Li Ling's words really made Gu Yuezi and the old shopkeeper's faces look solemn, and they saw the seriousness of the matter. Especially the former, he quickly frowned and thought deeply, and his mouth was full of words: "What you said is right, the people of the ten thousand families can take the initiative to catch all the authors, and they must have mastered the information in our store." Especially brother, you are Xiaoyaozi, and few people know about it, except for me and Lao Wu, the rest of the guys know about it. ”

Speaking of this, he noticed that the old shopkeeper's expression was different, so he hurriedly added: "Old Wu, don't think about it, you are an old man who has been with my father for many years, and I have always treated you as an uncle, so I will never doubt you." ”

"Even if you starve to death, you will never do anything to betray your owner!" The old shopkeeper immediately said.

Li Ling also nodded in agreement, if it is placed in the future life, there are many cases of being inspired by opponents to become commercial spies. But in this ancient period hundreds of years ago, it was too difficult for a group of outsiders to do this, and the old people in the store like the old shopkeeper were not easily bought by money.

As his mind turned, he thought of one more thing: "The most important thing is that they can easily find my house to lobby, which proves that the traitor even knows where I live, such a specific person should be easy to find, right?" ”

Gu Yuezi's eyes flashed: "Then it can only be him, Gu Kui, the guy who went to your house with me that day!" ”

Li Ling recalled, that guy looked very down-to-earth, and he could let Gu Yuezi take him with him, he should also be a cronie, how could he be easily bought?

Even the old shopkeeper looked suspicious: "Owner, Gu Kui is your family's domestic slave, how can he ...... How dare that? ”

Now those who join his family as slaves are divided into two categories, one is to sell their bodies, and from then on the honor and disgrace of life and death are completely related to the master's family, and there is no freedom to speak of, they are slaves for the family; The other type is just an employment relationship, like most of the guys in the store, they come and go freely, which earns employment fees.

On the surface, of course, it seems that the latter has a higher status, but in fact, for those poor people who have to be human slaves, it is the latter that is more beneficial to themselves, because once he really becomes the domestic slave of a large family, then he does not have to worry about his livelihood for the rest of his life, and even marries a wife and has children or something arranged by the master's family. If he can be trusted and reused by his master, the power in his hands will far exceed that of ordinary hired slaves, after all, he can be regarded as his own family.

Of course, correspondingly, the life and death of such a slave are also in the hands of the master, even if they are killed, the government will not care, so such a person is also the most loyal to the master's family. And now, this Gu Kui, as a slave of the Gu family, actually colluded with the people of the Wan family and leaked all the trade secrets in the store!

Gu Yuezi's face was very ugly, and he only snorted: "At least for now, it seems that he is the only one who meets." Yes or no, just ask. As he spoke, he strode out, and said to the guy who was still working outside, "Where is Gu Kui?" Tell him to come over quickly! ”

At that moment, someone hurriedly went to another place to call someone, and after a while, Gu Kui, who was stained with a lot of ink, hurried over. As soon as he saw his master's face, a trace of panic flashed in his eyes, and he only bowed his head to salute, but he didn't dare to look up: "Does the master tell me to give me any orders?" ”

"Gu Kui, I have always treated you well, why did you do such a thing? Say! If you dare to deny it again, be careful that I want your life and your mother's ......"

Li Ling wanted to pat his forehead when he was listening, this old brother was too direct, he came up and told the whole thing, how could this make the other party admit it honestly? Gu Yuezi usually looks quite shrewd, why is he so casual and sloppy in this matter?

But the scene that followed made Li Ling stunned - if there was one - just after Gu Yuezi's threatening words were finished, then Gu Kui actually fell to his knees with weak legs, and said in horror and blame: "Master, I know it's wrong, I'm ...... I was also forced to be helpless, in the past few days, I regret it even more, I knew that it would bring you and our store such a big trouble, I said that I would not disclose the matter to them......" as he said, he was already crying bitterly, and kept kowtowing, after a few strokes, his forehead was already broken and bloody.

"This ......" Li Ling was really a little dumbfounded, this traitor's self-explosion was too easy, right, he actually admitted it in just one sentence?

This is actually Li Ling's somewhat overestimating the psychological endurance of ordinary people at this time, a house slave guy like Gu Kui has long been very weak when he does such a thing, and he still has guilt, so as long as he is recognized, he does not dare to deny it with any illusions.

Looking at Gu Kui's crying and remorseful look, Gu Yuezi couldn't get up for a while, and only after a while did he say in a deep voice: "You tell me honestly, what is going on, why was it bought by people from ten thousand families?" ”

"I ......" Gu Kui raised his head at this time, wiped the tears and snot on his face with his sleeve, and choked up: "I don't dare to hide it from my master, I had to promise to tell them something because I took their money." ”

"Why don't you tell me if you want money?"

