Chapter 2598: Chapter 819: Xiao Xiao’s Joke

End the consulting session.

Zheng Qing was the first to leave the Yota restaurant.

Xin Fat Man escorted him to the restaurant door, then pulled him aside while Zheng Qing was hanging an Armor Horse Charm on his leg.

"When do you plan to find Sister Korma to discuss the interview?" Clearly, he was quite interested in the interview subjects mentioned by the blonde witch: "I have plenty of free time..."

Zheng Qing was very cautious and made no commitments on this matter.

"We’ll see... You can’t always plan these things."

He said dismissively, noticing the sugar frosting on the Fat Wizard’s lips, which reminded him of another matter. He glanced into the depths of the restaurant and lowered his voice slightly: "By the way, when did you start seeing Miss Barnes? Why didn’t you tell us? You two didn’t dance together last Christmas, right... Don’t rush to deny it. That ’darling’ you dropped earlier shook the entire restaurant with goosebumps... If it weren’t for today’s meeting, were you planning to keep it hidden? Besides, I remember you were always interested in Li Meng before?"

He teased, his eyes flashing with the fiery light of gossip.

Xin Fat Man rolled his eyes.

"You remembered this one clearly enough." He muttered, somewhat sheepishly glancing back, then cleared his throat and spoke earnestly: "In the past, it was just being immature, joking with you, okay? What’s the point in little girls having interests or not! People grow up!"

Zheng Qing looked at him with contempt.

"What’s with that look!"

The Fat Wizard immediately felt dissatisfied, gently slapping his large palm on the young man’s shoulder: "You say you don’t know, but you didn’t seem very surprised just now, did you? When did you find out about us? Did you have the Doctor divine it? Have you studied ’The Code’? Divination without the consent of the subjects is illegal!"

As he spoke, he scrutinized Zheng Qing up and down, his gaze filled with examination and wariness, dragging even Doctor Xiao in the far-off library into unwarranted suspicion.

This is a classic case of turning the tables, accusing the other side.

"Not being surprised simply means I was already psychologically prepared."

Zheng Qing clicked his tongue lightly and corrected the Fat Wizard’s false accusations: "This has nothing to do with the Doctor. I heard Balash·Sasan mention your romance with Miss Barnes when I was at Shanglin Garden this time, so Miss Barnes didn’t go... But as for Li Meng, hey, whether you were joking or serious back then, I was well aware."

The last sentence instantly tore Xin down.

"If you were aware, you wouldn’t ask such nonsense questions!"

He looked blue-faced and indignant: "You ask why I haven’t told you all... Does Dylan come home every day and tell you how many pretty girls he met at the mixer? Did you know when the Doctor first went on a date with Teacher Sima? And you, have you ever made your past love life clear to us? Or did I ever ask when you broke up with Elena, when you got together with Jiang Yu, or when you had a kid with Su Councilor?"

The emotions cleverly escalated, and the rebuttals were forceful.

Until the end, three consecutive strikes, each one deadly.

Zheng Qing promptly covered his face and walked away.

...

...

On Tuesday afternoon, the regular schedule was Professor Montreya’s Magic Script class.

When Zheng Qing arrived at the classroom, only a few people were present. Jiang Yu wasn’t there, Xin and Zhang Ji Xin hadn’t arrived either. In the familiar corner, only Xiao Xiao was buried at his desk, scribbling in his notebook, busy with who knows what.

"Did you know Fat Man is dating Miss Linda Barnes?" Zheng Qing rarely indulged in other people’s gossip and was naturally very eager, ready to spread the word.

"I guessed as much." Xiao Xiao replied nonchalantly, without looking up.

"It’s like a flower on a cow pat."

Zheng Qing shook his head, recalling the sugar-frosted Fat Wizard in the restaurant just now, quite moved: "Totally unimaginable, why Miss Barnes agreed."

The Doctor finally lifted his head, squinting at him: "Everyone can say that except for you. Your gap with Su Councilor is much larger than Xin’s gap with Miss Barnes. Did we ever say anything? If Xin is a cow pat, then you..."

He frowned, pondering for a while, and eventually, compromised by shaking his head.

"...I can’t even imagine what you would be."

Sincerely shrugging his shoulders, adjusting his glasses, he coldly added: "As for why Miss Barnes agreed? Haha, despite Fat Brother’s poor physique, both his lineage and abilities are outstanding in the First University. It’s just that your knack for attracting trouble slightly eclipsed Fat Brother’s glory."

Zheng Qing hadn’t expected to get a verbal thrashing while discussing someone else’s gossip.

He squeezed the piece of ink jade in his hand.

The jade, already embodying a kitten’s shape, twisted in his palm, as if about to come to life at any moment. Zheng Qing couldn’t help but glance at it, only to find it still just a piece of lifeless rock.

"Was the ’professional’ Fat Brother recommended, really Miss Barnes?" Xiao Xiao now returned to the topic, recalling the lunchtime conversation: "How did your talk go?"

Zheng Qing hesitated for a moment.

Finally, with resignation, he simply recounted his dialogue with the blonde witch, emphasizing her strategy to ’fight poison with poison,’ using rumors to aid his escape.

"Sounds like a good method." Xiao Xiao made no further comments on this plan, noticing Zheng Qing’s hopeful look, he shook his head: "The key to this approach is how to spread as many rumors as widely as possible. It’s beyond what a few students like us at the university can achieve... So, don’t expect much help from me on this matter... what she said was rather interesting."

"Which sentence?"

"Facts aren’t synonymous with the truth, and rumors aren’t all negative."

Xiao Xiao picked up his pen to jot down this sentence in his black notebook, repeating it several times with satisfaction and nodding: "Sometimes adding qualifiers is distorting the truth, and sometimes removing qualifiers is also distorting it. The carrier of public opinion is language, and language is naturally flawed. The despicable always exploit it, and the foolish always trust it.

This reminded me of an old joke: an Alpha Academy graduate went to the Beta Town Post for a journalist interview. The interviewer asked him, ’If Lei Zhe and Augustus both participated in the hunting competition, and Lei Zhe won, how would you report this?’ The young wizard thought for a while and replied, ’Augustus, after relentless effort, miraculously achieved second place. Lei Zhe, however, only obtained the second-to-last result.’ The interviewer was very satisfied and immediately hired him."

This joke, cold and sharp, was no different from the ones the Doctor used to tell.

Sitting in the sunlight, Zheng Qing couldn’t help but shiver.