Qiao Dae's hand holding the scissors paused in mid-air. The middle-aged man reflected in the mirror had two black streaks under his eyes, and the newly sprouted white hair on his temples looked like ashes mixed with snow. The rancid smell from the back alley of the hairdresser came in through the ventilation fan, mixed with the chemical smell of hair dye, and fermented into a scruffy smell of life in this "first-class cabin" of less than 20 square meters.