"My mother needs dozens of taels of silver to buy medicine for diagnosis and treatment......"

"I know, didn't I already ask you to go to the counter and withdraw some at the time? Could it be that the shopkeeper didn't give it to you? ”

"Shopkeeper Wu gave it, and I took it too...... However, when I went out on the street after that, I was dragged into the gambling house by a friend, and the result was ...... As a result, he lost all the dozens of taels of silver...... I originally wanted to win some money so that I could buy some chickens and ducks for my mother, but I ended up owing hundreds of taels of silver to the gambling house...... I don't want to, I really don't want to...... But I didn't dare to tell the truth to your master, nor did I dare to tell my mother......" At this, he again shed tears of regret.

At this point, Li Ling already knew what was going on. It's nothing more than that the desperate Gu Kui happened to meet the people of Wanjia, and then they were "kind and generous" to pay off the debts of the gambling house, and in return, he could only disclose some business secrets of the Gu Family Bookstore to the other party.

After understanding all this, Li Ling could only sigh, in the final analysis, gambling is still harmful. His irresponsible cheap father is like this, and the Gu Kui in front of him is also average. Shopkeeper Wu was so angry that his face turned pale, and he pointed to Gu Kui, who was kneeling on the ground, and wanted to scold, but he didn't know where to start scolding for a while.

However, the person concerned, Gu Yuezi, still stepped forward to help Gu Kui after his face changed several times: "The mistake you made this time is indeed extremely serious, but in the final analysis, you just wanted to be filial at the beginning, and you were deceived by others, so you will fall to such a point." ”

When he said this, Gu Kui felt even more ashamed of himself, gritted his teeth and said, "Master, I know that I have done something very wrong, causing our store to ...... I will atone for my sins, and I will go to the county office to confess my sins and tell everyone about their despicable tricks......"

"Does this work? Don't say that even if everyone believes this, it will not help, even if you and I come out as slaves of the ancient family, it will not be possible for people to believe your words. Wanjia University can say that this is someone in my ancient world who is deliberately smearing them, and when the time comes, we will only be more passive! ”

Even at this time, Gu Yuezi still maintained a clear line of thought, which made Li Ling have a little more respect for him, and nodded at the moment: "Brother Gu, what you said is right, this will not solve the problem at all." In fact, they dare to do this because they see that even if we find out what the problem is, we can't help them. ”

"Is that all there is to it? Let them keep suppressing our bookstore until they crush us? The old shopkeeper asked angrily.

Li Ling immediately shook his head: "Of course you can't just forget it, and I feel that Gu Kui can also atone for his sins." Would you, willing? ”

Being looked down at by Li Ling, Gu Kui nodded without the slightest hesitation: "As long as I can make up for the mistakes I made, even if it is my life, I will not back down." ”

"It's not that exaggerated, as long as you do what I want when the time comes." Li Ling smiled. If he felt that it was too much to use means to deal with Wan Jia before, now he has no worries at all. After all, they didn't pay attention to the rules first, and it was obvious that Gu Kui was set up by them and the dealer.

Gu Yuezi was also refreshed when he saw this: "Brother, you have really made up your mind?" ”

"Exactly, let's go, let's go into the house and talk about it." Li Ling smiled with a smile on his face, and then looked at Gu Kui, who was still worried: "You do what I say, and then just do things as usual." Also, if someone from Wanjia looks for you again, what you were like before and what you will do after that, they have a request, you first respond verbally, and then we will find a way. ”

Although his heart was still up and down, seeing that his master was nodding at him, Gu Kui didn't want to ask any more, so he nodded and agreed, and then left to work a little reluctantly.

In the next two hours, Li Ling and the three of them had a long discussion in this room, and it was not until it was completely dark that the three of them walked out of it a little tired. At this time, Gu Yuezi and the old shopkeeper had a trace of excitement and confusion in their eyes, they couldn't understand where the young Li Ling came up with so many ideas, and he looked more shrewd than those who had been running a bookstore for many years and had been wandering in the mall for decades.

Maybe that's called genius......

It wasn't until he was sent out of the store by the two of them that Li Ling took two steps before he stopped and turned back again, and smiled at them: "Brother Gu, don't forget, when you invite those bookstore owners to meet in two days, you will also call me, and some words are more appropriate for me to say." ”

"Got it. Brother, don't worry, and you have to write the fourth volume of the gods quickly, this is what you said, that is the key to this battle. ”

"Of course, I found that after Distracting You did this plan, some plot ideas have been cleared up by me." Li Ling smiled and waved his hand, and then strode away.