caused the Japanese to lose fifty-four fighter jets in the three air raids on Nanjing; in the third air raid on Nanjing, seven of the thirteen Japanese bombers were shot down...

However, Nanking finally fell.The Japanese army advanced steadily.Although the Chinese pilots fought bravely, there was a huge gap in strength. The Japanese aircraft fought more and more, while the Chinese aircraft fought less and less.Chennault once recruited a group of retired pilots from countries such as the United States, Britain, France and the Netherlands, and organized an international volunteer team called IVG. However, a few old planes could not stop the Japanese attack and were quickly wiped out. The fall of Hangzhou caused China to lose its only air force training base - Jianqiao Aviation School.Chennault went to several places and finally built a new aviation school in Kunming.He wanted to go back to the United States to recruit a group of instructors, but there were many difficulties.The U.S. government claimed to be "strictly neutral" to the Sino-Japanese war, and strictly prohibited ships from carrying arms to China, so that China could not obtain weapons to resist the Japanese invaders; on the contrary, it sold a large amount of gasoline, light and heavy weapons, and military supplies to Japan.Many spare parts made in the United States were found on Japanese aircraft and tanks captured or destroyed on the Chinese battlefield.Regarding the serious incident of the Japanese bombing and sinking of the American "Panay" gunboat moored on the Nanjing River on December 12, 1937, the U.S. government also swallowed its anger and even ordered several soldiers to be stationed in Tianjin in accordance with the "Xin Chou Treaty". The decade-old US 15th Infantry Regiment withdraws from China to "avoid conflict".The U.S. government is also afraid that people from the public will sympathize with and support China, which will "complicate" U.S.-Japan relations.

Therefore, under very difficult conditions, Chennault came to China from a long distance; he almost single-handedly started his struggle to support China's anti-Japanese cause... "Hull," Ding Jieqiong finally understood, "are you going to participate in this Chennault business?" Chennault retired as a captain and was not well known outside aviation circles.But in any case, Ding Jieqiong was still moved by his courage and choice, as well as his feelings for China and the Chinese people. "Yes, dear Joan!" Although Hull had already sat down, his upper body was still straight, and he looked straight ahead. "He is twelve years older than me. He is my teacher when I learned to fly and is also my good friend. He Every letter to me talks about the cruelty of the Japanese army and the misery of the Chinese people. All his comrades in IVG died in battle. He said he felt lonely, and the work pressure and mental burden were particularly heavy. He said he knew I was An excellent pilot, he hoped that I would support him, support China, support the just cause of mankind, and go to help the war. He said that he also wrote letters to some other American pilots. But among all these people, I am the only active soldier. I read Immediately after the letter, a decision was made and the retirement procedures were completed. Now, dear Joan, I come here to bid you farewell." "Hull, you just said," Ding Jieqiong pondered, "all the IVG fighters died in battle..." "Is such that." "so you……" "Yes, I might die in battle too! That's why I came here to bid farewell in person." Hull said solemnly, "Dear Joan, if this kind of misfortune happens, I hope you will remember: I love you, and Roman Love you as much. I made this decision for you - China is your homeland." "Hull, I love you too!" Ding Jieqiong choked up.She looked at Hull, speechless. "China" and "motherland", these words that usually sound very common, now seem to have so much weight, and weigh heavily and warmly on Ding Jieqiong's heart... Aum stood aside, with his hands behind his back, watching everything in front of him emotionally, silent. "Dear Joan, you taught us so many ancient Chinese poems during our car trips together. You translate so well that I sound like Byron's poems in English." Ding Jieqiong looked up at the lieutenant. "I can recite all the Chinese poems you taught me." Hull continued, "Did you know that because I am going to China recently, I think of one of them very often, and it is the shortest one——" "Which one?" "The wind is blowing, the water is cold, and the strong man will never return once he is gone!" "No, Hull!" The female scientist rushed to hug Hull, and tears welled up in her eyes.She fell on Hull's broad chest, weeping uncontrollably, "On behalf of my motherland and compatriots who are suffering a lot, thank you! You will come back, you will definitely come back! We all love you, and we are waiting for you together!"