Their commission was suspicious.

"Just the right to borrow it," Chen Luo said definitively.

"..." Patchouli stared at Chen Luo for a while before slowly nodding. Patchouli wasn't sure if Chen Luo had realized her true intentions or if that was what he originally thought, but it didn't matter.

After all, some books read for leisure are also quite valuable.

If it's just for one person to borrow, it's not a big problem.

“Then, let’s sign a contract,” Patchouli said, placing a piece of parchment on the table.

"Huh?" Chen Luo was stunned for a moment when he saw the contract that Patchouli had placed on the table.

Then, in the next moment, he subconsciously moved away from the contract.

The more you understand contracts, the more you realize just how damn deceptive they can be.

Moreover, in the past, it was always Chen Luo who presented contracts for others to sign. This was the first time someone else presented a contract for Chen Luo to sign, and Chen Luo was genuinely a little scared.

After seeing Chen Luo's reaction, Patchouli suddenly became interested.

"Have you ever been scammed by someone using a contract?" Patchouli asked with interest.

"Uh, more or less..."

I've used contracts to cheat people before.

But it's really not much different from being scammed.

"Don't worry, this is a special contract between mages. It can automatically be woven into a normal contract based on the verbal agreement between the two people, so there's no need to worry about anyone playing word games or cheating in the contract. Besides, it's just giving up the private borrowing rights of the Grand Library, which isn't anything valuable to me," Patchouli said calmly.

Patchouli was telling the truth this time.

After all, Patchouli's large library has so many books that borrowing a few wouldn't be a problem.

“Besides, I wouldn’t feel comfortable letting you perform the removal surgery without a contract, because who knows if you might remove something that’s important to me?” Patchouli continued.

Since Chen Luo has made it clear that he is afraid of contracts, Patchouli doesn't mind making it clear that she is wary of him.

"Sigh, why can't there be more trust between people?" Chen Luo sighed.

Chen Luo now regrets not coming here after obtaining the "108 Anti-Fraud Methods" from Shi Bao.

The current situation is an awkward one where Patchouli doesn't trust Chen Luo, and Chen Luo doesn't trust Patchouli either.

The key point is that Chen Luo doesn't dare to use his Herrscher of Knowledge ability here.

Because the other party is a knowledgeable sage of the Seven Luminaries, who knows if she knows mind magic? No, I should say she definitely knows mind magic.

If you can read someone's mind, they will definitely know.

After staring intently at the other person for two minutes, Chen Luo slowly nodded.

Because fate told Chen Luo that nothing bad had happened.

Although Chen Luo's ability with the Fate Threads is more inclined to manipulate the Fate Threads to change and control the fate of others, rather than to predict the future, it still comes with some predictive and warning effects.

"Alright, the price I'm paying is that you can borrow any book in my library, but no more than five at a time, and each borrowing period cannot exceed one month. If a book is damaged or lost, I'll compensate you accordingly, depending on my mood. Of course, if I'm in a good mood, I might even give it to you for free," Patchouli said, in a fairly cheerful mood.

The other party was in such a good mood for two reasons: firstly, because their asthma might actually be curable; and secondly, because a mage's wariness of another mage always stems from the latter's power.

Chapter 498 Teacher MQ's Anti-Fraud Lesson

"The price I'm paying is to help you cure your asthma, it's that simple," Chen Luo said.

“Simple, but valuable enough,” Patchouli nodded.

As Chen Luo and Patchouli conversed, the parchment, which had been imbued with a trace of magic by both of them, slowly floated up, and then lines of writing appeared on it.

As Patchouli clearly said, their words would become a corresponding contract and be recorded on this parchment.

"To add to that, when you are treating me, you must not remove or add anything that is not related to the treatment of asthma, except for the procedures necessary for treating asthma," Patchouli continued.

Taking away Patchouli's talent is something Patchouli cannot bear, but if the other party adds something to her, Patchouli cannot bear it either. It is indeed necessary to be so cautious when signing a contract.

"Okay." Chen Luo nodded.

