"Oh?"
The Human Pig was a bit puzzled.
"I don't understand what you mean."
Old Lu was also a little confused.
"Kid, what are you saying? Does this game actually have a guaranteed way to win?"
"I wouldn't dare say it's a guaranteed win."
Qi Xia shook his head.
"But the Pig game is absolutely not a luck-based game, it is probability through and through."
"What do you mean?"
Old Lu was completely baffled.
"No matter how you distribute them, there are fifty black pieces and fifty white pieces. That means your probability of drawing either piece is always one in two."
"Is that so?"
Qi Xia shook his head noncommittally.
"It is exactly because of this point that the game appears to be a luck-based game."
"Let me tell you the truth, kid."
Old Lu leaned in close to Qi Xia's ear and whispered, "The first time, I separated the black and white pieces. That way, as long as I picked the bowl with the black pieces, I would win. Too bad I lost.
The second time, I evenly distributed the black and white pieces into the two bowls, but in the end, I still didn't draw a black piece. My luck was just too terrible."
Old Lu rubbed his chin and continued, "Thinking about it carefully, if the ratio is broken and each bowl has an uneven number of black and white pieces, it would actually make it even harder for me to draw a black piece. So no matter how you look at it, there can't be a guaranteed way to win."
Qi Xia nodded.
"It is impossible to guarantee a win in this game. I can only try my best to increase my chances of winning."
"Hm? You have a way?"
Qi Xia did not answer him, but instead turned to the Human Pig and said, "I am ready.
Let's begin."
The Human Pig gave a simple-minded chuckle, then reached out his hand in a gesture of invitation.
"Begin your distribution."
Qi Xia looked at the two identical bowls, then looked at the black and white pieces that shared the exact same texture and feel. Silently, he grabbed a handful of pieces and placed them into a bowl. Old Lu watched Qi Xia in silence, not knowing how he was going to arrange these one hundred pieces.
He watched as Qi Xia kept grabbing pieces and tossing them continuously into the bowl, as if he wasn't counting the number of black and white pieces at all.
"Hey, is this going to work?"
Old Lu asked with some hesitation.
"Shouldn't you count how many you've already put in?"
Qi Xia did not speak. He just kept throwing pieces into one single bowl. Old Lu and Lin Qin exchanged a glance.
Neither of them knew what Qi Xia was trying to do. It wasn't until Qi Xia had thrown all the pieces into the exact same bowl that he finally stopped his movements. Seeing this, the pig-headed man got a little angry.
"Hey, hey, hey! That is a foul! You must distribute them into two bowls!"
"I know."
Qi Xia nodded.
"The distribution is not over yet."
After saying that, he picked up a single black piece from the bowl and tossed it into the other bowl.
"My distribution is finished."
Qi Xia looked up and gazed calmly at the Human Pig.
"What?!"
The several people present were all somewhat stunned. What kind of distribution method was this? One bowl contained one black piece, while the other bowl contained the remaining ninety-nine pieces?
Old Lu looked at the two bowls on the table, his pupils shifting. After a long while, he finally opened his mouth and said, "Brilliant, brilliant." He understood Qi Xia's strategy.
Originally, no matter how Old Lu distributed them, the most optimal distribution for the pieces in the two bowls was for both to become one half. Only then could he guarantee himself a fifty percent chance of drawing a black piece. But Qi Xia shattered this equilibrium.
He made the probability of drawing a black piece from one bowl become one hundred percent, while making the probability of drawing a black piece from the other bowl as close to one half as possible.
Since he had to randomly choose a bowl from the very beginning, it was highly likely that Qi Xia would directly select the bowl containing the single black piece. He wouldn't need to select a piece from within the bowl; he would just win directly.
Even if his luck was bad and he chose the other bowl, the probability of choosing a black piece was still barely any different from one half. After all, it was forty-nine percent. He had essentially added a hidden layer of insurance to his victory.
Seeing this scene, the look in the Human Pig's eyes beneath his mask clearly grew a bit colder and more sinister.
"Are you trying to play clever tricks with me?"
The Human Pig's tone changed. It no longer sounded so childish, but instead carried a hint of cunning.
"Clever tricks?"
Qi Xia found it a bit amusing. He raised an eyebrow and said, "Nothing I did violated the rules. How could it be a clever trick?"
The Human Pig pulled a blindfold from his pocket and slowly handed it to Qi Xia, saying, "I know quite a few smart people. Most of them have very poor luck." Qi Xia nodded and took the blindfold.
"I cannot refute that. After all, smart people rarely rely on luck when doing things."
"But in the end, we are gambling."
The Human Pig said in a low voice.
"The most important thing in gambling is strong luck. You are very smart, but how is your luck?"
"I do not know."
Qi Xia replied.
"But we will find out very soon."
Qi Xia slowly put on the blindfold and placed his hands on the table, moving no more. The Human Pig took the two bowls and began to shake them to mix the pieces inside.
This rule was originally meant to deal with certain opportunists who would use white pieces as a base and then lay all the black pieces on the top layer to make it easier for themselves to draw them. But now, against Qi Xia's strategy, this rule completely lost its effect.
The Human Pig knew that no matter how well he mixed the pieces, the man before him would pull one out without hesitation. After all, everything he needed to do was already done. Next, he was prepared to hand everything over to his own luck.
Thinking of this, he shook them casually, scrambled the positions of the two bowls, and placed them back down, one on the left and one on the right.
"Hey, which bowl do you choose?"
The Human Pig asked.
"On your left side, or your right side?"
"I." Qi Xia lowered his head in silence for a moment, then spoke up, "The left. I choose the left."
Lin Qin and Old Lu were both stunned at the same time, suddenly feeling a sense of foreboding in their hearts. Because on Qi Xia's left side was exactly the bowl containing ninety-nine pieces! A glimmer of light suddenly sparked in the Human Pig's eyes.
"Very good. Next, please choose a piece from it."
With a hint of mockery, he pushed that bowl in front of Qi Xia, as if watching him make a fool of himself. The corners of Qi Xia's mouth curled up slightly as he said, "Didn't you want to test my luck? Using this bowl for the test is just right."
"Wh."
The Human Pig froze.
"You, you knew this bowl was the wrong one?!"
"More or less."
Qi Xia slowly reached his hand into the bowl and said, "Actually, choosing between the left and right sides is just like playing rock-paper-scissors. It seems like a balanced probability, but human thinking always leads to deviation."
"What do you mean?"
Old Lu asked from the side, not understanding.
"Just like how most people will throw scissors first in rock-paper-scissors, the probability is actually not balanced."
Qi Xia explained.
"Paper leaves your palm wide open, making you lose a sense of security, while rock requires clenching your fist, making people subconsciously feel suppressed. Therefore, scissors becomes the most middle-of-the-road choice. Choosing the left or right side is the same. A person's subconscious will believe that the left side is safer. After all, most people in this world are right-handed. They use their right hand frequently, and the chances of their right hand getting injured are much higher than their left. So when choosing a safe direction, it is very easy to choose the left side."
"You are truly not an ordinary person."
The Human Pig said.
"There is no need to praise me, because you understand these principles too."
Qi Xia said.
"You placing the ninety-nine pieces on my left side shouldn't have been unintentional, right?"