On the morning of July 8, 914 A.D. according to the Jules calendar, Wang Zhong woke up amidst the rubble.
The "senior officers' quarters" next door, where he had stayed before, had its roof blown off, but, miraculously, none of the three beds had been crushed.
As soon as Wang Zhong opened his eyes and sat up, he saw Yegorov cleaning his gun.
"Not polishing shoes today?" he asked, puzzled.
Taking his shoe, Yegorov showed a huge gash at the front: "It got blasted by a grenade. I only discovered it this morning, so I sent Vasily to get me a new pair," he said.
Wang Zhong: "Treating Vasily as your personal orderly?"
"What's wrong with that? Or could it be, the rumors are true?"
Wang Zhong: "What rumors?"
Yegorov, as if searching for the right adjective, twirled his hand in the air, "A relationship of a wolf to a sheep!"
Wang Zhong thought for a second, then figured Yegorov probably meant to say "an intimacy as of dragons and suns" but misspoke.
