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"Cheater" is a short story written by Orson Scott Card. It tells the story of how "Hot Soup" Han Tzu got into Battle School. It was first published in Card's webzine, the InterGalactic Medicine Show in October 2006.[1]

In April 2021, "Cheater" was republished in the illustrated anthology Ender's Way.[2]

Story Details[]

Han Tzu was born in Nanyang, China and was a descendant of Yuan Shikai, a great Chinese general. From a very young age, Han Tzu's father would play with him every day. It was his wish that Han Tzu would become a great general and bring glory back to China.

In 5 BX, tutors began to come to his house to play games with him. After a while, Han Tzu discovered that the games were actually to prepare him for a test. One day, his tutor Shen Guo-rong began teaching Han Tzu games from a list that his father had provided. When the testers from the International Fleet showed up to give Han Tzu the test, he figured out that his father was cheating. Han Tzu didn't want to pretend to be the best so he answered all the questions wrong. The next day, the people from the International Fleet showed up at Han Tzu's house and arrested his father for cheating but decided to test Han Tzu again, thus discovering how smart he really was.

References[]

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