A mason was building a mound of heads when he suddenly picked up a human head. Noticing something unusual about it, he examined it closely and sighed.
“This Zhao soldier is so handsome! Even Zidu wasn’t as good-looking as he is. What a pity he’s lost his head and will be built into this mound!”
The mason beside him heard this and, unable to resist his curiosity, took the head for a closer look. He nodded in agreement.
“He really is handsome! If we hadn’t been killing prisoners on a moonlit night, when it was hard to see, who could bring himself to strike down a Zhao soldier this handsome? We might even have spared his life and taken him back to Qin. He could have married one of my sisters. Wouldn’t that have been wonderful?”
Another mason heard them and was curious too. He stood up, took the head in his hands, and studied it carefully. Suddenly, his face filled with deep sorrow.
“Look carefully, you two. This is a woman’s head! A very beautiful Zhao woman!”
“This head belongs to a Zhao woman?”
“Would I lie to you? Look, both her earlobes have pierced holes!”
“She really does have pierced ears! She’s a Zhao woman!”
“Since ancient times, every kingdom under heaven has strictly forbidden women from going to war. Why would Zhao send a woman to fight? What a strange thing!”
“Perhaps this Zhao woman disguised herself as a man and joined the army in her father’s, brother’s, or husband’s place. What a pity. The massacre of prisoners at Changping was already an outrage, and she lost her life for nothing.”
As the masons building the mound of heads gathered around the Zhao woman’s beautiful head, whispering and speculating, their foreman came over and shouted,
“Shut your mouths, you lot! How dare you talk about the killing of prisoners? If word of this reaches Lord Wu’an…”
It's so good, a long version of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.
Quite exciting, the storyline is captivating.
The part where Su She turns into a skull is as terrifying as a ghost story from a Chinese ghost story.