Release that Man

“That mathematician.” Ye Shuang brought the young man to one of the card tables and lifted her chin to point at a bespectacled middle-aged man not far away. “Counting all the losses, his win rate over the past few days has been 59%. You might not think that number is high, but he’s one of the more famous ‘Gambling Gods’ at this casino. He’s Chinese, and I believe he’s a university professor for mathematics or something related. With his superhuman memory and calculation, his trick to win is to calculate the probability.

“You don’t believe me‽ In the year 1994, a second-year Chinese student at MIT was invited to join a card-counting research group. The group used their high intelligence to win several hundred thousand in Vegas. If you to go Vegas today, you might even see the names of these math genius on their black list. The Chinese used the winnings to start a sport betting company and still uses his talent in math to calculate the probability of sports winning.”

Ye Shuang looked at the young man’s face of disbelief and swirled the wine in her glass. “So, here’s the question—how smart are you? How much did you score in your math exam? Are you familiar with statistics? If you don’t know anything, how do you expect to win?”

F*ck! Bookworms sure are annoying! The young man looked at Ye Shuang with tears in his eyes. He looked just like a puppy.

Ye Shuang took a small sip of the wine and led the young man forward. Two tables later, she pointed at a silver-haired foreigner. “Among the losses of that mathematician, at least 12% were due to this psychologist. He is a profiler for a country’s special unit. You don’t need to know the details. Even though he doesn’t know how to count cards, everyone’s expression is like an open book before the man. Whether you’re holding a good hand or you’re just calling a bluff, he can see it from one glance. The man is here for a reason other than money—the bigger reason is to train himself. His win rate is 63%, but do you know who he’ll never play against‽”

The young man was almost kneeling. He had thought that gambling was just something for fun, a game, but after hearing what Ye Shuang had to say, he realized how ignorant he had been. Was it really suitable for someone like him to appear at a location where so many experts were hiding in plain sight‽

Thinking about the man’s talent, the young man could not help the admiration from coming to his face. “Is it the physicist that Brother Shuang mentioned earlier? Or the con artist?”

“The physicist doesn’t need to play with them because his specialty is the spinning wheel and slot machines. The con artist’s ploy is similar to the psychologist but with a little additional acting.” Ye Shuang shook her head. “No guesses? Then I shall tell you. That person is a woman…”

She looked around and finally pointed at a beautiful woman. “That’s her.”

The young man felt like saluting. “And this expert is?”

Then he saw the woman leaning against an old man with her chest. The young man fell silent. Well that doesn’t look like an expert at all.

Ye Shuang could not help but laugh. “The woman has undergone many cosmetic surgeries. Her chin has been shaped, the nose raised, the cheeks fixed, and not to mention all the Botox. Because there are too many things artificial about her, her facial expression has become overly stiff, so the psychologist cannot tell her actual emotion.”

Playing with such plastic would be a lowering of one’s standard. No matter how good he was, he could only rely on his life. Even the Face Reader would have had a chance of being beaten when playing with her. The young man was silent still.

“A place with a good economy will naturally attract many gamblers.” Ye Shuang was not in a hurry to get into the games. Since fate had led her to the young man twice already, she figured she would take the time to save the lamb.

She brought the young man to an unoccupied sofa. After the young man sat down beside her, she said, “Around ten years ago, a politician from one of the western cities propose legalizing casinos to help push the economy. Naturally, the proposal was denied, but from this, one can observe that the public’s reception for gambling is actually very high because most of us gamble.

“There is a small percentage of people who might be lucky to get rich over night at a casino, but do you know how small that percentage is? If we calculate this using probability, the percentage of people who get rich from gambling is so small that I cannot use a number to represent it. However, the percentage of people who go bankrupt over gambling is as high as forty percent.” Ye Shuang looked at the young man seriously and reached out to touch the man’s soft hair. “It is just like the lottery. There will be one winner but tens of thousands of losers. From that, you should know this is not the right path to walk on.”

