Cheating Craft 13 (2/2)

One of my favorite chapters in this volume; I was totally laughing with Huang Qiao Yi xD

Translated by: Taffy

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Quiz 13: Library Goddess (2/2)

At that moment, the Three Missing One Quartet had long since lost Meng Ming’s tracks, and they were currently pacing back and forth in the corridor.

“Boss Ma Que, where did Master go?”

Boss Ma Que grumbled, “Weird, how did the sound of Master’s footsteps suddenly disappear?! Such a headache. He has to accept us as his disciples today!”

Huang Que suddenly said, “Didn’t Master say he needed to hand his homework in at the library? He must be there!”

“That’s right!”

The Three Missing One Quartet suddenly realized, and immediately flew towards the library.

“I, I read…” Meng Ming was racking his brains as he sat in front of Bai Jiu. He was fervently hoping that he could recall a book he had read, or even heard of before. “Right, that’s right!” He suddenly remembered─There seems to be a title that has a “Three” and starts with “Romance”, a book that talks about the history of wars.

He said, “The book I read is Three…”

“Three? Three what?” Bai Jiu asked.

Three, Three…Romance something…Three Trigrams? Three Rules…? Suddenly, the word that the teacher had repeated most often in class appeared in Meng Ming’s mind, and he finally said:

“Yea, the─<Romance of the Three Failures>!”

Bai Jiu’s heart skipped a beat. She hadn’t even heard of this book before, let alone read it. She immediately felt a deep veneration for Meng Ming. “I don’t know this book. Classmate Zhuge Meng Ming, what’s it about…?”

“Ah? You don’t know?” Meng Ming was shocked. The book he recalled seemed to have been quite famous.

Could that mean he had remembered it wrongly?

But since he had already said it, Meng Ming could only force himself to continue, “The content is about a few countries that fought each other and annexed some other countries, but were annexed by others as well. However, although these wars seemed to just be some battles and invasions on the outside, they were actually the result of some generals secretly going against each other from behind. It all depended on who was better at planning, cheating…”

Outside the library, the Three Missing One Quartet was currently prepared to stride into the library. However, they were suddenly stopped by a girl at the entrance.

“Shhhh─!!” The girl was secretly hiding outside the door to eavesdrop, and she made the four people be quiet.

“Inside, inside…” She said in a soft voice, “Brother Meng Ming is talking with a female classmate!”

“Ah?” The Three Missing One Quartet was flabbergasted.

“Don’t interrupt!”

Huang Qiao Yi actually said this not to avoid interrupting them, but because she found it very interesting, and wanted to eavesdrop in secret. She wanted to see exactly what kind of show Brother Meng Ming would put on for Bai Jiu. Brother Meng Ming, that’s <Romance of the Three Kingdoms>…

Hearing Huang Qiao Yi’s command, the Three Missing One Quartet also shut up and began to listen in from behind the door.

Meng Ming had managed to finish his explanation of <Romance of the Three Failures> in only two sentences. What was he supposed to do now? He could only start telling his own stories about formidable figures, ones that his father had always told him since he was young, stories about Zhuge Liang. He added these details to his narration to elaborate his impromptu performance.

Planning formations, mutual deception, integrating the Thirty-Six Stratagems in battle, these were all situations that constantly changed, just like in a casino.

As he continued to bullshit his way though, Bai Jiu became fascinated with his story. She had gotten completely absorbed by his tales. She had never imagined that so many interesting things could happen behind a war, undetected!

“I must find this book…!” Bai Jiu hurriedly stood up after hearing Meng Ming’s explanation, and quickly looked through the library’s digital database. However, she was obviously unable to find it. She turned around and asked Meng Ming, “Is this <Romance of the Three Failures> really hard to find?”

“No way?!” Meng Ming wiped some cold sweat off his brow and replied, “It should be commonly found anywhere…”

Huang Qiao Yi couldn’t hold back her laughter from outside the door. Brother Meng Ming was really working hard at pretending to be an L-type! And when the Three Missing One Quartet heard the story, they were even more engrossed in it than Bai Jiu was, and they currently stood there in a daze, waiting for it to continue.

Bai Jiu said to Meng Ming, “But the school’s library doesn’t have it…it must be an extremely profound book.” Her admiration for Meng Ming increased. “Classmate Zhuge Meng Ming actually reads such amazing books.”

“No, actually…” Meng Ming wasn’t quite sure either. Was it him who had been mistaken, or was he actually amazing?

Huang Qiao Yi had already collapsed onto her knees in laughter outside.

“Who?!” Meng Ming seemed to have sensed there were people outside the door.

Huang Qiao Yi hurriedly covered her mouth.

Bai Jiu said to Meng Ming, “Well, it looks like I have no other choice. If I ever see the book, I’ll buy it. As an exchange, I’ll also recommend a book for classmate Zhuge Meng Ming to read. How about it?

“Eh, recommend a book to me?”

