Rebirth 09: Starting from taking charge of Running Man on CCTV

Chapter 122 The Open Trick: Chen He's Grand Strategy

Chen He plopped back into his chair and slammed his hands on the table.

"I refuse to accept this!"

He pointed at Shen Teng.

"Why did you pull out scissors? Did you and Brother Hua plan this together?"

Shen Teng leaned back in his chair and waved with a smile.

"No discussion, it's purely based on intuition."

"intuition?"

"right."

Shen Teng paused for a moment, "I figured everyone's focused on rock and paper, and nobody's paying attention to scissors, so scissors are the safest bet."

Chen He opened his mouth, then closed it again.

He glanced back at the statistics on the whiteboard.

Four stones, four pieces of paper, and two scissors.

Shen Teng is right.

Everyone is playing rock-paper-scissors; scissors have become a no-man's land.

No man's land is for the minority.

Chen He clenched his fist on the table.

"I'm sure I'll win the next round."

He raised his head and scanned the entire room.

"The pride of a genius must be restored."

Zheng Kai rolled his eyes.

"What makes you think you're so great, Mr. Cactus?"

"Zheng Kai, if you bring this up again, I'll get angry!"

Chen Yang stood in front of the whiteboard, not in a hurry to speak.

He waited until the laughter subsided before speaking.

"Round Two"

Everyone's attention was instantly drawn to it.

"Rules upgraded".

Deng Chao leaned forward slightly.

"How do I get promoted?"

Chen Yang took a new black envelope out of his pocket.

"In this round, the production team will reveal their cards first."

The room was silent for a second.

Chow Yun-fat's folding fan stopped in mid-air.

"Should we make it light first?"

"right."

Chen Yang pinched the seal on the envelope and tore it open.

Reach your finger in and pull out a card.

The card faces outwards.

Stone.

"The show's producers are throwing out stones this round."

He placed the cards upright on the small shelf in front of the whiteboard and took a half step back.

"Open hand. You guys play however you see fit."

The entire audience erupted in uproar.

Deng leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Playing openly..."

His brows furrowed.

Li Chen rubbed his palms together and muttered something under his breath.

"Isn't this simple? We've already seen the rock, so just play paper and you'll win!"

Shen Teng chuckled from the corner.

"Brother Chen, if you think like that, then we're doomed."

"What do you mean?"

"You want to play cloth, and so do others."

Shen Teng held the gold coin and turned it over and over. "If all ten people play cloth, then cloth is the majority, and they won't get a single coin."

Li Chen stopped.

His face was filled with conflict.

Chen He remained silent.

His mind was already racing.

His eyes were slightly narrowed, and his fingers were rapidly tapping on the table.

The production team produced a stone.

Bu wins five stones.

Flatten the stone with another stone, and take three.

Scissors, rock, take one.

He went over it in his mind.

Then the corners of his mouth turned up.

"I understand now."

He lowered his voice, but spoke very quickly.

"First, rule out scissors."

He held up one finger.

"The show throws rock, you throw scissors, and if you lose, you only get one scissors. Only a fool would throw scissors."

Deng Chao nodded.

"So everyone can only choose between cloth and stone."

Chen He raised another finger.

"If you win with paper, you get five coins; if you draw with rock, you get three coins. Everyone wants to win, so the first thing you'll do is choose paper."

"but!"

He suddenly raised his voice, "If everyone plays cloth, cloth will be the majority, and no one will get a single piece."

He looked around, becoming more and more excited as he spoke.

"So what would a smart person think? They would think—since everyone else is playing paper, I'll play rock. Rock becomes the minority, and even though it's only a tie and I get three stones, it's better than getting none!"

He slammed his hand on the table.

"This is the core of game theory!"

Chow Yun-fat was sitting opposite him, fanning himself with a folding fan and watching him with a smile.

"Xiao Chen, your analysis is quite good."

Chen Hechong bowed.

"Thank you, Chow Yun-fat!"