"Hmm? Don't you need to add any supplementary items?" Patchouli asked, seeing that Chen Luo didn't seem to have any intention of adding any more supplementary items.

"Before me stands the Seven Luminaries Sage, known as the Immovable Great Library. If it were merely a contest of cunning and knowledge, even ten of me wouldn't be a match for you right now. So, I can only rely on my sincerity to resolve this. Besides, I've already stated all my requests; I genuinely just want to borrow books," Chen Luo said honestly.

Chen Luo really just wanted to borrow the book.

Yes, and also, they used Patchouli as a guinea pig.

Why do you think Chen Luo would treat Patchouli's asthma? First, it would make it easier for him to borrow books; second, it would allow him to collect raw gems; and third, it would let Patchouli be his guinea pig first.

Because Chen Luo wasn't very familiar with his ability to peel away obstacles, he didn't dare to immediately remove the witch's curse from Yun Lian'er as soon as he entered the arena.

The witch's curse on Patchouli might be a transformation of human's congenital genetic asthma, but on Yun Lian'er, it is a genuine curse.

So let's try Patchouli first.

If the problem can be solved with Patchouli, there's no reason why it shouldn't be solved with Yun Lian'er, right?

"Don't worry, I don't mind if it's just borrowing books." Patchouli nodded.

Patchouli is always very confident in her extensive knowledge, and if someone praises Patchouli for this, it will be easier to win their favor.

Chen Luo's sincerity seemed to have won Patchouli's trust, and Patchouli gave up on adding any new options.

After all, Chen Luo didn't add any supplementary clauses, while Patchouli added many to trap the other party, so she now felt it wasn't that necessary.

“Oh, right, Miss Patchouli, if it were just about treating your asthma, these terms would certainly suffice, but I remember you promised to pay extra, right?” Chen Luo pointed to the little devil standing next to Patchouli.

Although the purpose was to test Chen Luo's methods, it's also true that Chen Luo almost died from exhaustion while performing surgery on the little devil.

“Yes, I promised. Now, tell me, what do you want?” Patchouli nodded.

Patchouli didn't see anything wrong with this, because she had indeed promised to pay more.

"Is there any book or knowledge about contracts? Although Patchouli, as one of the Seven Luminaries Sages and the Immovable Great Library, wouldn't try to trick me with contracts, but..." Chen Luo hesitated.

Are you afraid that someone will cheat you on a contract?

"……Um."

But I have to cheat others on the contract.

However, the difference is not significant.

Ancient martial arts can be used for self-defense as well as for killing.

Books about contracts can both prevent you from being scammed and also scam you, right?

“Your request is quite coincidental. It just so happens that my library doesn’t have any books on this subject, but I do have the knowledge in this area. Come find me in two days to get them,” Patchouli said after thinking for a moment.

"Thank you, Miss Patchouli."

Patchouli needed these two days to write her book.

As their conversation ended, the parchment contract that had been floating in the air slowly fell down.

This parchment contract records everything that Chen Luo and the other person had just said.

Even Chen Luo's praise for Patchouli.

This contract also has the ability to be edited. After discussion between Patchouli and Chen Luo, Patchouli deleted some unnecessary words from it.

"How is it? Is it ready?" Patchouli asked after showing the contract to Chen Luo again.

"Yes, that's fine." After carefully reviewing the contract, Chen Luo nodded.

"Contractual Precautions #1: Never relinquish the initiative when signing a contract to others, because they can always change the meaning of the contract from various angles, including but not limited to, hiding the beginning and the end." Patchouli said in a reprimanding tone after seeing Chen Luo nod.

"???" Chen Luo tilted his head.

But as Chen Luo's gaze followed Patchouli's slender fingers as they slid across the contract, he understood what Patchouli meant.

"!!!"

"No way, this works?" Chen Luo was shocked.

Chen Luo now understands just how wise it was to have made the decision to create the items and take control when he signed the contract with Yakumo Shion and Raizan Kaguya.

“Why not?” Patchouli retorted.

"Now look at this contract again, what's wrong with it?" Patchouli asked Chen Luo after deleting one of the first words and changing the meaning of the first line.

