Legend Management Bureau Chapter 206

[ … words ]

What exactly was going on?

The group was too shocked to speak.

“It is simple. This is a matter of probability,” Du Yu explained with a smile. “This ugly gentleman here just claimed that if he played a few more rounds with me, he could bankrupt me. That is simply impossible.”

Xie Bi’an froze. “Who are you calling ugly…”

“The more times you play, the higher the probability of you losing,” Du Yu stated slowly.

“But why…?” The group still could not quite grasp the concept.

“There are twenty-four stones in total, in three colors with eight of each. If someone randomly draws twelve stones, there are exactly 2,704,156 possible combinations. The ‘eight-four-zero’ combination that earns a player one hundred copper coins only accounts for 420 of those possibilities. Meanwhile, the ‘five-four-three’ combination, which requires the player to pay the house ten coppers, accounts for 1,317,120 possibilities. Do you understand now?”

The others replied almost in unison, “We do not understand…”

“Simply put, the chance of drawing an ‘eight-four-zero’ is 0.02 percent, while the chance of drawing a ‘five-four-three’ is 48.17 percent. Calculated by probability, a player loses an average of 4.87 coppers every time they play. Now do you understand?”

Du Yu’s expression shifted. The shrewd and capable aura from moments ago vanished, replaced by a look of sheer disgust. “Seventh Lord, how can you be this dense? Even I understood it!” he blurted out.

The group was completely bewildered by Du Yu’s sudden shift in attitude.

“In short, it is a guaranteed profit without any risk. The more they play, the more we earn!” Du Yu declared. “Our chances of losing money are so minuscule that they can be completely ignored!”

The group was still half-doubtful, but after trying it out for themselves a few times, they found it to be exactly as he claimed.

Striking while the iron was hot, Du Yu grabbed the wooden sign and the cloth sack, leading everyone out the door. He originally wanted the Can and Kui brothers to stay in the room and recover from their injuries, but they were worried about his safety and insisted on following along.

And just like that, the “Money-Making Squad,” consisting of three refugees and three beggars, was officially formed.

They set up a stall at a relatively bustling street corner near the market entrance. The group stood behind it, waiting for someone to take the bait.

Perhaps it was because Du Yu and his companions were dressed in such ragged clothes, but they waited for quite a while without a single passerby glancing their way.

“Good grief, do they think we are begging here?” Du Yu pondered for a moment. To successfully draw people in, they definitely needed a gimmick.

“Come one, come all! Take a look! Draw some stones and turn your bicycle into a motorcycle!” Du Yu hollered.

Beside him, Xiao Nian burst into giggles.

Du Yu blinked in confusion. “Xiao Nian, what are you laughing at?”

Xie Bi’an frowned and muttered, “She is probably laughing at your nonsense… What exactly is a ‘bicycle,’ and what in the world is a ‘motorcycle’?”

“Uh… my mistake.” Du Yu thought for a second before shouting again, “Draw some stones, and turn a little chick into a fat goose!”

Sure enough, the most straightforward words achieved the most immediate results.

Many commoners were drawn in and strolled over to inspect the bizarre stall.

“One copper per try! Prizes for winning, penalties for losing!” Du Yu shouted. “You can earn up to one hundred coppers for free! Come and try your luck!”

The crowd stared at the sign on the stall, deep in thought.

Hauling cargo at the docks only earned a person ten coppers a day, yet this stall offered a chance to win one hundred coppers in a single go?

“Aren’t you the black and white beggars from the City God Temple? Have you struck it rich and decided to provide relief to the townsfolk?”

The awkwardness on Fan Wujiu’s face was beyond words. He genuinely wanted to help the townsfolk, but the two of them had relied on charity meals since they were children. Let alone providing relief to the locals, it was a blessing just to not need relief from them.

“It is not exactly relief for the townsfolk… We just wanted to play a game with everyone,” Xie Bi’an explained. “This game has wins and losses. I might make some money, or you might make some money. Win or lose, let us not take it to heart. Times are tough, so let us just treat this as a bit of fun. How does that sound?”

Hearing Xie Bi’an’s pitch, the locals were visibly tempted. Before long, a young man stepped forward and asked, “You are not scamming us, are you?”

“Scamming?” Xie Bi’an chuckled, handing over the cloth bag. “Empty all the stones out and let everyone see for themselves.”

The young man took the bag and scattered the stones on the ground. Sure enough, there were twenty-four in total, eight of each color. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the stones, nor was there any trick to the cloth bag.

“Well?” Xie Bi’an looked at the young man, adopting the same provocative tone Du Yu had used on him earlier. “Do you dare to play?”

“Why would I not dare?” The young man scooped the stones back into the bag and pulled out a single copper coin. “I will play a round!”

Xie Bi’an accepted the coin and gestured. “Please!”

For his first draw, the young man pulled out eight stones. Counting them, he realized he was short by four, so he reached in and drew four more.

He tallied the colors: five, five, and two.

“Hey!” The young man grinned. “Does this mean I won?”

“Indeed.” Xie Bi’an returned the copper coin the young man had handed him moments prior. “You won one copper, so I am returning this to you.”

The young man paused, completely surprised that he had not lost a single cent and had even come close to making a profit.

“Will you play another round?” Xie Bi’an asked.

