Zhang San had been arrested. It was a scene of tragic defiance.
Keep your braid, lose your head. That was the decree King Zhou had issued.
But he refused to accept it. It was not just Zhang San-almost everyone in Chaoge found it utterly incomprehensible. Was King Zhou dreaming of eating farts?
Their hair came from their parents. It embodied filial devotion and attachment. If it grew too long and unruly and interfered with daily life, they could trim it a little. But all they had done was braid it and let the braid hang down. Why should their hair be forcibly cut off for that?
Where under heaven was there any justice in this?
Yet however unwilling they were, it made no difference.
Zhang San had just finished his military service for the year and grown a little sturdier when he was hauled off to have his hair cut.
He had seen Li Si yesterday. Li Si no longer had his flowing locks.
The sight had been unbearable. The fellow wielding the blade was a novice with crude skills.
Li Si had sported a classic coin-sized patch of hair with a rat-tail braid, but the barber had gone at it too hard and cut off both the braid and the hair. He ended up with the middle shaved bare and the sides left long.
Zhang San felt certain the barber had done it on purpose. Most likely, he had taken something from Wan Nian or Li Jing.
Perhaps those two had even suggested the haircuts to King Zhou. Once everyone in Chaoge had their hair cut, bald men and shaved heads would no longer stand out so much.
Zhang San lamented inwardly. Officials all have filthy hearts.
By then, he had already been brought into the Anqiao Clinic.
Zhang