The young man was slightly disappointed. “But you won so much that day.”

“That is because there was a cheater standing behind you that day, and I purposely misled the man by showing him the wrong cards.” And more importantly, she was better at face reading than the psychologist. Ye Shuang sipped on the wine with a smile, and when she exposed the reality, the young man’s eyes widened with shock. “You’re that surprised‽ I’ve already told you, gambling is more than just pure luck.”

Ye Shuang did not leave immediately. She called the waitress over to order some snacks, and when she was about to pay, the young man who had been troubled offered to pay on her behalf. Ye Shuang did not mind it, and the young man did not really lose. If she did not say those words, the lamb would have been slaughtered for much worse at the casino.

However, this was different in other people’s eyes. With the impression that ‘the one paying has to be the leader’, when the young man’s friend came over and saw this scene, he assumed that Ye Shuang was some rising star who attached himself to a sugar daddy.

“I’ve already noticed this when we were outside, isn’t this Mr. Ye who was cameoing in Celebrity Luo’s latest film‽” The young man whom they had met at the entrance came over. He had almost finished a few rounds himself from the looks of it. He greeted Ye Shuang and immediately ignored her. Then he turned to sit down on the other side of the young man. “You Yang, is your family going to invest in movies soon‽ Why aren’t you playing today? What’s the point in just sitting here‽”

So, the boy’s family is a rich one‽ Ye Shuang sipped on her wine with a smile and brushed off the young man’s condescending attitude.

You Yang glanced at Ye Shuang in apology, and when he realized the man was not angry and even had the luxury to sip on his wine, he sighed in relief and told his friend, “Brother Ye is not that type of person… and gambling is not good for you!”

The young man did not even know the type of expression he should show. Who would go to a casino to denounce gambling‽

If you’re not going to play, why come? Don’t come and not play!

Seeing the conflicted expression on the young man’s face, Ye Shuang could not help but chuckle. The young man recovered, and he glared at Ye Shuang, but it only caused Ye Shuang to laugh even harder. You Yang also chuckled out of embarrassment. He had probably realized how strange he sounded, so he used his elbow to knock into his friend and asked in a joking manner, “Did you win or lose?”

“Lose.” The young man’s attention was distracted, and he sighed as he leaned backward. “It’s just for fun. It’s not easy to win here. But what can I do? The client doesn’t like women, doesn’t like drinking, but he likes gambling, so I have to accompany him.”

You Yang mocked the young man for a while some more. Since Ye Shuang did not know his friend, he quickly made the introduction. “Brother Ye, this is Zuo Feiyang. His family is in the hotel business and international tourism.”

“Hmm, nice to meet you.” The young man nodded slightly. He was still not that keen on Ye Shuang.

Ye Shuang was surprised when she heard the surname. “Zuo? Hotel‽”

Then she laughed. “Mr. Zuo’s family is from the Si Hai Organization?”

The young man did not think it was strange. His family was famous in Chaohai—everyone knew about him—so he was not surprised that Ye Shuang recognized him. “Yes, you’ve heard of us?”

“Yes, from a friend.” Ye Shuang’s smile deepened. This was such a coincidence.

The client that the trader was serving was the Si Hai Organization. Connecting that to what he said earlier, the ‘client’ who had brought him and You Yang to the casino was obvious. “I hear Mr. Zuo’s family has been working with the Xi Hwa Organization recently. Are their people the ones who brought you two to the casino‽”

“Brother Ye, why are you so concerned about Feiyang’s family‽” You Yang groused. “My family owns a large fruit plantation too. Why don’t I see you being concerned about me‽”

The little boy was like a dog that had been ignored because his owner had found a different puppy to shower his love on. However, neither Feiyang nor Ye Shuang had time for him.

Zuo Feiyang, who had appeared lazy, suddenly frowned with alarm. “That cooperation has never been revealed to the public. How did you find out?”

Ye Shuang chuckled. She was about to come up with a reason when the man berated You Yang severely. “You’re even leaking important information to outsiders now‽”