"To my shame, though we've known each other for years, I have yet to ask your full name, Brother Wang... might I trouble you to tell me?" Before the assembled army, under everyone's eyes, Zhang Xing stepped past Wang Zhen and the others and cupped his hands in greeting, drawing sidelong looks.
Eunuch Wang fell silent for a moment, then returned the salute instead. "All that is past. My former service in the Northern Office is scarcely worth mentioning amid today's upheavals. I was just thinking of changing my name, abandoning the past and beginning anew. If you don't mind, Dragonhead, please help me choose a name."
"If you mean to turn over a new leaf, Brother Wang, of course that's fine. But a heroic man like you hardly needs someone else to name him." Zhang Xing smiled all the more. "Why not choose one yourself? I'll make sure to remember it today."
"How about the single character Zhuo, written with 'fire' beside 'table'?" Eunuch Wang did not demur, immediately thinking of a name.
Zhang Xing paused, then turned back curiously... it was not that he was uncultured, merely that he lacked this particular knowledge. Besides, a former senior Northern Office official naturally had high standards, which made a certain someone's education look a little wanting.
Naturally, seeing this, Chief Wei Xuanding immediately came forward from behind, stroking his beard with a chuckle. "Zhuo shares a meaning with the character for 'burning': clear and thorough understanding. Eunuch Wang... Mr. Wang has seen the situation clearly."
Understanding dawned on Zhang Xing. The other leaders and officers, with their varied backgrounds, seemed enlightened too.
Yet Eunuch Wang-now Wang Zhuo himself-merely smiled and shook his head, then volunteered an explanation. "You think too highly of me, Chief Wei. I meant the zhuo used