Bai Jiu walked up to the table and picked up one of the books from the pile. This was a novel she had borrowed from the library called <The Tent Under the Neon Light>.

It was precisely this book that she had been so immersed in earlier. That’s why she really wanted Meng Ming to read it as well.

She handed the book over to Meng Ming and roughly summarized it.

But after hearing the summary, Meng Ming still didn’t have any desire to read it. In addition, he had never really read books before. If he read it but still didn’t understand its content afterwards, what would he say if Bai Jiu asked him something related to it….

But Bai Jiu had already passed it to him, so Meng Ming could only accept it and smile, “Thank you, I’ll definitely read it. After I finish, do I just return it to the library?” When he held the book, he could still feel the remains of the warmth from Bai Jiu’s hands.

Bai Jiu hadn’t imagined that Meng Ming would accept her recommendation, and she was beyond happy. “Yes, that’s right.”

It was already quite late. Bai Jiu began to pack up her things to go home. The large pile of books on the desk were stowed into her backpack, one by one.

Meng Ming asked, “Classmate Bai Jiu, were you studying just now?”

“Yes.” She added, “I was studying today’s class material to prepare for tomorrow’s…and I was reading some other books while resting.”

She was so hardworking that Meng Ming felt extreme admiration towards her.

Bai Jiu suddenly asked, “Classmate Zhuge Meng Ming, how long do you spend studying every day?”

Meng Ming was beginning to feel his head spin. He wondered why all she spoke about were reading and studying─“I don’t spend time studying.” Meng Ming accidentally spilt out.

“AH?!” Bai Jiu was shocked, and her hand currently holding a book froze in midair.

Seeing Bai Jiu’s reaction, Meng Ming was taken aback.

Damn, I misspoke! If I’m pretending to be an L-type, then, then I can’t not spend time on studying! Seeing Bai Jiu’s astonished expression, Meng Ming was flustered as he flailed around, wondering how exactly he should go about justifying this…

But Bai Jiu’s expression had changed to one of further respect. “Classmate Zhuge Meng Ming…is really awesome! You don’t spend any time, yet you get such good grades!”

“Ah?” Meng Ming hadn’t thought that she’d continue misunderstanding like this.

Huang Qiao Yi had been pacing back and forth outside the door. She couldn’t endure any longer, and so she burst into the library.

The sound of her footsteps made both Meng Ming and Bai Jiu turn to look.

Huang Qiao Yi struggled to hold back her urge to laugh, and handed over her completed homework book to Bai Jiu.

Only then did Bai Jiu realize that she hadn’t yet looked over Huang Qiao Yi’s homework, yet she had almost left by accident.

Meng Ming had thought Huang Qiao Yi had finished her homework and gone home first. “Little Qiao, why were you so slow?”

Huang Qiao Yi could only say that she had been waiting for Meng Ming so that they could go home together. Meng Ming suspected that she had been eavesdropping outside the whole time, but Huang Qiao Yi covered his mouth and said, “Anyways, Brother Meng Ming and I will go home now!”

After Bai Jiu had finished looking over the homework and returned it to Huang Qiao Yi, Huang Qiao Yi dragged Meng Ming outside. She didn’t even dare to look at Bai Jiu——she only wanted to leave her behind, and hurry up and tell Brother Meng Ming to stop bragging with such ridiculous words.

“But…” Meng Ming turned around. Although Huang Qiao Yi’s appearance had saved him from his inability to continue speaking, he still didn’t want to just abandon Bai Jiu like that. They hadn’t finished speaking….

“Master!!” The Three Missing One Quartet suddenly burst in. Meng Ming was shocked; so those people were outside as well?!

“Take us in as your disciples!!”

Meng Ming hurriedly slipped back into the library.

“Bang! Dong! Ka!”

In the late evening within the library room, the scene of a great chasing battle including four people trailing one person unfolded once more.

Bai Jiu and Huang Qiao Yi couldn’t understand what exactly had happened between these five.

“Hey, Brother Meng Ming?” Huang Qiao Yi looked around, but could only see a ton of dust flying through the air as she heard the chaotic jumble of footsteps. The four people were circling around in close pursuit as Meng Ming nimbly evaded them.

Bai Jiu knew that running around the library like this wasn’t very friendly to the books. However, she already had an extreme respect for Meng Ming, and earnestly thought, “Classmate Zhuge Meng Ming must have a reason for doing this…but what is it?”

What, what exactly are they doing… Huang Qiao Yi was baffled. She helplessly called out to Bai Jiu, “Forget it. Classmate Bai Jiu?”

“Ah?”

Huang Qiao Yi walked over with her backpack, “Let’s just go home first. Ignore those five weirdos.” She began to walk away.

Bai Jiu could only put on her backpack as well.

“……….” At the entrance, she turned around to give the library one final glance, as if she was reluctant to leave. But she then smiled, and slowly walked out.

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