“No… hehe, I will stop for now. I just want to watch.” The young man took his copper and quietly stepped aside.

Xie Bi’an was momentarily stunned. Why had the man stopped playing?

“Little Du, if everyone leaves after winning, we still will not make any money…” Xie Bi’an whispered, his face etched with worry.

“Relax. It is even better if they leave after a win,” Du Yu reassured him. “This way, some will win and some will lose, which will naturally attract a larger crowd.”

“Are you saying… it is actually a bad thing if the same person keeps playing?”

“Of course,” Du Yu nodded. “The longer a single person plays, the more they will lose. If that happens, anyone would be able to tell that the game is rigged.”

Just as predicted, the young man breaking even so easily quickly ignited the crowd’s interest. No one had ever seen such a peculiar game before; it was both thrilling and highly entertaining.

The townsfolk eagerly fished out their money.

Exactly as Du Yu had foreseen, some quit while they were ahead, while others became thoroughly addicted.

But no matter how many times the crowd gambled, the “five-four-three” combination appeared the most frequently. Throughout the entire morning, even though quite a few people won the “ten coppers” grand prize, the squad’s earnings steadily climbed.

Before long, a massive line had formed. Left with no choice, Du Yu dispatched Xiao Nian and the Can and Kui brothers to open a branch stall. They quickly fashioned an identical set of equipment and began serving customers right next to Du Yu’s original spot.

“Seventh Brother…” Fan Wujiu muttered softly. “Is it really alright for us to deceive the townsfolk like this…?”

“Deceive?” Xie Bi’an blinked in surprise. “Old Eighth, do not spout such nonsense. How are we deceiving the townsfolk?”

“Uh…” Fan Wujiu considered his words carefully. “In the end, playing this game will cause them to lose money. Many of these locals have helped us in the past… Doing this just feels a bit immoral…”

“Stop overthinking it, Old Eighth.” Xie Bi’an pondered for a moment before replying, “Even though I have never earned money before, if you think about it, is this not how all money is made? You choose a method everyone can accept, and you move the money from their pockets into your own.”

While Fan Wujiu felt that Xie Bi’an had a point, his conscience still gnawed at him.

By the afternoon, roughly a thousand people had come and gone. The two stalls had raked in a combined total of over three thousand coppers, and that was after deducting the three hundred coppers paid out to the three lucky winners of the grand prize.

At this point, never mind three people winning; even if thirty people hit the jackpot, they could easily afford to pay out.

Not just Fan Wujiu and Xie Bi’an, but even Du Yu had not expected to make this much money.

“That is about enough,” Du Yu announced. “Once we finish with this last wave, we will pack up. Today, I am taking everyone out to dine.”

“Out… out to dine?” Xie Bi’an asked blankly. “What does it mean to dine out?”

“Dining out means going to a proper eatery for a meal. Using our own hard-earned money to buy food.”

“Huh?” Fan Wujiu and Xie Bi’an asked, their faces filled with horror. “Go to a restaurant? Can we do that? We are beggars.”

“What kind of talk is that? As long as we have money, whether we are beggars or thugs, they have to serve us food.”

The three of them were in the middle of discussing what delicious dishes to order when they heard a commotion break out at the nearby stall run by Xiao Nian and the Can and Kui brothers.

“You lot are definitely cheating!” a burly man roared. “I have played over twenty times already! I have thrown in at least eighty coppers, if not a hundred, but I still have not hit the grand prize. If that is not a scam, what is?”

Xiao Nian offered an apologetic smile. “Dear customer, I can only say that your luck has been somewhat lacking. The stones and the cloth bag were in your hands the entire time. How could we possibly cheat?”

“I do not care!” the burly man barked furiously. “If it is not a scam, then it is witchcraft! You are definitely using black magic! None of these rounds count. You have to give my money back!”

Du Yu sighed. He knew someone like this would eventually show up. He slowly walked over and reasoned, “Brother, as the saying goes, one must accept defeat gracefully when gambling. We have paid out plenty of money today, but you do not see us asking the townsfolk to hand it back. Since you lost, how can you demand a refund?”

Hearing Du Yu’s words, the surrounding crowd naturally felt he made sense. A few of the locals who had previously won a hundred coppers loudly voiced their support for the stall.

The burly man glared at Du Yu. Likely deciding that Du Yu was not someone easily messed with, he ignored him and continued to harass Xiao Nian.

“You brat! Answer me this! I have played so many times, it should have been my turn by now, right? Why do I keep losing money?”

Xiao Nian was getting a bit angry herself. “What do you mean you keep losing? Did you not win the ‘ten coppers’ prize twice just now? If you had walked away then, you would have made a profit! You were the one who chose to throw your winnings back in. We did not force you to do anything.”

“Oh?” The burly man scoffed in disbelief. “I did not realize you had such a sharp tongue, you little wench! If I do not get my money back today, your business is finished!”

With that, he reached out and grabbed Xiao Nian by her collar. She let out a shriek of panic.

Standing behind her, the Can and Kui brothers prepared to intervene, but they paused when they saw Du Yu subtly shake his head.

‘Xiao Nian, oh Xiao Nian…’ Du Yu thought to himself. ‘Let us see just what kind of monster you truly are.’