Scheme of a slave

Gu Yue Guangzhi was a natural hard worker. He had his wits about him at all times and looked after the business like his life depended on it. The owner had a small store which collected materials needed for feeding and refining gu. It would later sell them to the clan members for a profit. Common mortals were the best candidates to work there as they couldn't use the materials for their own use. Not that they can do so anyway, without losing their lives as a punishment for theft. Gu Yue Guangzhi was soon noticed by the head clerk due to his diligence. He was a common slave that had worked under his owner for a long time. Due to the clan rules, though he was the head clerk, he was still in a position lower to a member of the Gu Yue clan.

In a fair world, he should've been happy to have a worker that made his life easier but he was extremely displeased with Gu Yue Guangzhi. Guangzhi was a member of the clan. Even though he was only nine years old, he was very smart and learnt the tools of the trade very quickly. If the owner noticed his talent, he would most likely be demoted and be replaced with Guangzhi in a few years time. The head clerk had a very cozy life for a slave, owing to his years of loyalty. If Guangzhi was another slave like him, he would work him to the bone, breaking his spirit and then bringing him under his control. But Guangzhi was a member of the Gu Yue clan. He could only do so much before a clan member decides to kill him for overstepping his bounds.

As he was thinking about this predicament, a Rank 1 gu master had walked in to sell the materials that he had collected. The materials he brought were the remains of a Rank 2 Poison Fanged Wolf beast. It was not uncommon for a few wolves to stray around the villages on Qing Mao mountain after a wolf tide. Sometimes, the wolves would be too wounded or too greedy to return to their packs after the wolf tide. So many gu masters would often bring in such materials in the months following a wolf tide. However, Poison Fanged Wolf beasts were rare to be seen. This gu master had definitely lucked out finding a heavily wounded Poison Fanged Wolf at the end of it's life. After a few negotiations, the storekeeper finalized the sale. After the sale, the gu master had a beaming smile on his face while the storekeeper was happy that he had robbed an amateur gu master blind.

As the head clerk noted this sale, a devious plan formed in his mind. If he couldn't lay a finger on Gu Yue Guangzhi, he would have another clan member take care of him. After thinking his plan through, he went to the owner at he end of the day to report on today's sales. He mentioned about the Rank 2 materials that the store had purchased. The owner was happy about it. He was thinking, which faction he could make the sale to, in order to maximize his profits. As he recalled correctly, the Chi Faction had a few note worthy members that had a need for poison path materials. If he could hint to the Mo faction that the Chi faction could get more powerful with those materials, they might help him in driving up the price. Having ignited the desire in his Owner's heart, he made his way back to the home.

A few days later, the owner's son walked in to the store like usual. He was a Rank 1 gu master with no notable achievements . He liked to spend money on his friends and played around without focusing on his cultivation. Every few days, he would make a trip to the store to take a few primeval stones from the register. The owner couldn't discipline his son enough and let it slip as the losses weren't too big. As the head clerk noticed the owner's son come in, he put the next step of his plan to action. He called out to Gu Yue Guangzhi loudly and asked him to take good care of the Rank 2 Poison Fang Wolf's remains. The storekeeper muttered under his breath in disbelief, "Why is the head clerk blabbering his mouth in front of young master? If the young master wanted those remains for himself, I would be in deep trouble."

The owner's son said in a pleasant surprise, "Oh, we have Rank 2 Poison materials in the store? Bring them out. I want to see them."

The storekeeper said in a way to not offend his young master, "Sure young master. The owner is currently in the process of negotiating a good price for these materials. Please be careful with them." He wanted his young master to lose his interest once he knew that the master had other plans for those materials. But the plan immediately backfired.

The young master barked at the storekeeper, "What? He wants to sell them? Doesn't he know that his own son needs those materials? I have been looking for poison materials all this while but my old man wants to sell them to someone else? Bring out those materials now!"

The storekeeper rolled his eyes inwardly when his young master talked about cultivating but he was also panicked, "Young master, the owner has been looking forward to this sale for a few days. Please reconsider." If he couldn't persuade his young master, the owner would definitely punish him harshly.

"So now a slave wants to tell me what to do and what not to do? I'll give you one last chance to hand them over to me." The owner's son reached out to grab those materials. Surprisingly his hand was stopped. It was Gu Yue Guangzhi. He calmly replied, "I'm sorry young master Peng but the owner had given us specific instructions to take great care of these materials. So I can't allow you to take these materials without his permission."

As the head clerk watched this happen, he felt intense joy in his heart. Gu Yue Guangzhi had successfully antagonized the young master. One thing which he observed about Gu Yue Guangzhi was that even though he was a member of the clan, he didn't mistreat slaves like others. Though he had no family to rely upon, the nine year old boy had a sense of justice. The head clerk was inwardly sneering at the naivety of the boy who hadn't yet realized the cruelty of this world. The head clerk had initially planned to push Guangzhi to make an enemy out of his young master but now Guangzhi had done him a favor by doing it himself. His young master was getting angrier by the minute about this interference by a small kid but Gu Yue Guangzhi didn't allow him to take the materials.

Finally he snapped and slapped Guangzhi, "You filthy impure blood! Do you think you are my equal with just the surname Gu Yue? With Bai blood in your veins, you are worse than a slave in my eyes." Owner Peng walked in at this moment. He understood what was going on after a small enquiry and reprimanded his son. He gave him a long speech about the importance of money and business integrity. Young master Peng listened to all this while eyeing Guangzhi through the corner of his eyes with a resentment. Then the owner barked at everyone staring and ordered them to get back to work. Gu Yue Guangzhi was also one of them. He could only swallow his tears and do as he was told.