"..."

In what was clearly a contract signing occasion, Patchouli began to teach Chen Luo how to guard against being tricked by others during the contract signing process, and how to do so.

Meanwhile, Yukari Yakumo, who was observing Chen Luo's movements through her gap ability, fell into deep thought.

"Oh no, why did Chen Luo have to ask for this kind of knowledge? He'll be even harder to fool in the future!" Yukari Yakumo looked at Patchouli, who was teaching Chen Luo about contracts, with a headache.

To be fair, Yukari Yakumo's knowledge is quite diverse, but it's all knowledge she's gained through her own hard work and experience as a youkai sage.

If we're talking about which teacher in Gensokyo is best suited to impart knowledge to students, Patchouli Noreki would be the top choice.

The most crucial reason is that Patchouli, due to the nature of her studies and the fact that she had written many books, was always able to systematically integrate her knowledge.

As for Yakumo Yukari, the only way she can teach Chen Luo is through her experience.

So Chen Luo unintentionally drew a royal flush.

In the past, Chen Luo only knew how to use small verbal traps, and he only used them to tease others.

But now...

"With this knowledge and the Book of Contracts, who knows who will be the next unlucky one? But whatever, it's not me anyway." Yakumo Yukari always has a knack for gloating.

So he watched the show from the sidelines while listening to Patchouli Norrell impart her knowledge to Professor Chen Luo.

As a wise yokai, Yakumo Yukari's strengths lie in her ability to keep up with the times and her willingness to learn.

Even though they were taught by the same master, they might not be able to break through the moves.

Chen Luo can't trick Yakumo Yukari, and Yakumo Yukari can't trick Chen Luo. But Yakumo Yukari can use this knowledge to trick others.

……

Teacher Q's lecture finally ended with Chen Luo's interruption.

Although Chen Luo didn't mind listening to Teacher MuQ's tricks on how to swindle and deceive in contracts, the problem was that the other party seemed to have a lot to say.

After confirming several times that the contract had been revised to be completely correct, Chen Luo signed his name, and the contract was successfully concluded.

Unlike Tyrion's rudimentary surgery, Tyrion only needed the mixed curse removed, without any other procedures, not even surgery, and naturally, no sterile environment was required.

Patchouli is different. Her asthma is almost developing into a curse, which requires special treatment to remove. In addition, Chen Luo does need to operate on her to cure her actual asthma.

So Chen Luo directly requisitioned one of their workshops and then carried out sterilization.

You asked how to disinfect?

I just used the Magic Ball spell to blast it.

Although the entire magic workshop was blackened by the explosion, the good news is that it has indeed met the minimum standards for performing surgery, which is the so-called high-temperature sterilization.

Although Patchouli said she was really heartbroken about this, it seems that the Scarlet Devil Mansion really doesn't have a sterile environment.

……

"The surgery was a success, you're... never mind, you're all better now." An hour later, Chen Luo said to Patchouli, who was still groggily opening her eyes.

Chen Luo originally planned to bring Patchouli back to life, but after thinking about it, he realized that the idea seemed to have died out a long time ago, so he gave up on it.

The surgery lasted an hour, 15 minutes were spent removing the curse from Patchouli, and the rest of the time was spent treating her asthma.

After the surgery, Chen Luo's thought was that Patchouli was indeed a hidden giant.

But Chen Luo was actually more interested in Patchouli's curse.

"Ugh..." Patchouli, who was slowly waking up, clutched her chest.

"Cough cough." Patchouli coughed twice on purpose, and only breathed a sigh of relief after finding that it did not trigger her asthma.

"It actually worked!" Although Patchouli was already convinced of Chen Luo's abilities based on his performance on the little devil, she was still very surprised and delighted that her asthma had actually been cured.

"Thank you," Patchouli said to Chen Luo.

"You're welcome. But speaking of which, after using the Insect-Disposal Magic, you are no longer a human being, are you?" Chen Luo seemed quite concerned about this aspect.

Because when Chen Luo was dissecting Patchouli, he did indeed feel the difference between her body and that of an ordinary human.