Nearing ninety but still vigorous, Yu Cheng-yao looks back somewhat ruefully on his days as a war hero: "Serving as an officer one could neither eat nor sleep; where is the joy in that?" Pressed for details, he pleads the failing memory of old age and drops the subject.
年近九十而仍精神炯炯的余承堯老先生，一面品著他家鄉的永春茶，一面用閩南語說：「作官的人是吃不下、睡不著的生活，那裡有什麼快樂可言呢？」