Then he stood up, a smug, infuriating smile on his face.

He winked at Deng Chao.

"Brother Chao, wait for me."

Open discussion time begins.

Chen He's first stop: Li Chen.

He leaned close to Li Chen's ear and whispered.

"Brother Chen, play cloth, it's a sure win."

Li Chen rubbed his hands together.

"real?"

"Definitely! The show throws rocks, paper wins, and you get five coins. Just think about it, five!"

Li Chen thought for a moment and nodded.

"Okay, I'll do as you say."

Chen He patted him on the shoulder, then turned and left.

The second stop was Wang Baoqiang.

"Brother Qiang, drop the cloth, no problem!"

Wang Baoqiang scratched his head.

"Play cloth? I just said cloth, but didn't Shen Teng say that playing cloth exclusively wouldn't work?"

"No, no!"

Chen He waved his hands repeatedly, "Everyone else is thinking about other things, you can't go wrong with the cloth."

"Then... okay!"

The third stop, Zheng Kai.

"Kai Kai, produce the cloth."

Zheng Kai glanced at him sideways.

"You also let me play paper last round, and what happened?"

"The last round was an accident! This round is different, the cards are out in the open."

Are you sure?

"I swear on my reputation as a genius."

Zheng Kai looked at him for three seconds.

"Is your title of genius still worth anything?"

"...Are you coming out or not?"

"Let me think about it some more."

Chen He didn't linger any longer and turned to head straight for Deng Chao.

He grabbed Deng Chao's sleeve, and the two of them huddled in the farthest corner of the room.

The camera followed, but the audio recording was limited.

Chen He brought his mouth close to Deng Chao's ear.

"Brother Chao, I just tricked Brother Chen, Brother Qiang, and Kai Kai into all playing cloth."

Deng raised an eyebrow.

"and then?"

Chen He lowered his voice, but a smile almost spilled from his face.

"They produce cloth, and they are the majority."

He held up two fingers, pointing to himself and then to Deng Chao.

"We'll play stones, be in the minority. Stones against stones, we'll secure three. They won't get a single one."

Deng Chao's eyes slowly brightened.

"You little brat..."

"A genius, huh?"

Chen He raised an eyebrow. "This time, there will definitely be no mishaps."

Deng Chao thought for two seconds, then slapped Chen He on the back of the head.

"Okay, let's do it this way."

The two exchanged a glance, their faces beaming with triumphant smiles.

Then a voice came from behind.

It's very light.

very slow.

"What if everyone lied like you?"

Chen He's smile froze.

He turned his head.

Stephen Chow stood two steps away.

His hands were in his hoodie pockets, his head was down, and his black-rimmed glasses reflected the light.

Chen He paused for a second.

"Stephen Chow...?"

Stephen Chow didn't look up.

It paused for two seconds.

"You tricked others into playing paper, while you played stone yourself."

It paused for another second.

"But what if others are also trying to trick others into playing paper while they themselves play stone?"

Chen He's hand froze in mid-air.

Deng Chao's expression also changed.

Stephen Chow finally looked up and adjusted his glasses.

"Do you think you're the only smart person in this house?"

These words were like a bucket of ice water poured over my head.

Chen He's mind went blank for half a second.

Then it spins wildly.

He glanced back at the room.

Chow Yun-fat was whispering something to Andy Lau, his face half-hidden by a folding fan.

Shen Teng leaned back in his chair, squinting his eyes with a smile on his lips.

Li Chen rubbed his hands together, looking conflicted.

Baby clutched the cards, biting her lip.

Everyone is scheming.

Everyone is thinking about how to be in the minority.

Everyone might be deceiving others into playing paper while keeping stone for themselves.

What was the result?

Everyone plays a stone.

Stones became the majority.

Not a single one.

Chen He gasped.

"Depend on."

He blurted it out.

Deng Chao's face also turned pale for a moment.

"What Stephen Chow means is..."