"Cheater" is a story by Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...

 set in his Ender's Game universe

Ender's Game series

The Ender's Game series is a series of science fiction books by Orson Scott Card. The series started with the novelette "Ender's Game", which was later expanded into the novel Ender's Game. It currently consists of eleven novels and ten short stories...

. It tells the story of how "Hot Soup" Han Tzu got into Battle School. It appears in Card's Webzine InterGalactic Medicine Show

Intergalactic Medicine Show

InterGalactic Medicine Show is an American online fantasy and science fiction magazine. It was founded by multiple award-winning author Orson Scott Card. An anthology also called Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show was published by Tor in August, 2008, featuring selected stories from...

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Plot summary

"Cheater" is the story of Han Tzu as a child. Han Tzu was born in Nanyang, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 and was a descendent of Yuan Shikai

Yuan Shikai

Yuan Shikai was an important Chinese general and politician famous for his influence during the late Qing Dynasty, his role in the events leading up to the abdication of the last Qing Emperor of China, his autocratic rule as the second President of the Republic of China , and his short-lived...

, 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. When he got a little older, 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 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 is.

Characters

• Han Tzu
• Han Tzu's father - unnamed
• Han Tzu's mama - unnamed
• Tutors - mostly unnamed
• Wei Dun-nuan - language tutor
• Shen Guo-rong - testing tutor
• Boys to play with - unnamed
• Girls to play with - unnamed
• Mu-ren - household cook
• Pei-Tian - father's driver
• International Fleet testers - unnamed
• Soldier - unnamed

Audio

In addition to the text version of the story, "Cheater" is also available from InterGalactic Medicine Show as an audio download. The story was read by Orson Scott Card himself.

Publication

"Cheater" was published in the October 2006 issue of Intergalactic Medicine Show. It also appears in the anthology Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show

Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show

Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show is an anthology edited by Edmund R. Schubert and Orson Scott Card.Originally published in paperback by Tor Books in August 2008 , It contains eighteen stories from Card's online magazine InterGalactic Medicine Show including four from Card set in his...

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