"My lord."
Bi Gan bowed solemnly.
"Royal brother, you mustn't!"
Jizi tottered forward to help Bi Gan up, but his sleeves were too long, and his old legs were no longer nimble. Neither old man managed to steady the other, and they both toppled to the ground.
Fortunately, no one saw them.
The two rose, feeling rather awkward for a moment.
Bi Gan sighed with emotion. Perhaps King Zhou and Jizi were the only people in the world who still remembered him.
When he had been illustrious, his doorstep had bustled like a marketplace; when he fell from grace, birds could have nested at his gate.
Still, he could hardly call it falling from grace. This was King Zhou's way of protecting him. After all, he had taken part in Zi Qi's rebellion.
King Zhou had graciously pardoned him and deliberately played down his presence in the opera Mai Yun Stabs King Zhou. As a result, Bi Gan, the royal uncle once renowned for his virtue, had vanished from public view.
Only because of this had he been able to live in peace until now.
Jizi asked, "Royal brother, it has been half a year. Have you been well?"
Bi Gan smiled faintly. "All is well. Thanks to His Majesty's benevolence, I can still contribute to Great Shang despite my guilt."
Jizi was puzzled. "Contribute?"
Bi Gan spent all day shut away on his estate outside the city and had even sent away large numbers of slaves. He had gone from Great Shang's greatest slave owner and a venerable royal uncle to an ordinary man no one cared about. What could he possibly contribute?
Jizi asked again, "Could it be that you wish to go into trade too, royal brother?"
Bi Gan shook his head, looking inscrutable. "Over these past