Back at the Demon Management Bureau, Zhuang Zhuang, who was once again alive and kicking in the hall on the first floor, was playing games with Su Jie. The difference from before was that this time he had mineral water next to the table, instead of his usual drinks.
"Haven't your kidney stones been cured? Why don't you dare to drink?" Fang Ze asked with a smile before going upstairs.
"If you had tasted the pain I felt that day, I tell you, you will never drink again in your life." Zhuang Zhuang rolled his eyes at Fang Ze, and then asked, "By the way, you are busy these days. What, I haven’t seen you for more than a week.”
"Busy about studying." Fang Ze stretched out and went upstairs without saying another word.
As soon as Fang Ze stepped onto the second floor, this week's guests also arrived as promised.
"Hello." Fang Ze greeted the tall and fat guest with slightly dark skin in front of him.
"Hello, Mr. Landlady." The guest bowed his hands to Fang Ze, and then said, "I am Cao Zhan, whose courtesy name is Mengruan. I don't know how to call Mr. Landlady."
"Just call me Fang Ze." Fang Ze said, tilting his head slightly, and saw Cao Zhan's pig tail-like braids, and he immediately understood who he was.
Cao Xueqin, the famous author of Dream of Red Mansions!
This is indeed a great scholar. A single work of "Dream of Red Mansions" has supported many red experts.
Some people say that Cao Xueqin's real appearance is similar to Jia Baoyu in Dream of Red Mansions. Both have faces like the Mid-Autumn Moon and colors like spring dawn flowers. The temples are like knife cuts, the eyebrows are like ink paintings, the face is like peach petals, and the eyes are like autumn waves.
Future generations have no way of knowing whether the real Cao Xueqin looked like this, but the Cao Zhan standing in front of Fang Ze at this moment did not look very handsome, he was just an ordinary, older uncle.
But this is normal. No matter how handsome Cao Xueqin is, it will be worn away by time. Not to mention that after the decline of the Cao family, Cao Xueqin has to run around for food and clothing every day. Even if he is handsome, he will gradually become ugly and old. , just like the actor who played Jia Baoyu in the first version of Dream of Red Mansions. He was indeed handsome back then, but if you search for recent photos and keep them, you will shout "Who the hell is this?"
"According to the immortal who sent me here, it's already hundreds of years from where I am now?" Cao Zhan then asked.
"Yes." Fang Ze nodded, then thought for a moment and added, "The Qing Dynasty is dead."
Fang Ze's words did not surprise Cao Zhan. He just nodded indifferently and said, "After all, hundreds of years have passed, and it's time to die."
Looking at Cao Zhan's expression, Fang Ze was a little confused at first, but he soon figured it out.
Although the Cao family is a bannerman, they are actually not Manchus, but Han bannermen, and their ancestral home is in Shandong. In his opinion, the demise of the Qing Dynasty was the same as the sudden decline of his family, but they were both reincarnations of history.
"Looking at your hairstyle, I wonder which clan is ruling China now?"
"Chinese nation." Fang Ze smiled when he heard Cao Zhan's question and replied, "Short hair is for convenience. Nowadays, no matter what nationality, everyone has short hair."
"That's true. Back then, you could shave your hair and keep it in braids to survive. Now, there's nothing wrong with cutting your braids and keeping your hair short for convenience. It looks better than braids."
"No one has this hairstyle of yours anymore. You will be surrounded when you go out. How about I find you a hat to wear." Fang Ze said as he took a peaked cap that someone had put down on the cabinet on the second floor. stand up.
Fang Ze said before that Cao Zhan had pig tails on his back, which was not really insulting. In the early Qing Dynasty, braids did look like pig tails.
Don't look at those TV dramas about the Qing Dynasty. The ministers all have long black and shiny braids. In fact, they are all fake. The real Qing Dynasty braids are also called money rat tails, and the front and top must be shaved. , only a little bit on the back of the head can be left, so the braid is not too long at all. It looks like a rat tail or a pig tail, so it has this title.
In the early Qing Dynasty, the standards for shaving hair were very strict. Anyone who dared to have big braids would be beheaded.
The reason why the Manchus wear such braids is actually to prevent their hair from blocking their sight or interfering with archery when they are fighting on horseback. If their hair is too long, it is very detrimental to the nation of mounted archers.
Moreover, the Jurchen people lived in the Northeast at that time. When fishing and hunting in the wild in winter, they wore cotton hats. If they left their hair open and sweated, it would freeze and the hat would stick to the hair. Taking off the hat would tear off the scalp, causing the head to heat up quickly. Loss, in the worst cases, can lead to death.
Therefore, shaving hair was originally for practicality and not aesthetically pleasing, but over time, it became a custom.
However, as a nation of horsemen and archers, the Khitan people who disappeared in history did not have long hair, but they did not have braids either, but had braids. That is to say, shave the top of the head, leaving only a small circle of hair around it, braid it, or keep it long and shave it short, you can do it as you like.
However, what is interesting is that the Qing Dynasty required ordinary people and ministers to shave their heads, but the emperor himself did not shave his hair into a money rat tail. In all the portraits of emperors before Qianlong, it is obvious that there is hair on both sides under the hat.
In some statues, the ancestors of the Manchu people also have long hair. For example, the statue of Aisin Gioro Bukuri Yongshun, the legendary ancestor of the Qing Dynasty emperor, has a basically similar image to that of the Han people, also with long hair.
So what can be determined is that the early Manchu nobles all had long hair, after all, they looked beautiful. Among the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, until the beginning of Qianlong, only the emperors did not have long hair. When it came to Yongzheng, the Fourth Prince, who was widely loved by some Qing Dynasty women, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty also shaved their tails into money rat tails.
However, this habit did not last long. By the time of the last emperor Puyi, Puyi had always had a Western hairstyle and no braids at all. So now some people who are trying to identify their ancestors and claim to be descendants of Aisin Gioro for many generations have even grown their braids incorrectly and dare to say that their surname is Aisin Gioro.
Putting on his hat, Cao Zhan stood in front of the mirror and looked at it with satisfaction, then sat on the sofa. He felt that the sofa was extremely comfortable and he couldn't help but move his buttocks.
"Which family is the emperor now?"
"There is no emperor anymore. After the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty abdicated, China will have no emperor."
"There is no emperor anymore?!" Cao Zhan raised his head in surprise.
"Well, no." Fang Ze said, "Do you know the Republic of the Zhou Dynasty? It was the period when King Li was expelled and the ministers discussed the status of the country. It is almost the same now as that time."
"I understand." As soon as Fang Ze said the allusion, Cao Zhan immediately understood what kind of governing method he was using now.
Although there are essential differences between the Western Zhou Dynasty and modern republics, without going into details, they are roughly the same.
There is no emperor, and the various aristocratic families in the country govern the country through consultation.
(End of chapter)