As the sunset completely disappeared over the horizon, Chen Cheng left the restaurant with Guan Juer, whose face was flushed.

Guan Juer was teased by Scum until her face was beet red. She almost ran away on the spot.

Chen Cheng drove Guan Juer to Huaxin Bookstore; he was quite well-behaved along the way and didn't say anything flirtatious.

Once at the bookstore, he seriously started recommending books to Guan Juer.

"This book on valuation and leveraged buyouts explains core Investment Bank skills like valuation models, LBOs, and M&As in detail."

"This one, 'Valuation: Tools and Techniques for Determining the Value of Any Asset,' mainly explores the theory and practice of corporate valuation. It's suitable for improving your valuation skills right now."

"This book on deal structures and strategies deeply shares the transaction architecture, legal, and financial issues of M&As."

"'Barbarians at the Gate' tells some classic acquisition cases. Since you studied finance, you've probably read it."

Guan Juer held the books Chen Cheng found in one arm while pushing up her glasses with her other hand, nodding slightly. "Mhm, I read it back in school."

Chen Cheng thought for a moment. "If I recommend something today that you've read but don't have at home, take it back anyway. If you already have it, then definitely skip it."

"Reading books is an ever-fresh experience. It's hard to grasp the essence of a book by reading it only once."

...

Chen Cheng found some more books from different categories for Guan Juer.

Business strategy, the impact and response to extreme events, leadership, case studies, technology and future trends, as well as classic philosophy and psychology—it could be said he covered everything.

However, Scum was still cautious; there were some books on psychology and ideological research that he didn't dare recommend to Guan Juer at all.

For example, Chen Cheng didn't dare recommend 'On the Ideological Remolding of the Petty Bourgeoisie' to Guan Juer.

However, he could recommend it to all the Yan Zus and Yi Feis out there; he guaranteed they'd be breaking out in a cold sweat after reading it.

Finally, the two of them each carried a stack of books to the checkout counter.

They weren't in a hurry to leave and wandered around the bookstore.

"Brother Cheng, can you really read books like a camera? With a photographic memory?"

Guan Juer clearly found this hard to understand; how could a person's memory be that good?

"Uh... you don't believe me?" The corners of Chen Cheng's mouth curled up as he looked at Guan Juer with a chuckle.

He was very confident about this. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to study, make money, and pick up girls all at the same time in the Ugly Country.

Time is fair; only by spending less time on studying could he have the leisure to think about making money and picking up girls.

He even had to spare some of his already limited time for trivial life matters and hobbies.

As one might imagine, Scum actually spent very little time on his studies.

Yet he still graduated smoothly and even received a PhD offer.

With such memory and learning ability, how could he not be confident?

"Hehe, not really," Guan Juer shook her head, then thought for a moment before continuing, "it's just hard to comprehend."

Chen Cheng thought about it and said, "Why don't we test it? Seeing is believing, after all."

Guan Juer pursed her lips and smiled, nodding happily.

She turned and randomly pulled a thick book from a nearby shelf.

"How about this one?" Guan Juer widened her eyes provocatively, looking at Chen Cheng with a smile.

Chen Cheng's mouth twitched. "Uh... how about a different one?"

"Ah? Why?" Guan Juer was flipping through 'Deep Learning' and looked up in confusion.

The corners of Chen Cheng's mouth lifted. "Because I've read it. This is a foundational textbook in the field of AI."

"The first part covers linear algebra, probability theory, information theory, numerical optimization, and related content in machine learning. The latter part introduces deep feedforward networks, regularization, optimization algorithms, convolutional networks, sequence modeling, practical methods, and so on..."

Looking at the long strings of functions in the book that looked like gibberish, Guan Juer felt her head spinning.

"Brother Cheng, how have you even read books on Artificial Intelligence?"

Clearly, she already believed in Chen Cheng's photographic memory.

Chen Cheng shrugged. "Someone asked me to invest in his AI company, and since I didn't know much about the field, I studied up on it."

"In Silicon Valley, there are many campus startup projects like that where you can buy in for a few tens of thousands of dollars. But if you don't understand anything, you might get scammed."

"Ah? Then Brother Cheng wasn't scammed, right?"

"There are quite a few failed projects. It's mainly because I'm easy to talk to, so those students all liked to come to me. The more I invested, the more failed projects there were."

Chen Cheng smiled. "But fortunately, I haven't lost money yet."

"Oh, I see."

Each of them found a book and sat in the bookstore for a while.

From time to time, Guan Juer looked up to glance at Chen Cheng, who was turning a page every seven or eight seconds.

She went from shocked at first, to getting used to it, and finally to being numb.

Is this what a genius is?

Even if it were a novel, she estimated that at her speed, it would take at least a day.

Yet Chen Cheng finished a summary of experiences in Traditional Chinese Medicine in less than half an hour.

He finished it!

Guan Juer felt her scalp itching, as if her brain was trying to grow.

Chen Cheng closed the book, checked his watch, and said to Guan Guan, who was pretending to read, "Guan Guan, let's go. It's about time."

Guan Juer looked up and nodded gently. "Mhm, okay."

Chen Cheng and Guan Juer each carried two shopping bags of books downstairs.

When it came time to pay, Guan Juer insisted on paying the bill herself.

Chen Cheng didn't mind; it saved him money, after all.

Guan Juer wasn't Fan Shengmei; if she insisted on paying, it was because she truly felt embarrassed and pressured.

If a girl like Fan Shengmei insisted on paying, she was most likely just being polite.

For the Fan Shengmei types, if you're not short on cash, just pay with a wave of your hand; at worst, let her pay you back elsewhere.

Like in b... hehe~

As they went downstairs and passed a record store, Guan Juer clearly slowed her pace, turning her head to peer inside.

Chen Cheng immediately noticed something was off. He turned his head and saw that Guan Juer had, for some reason, stopped in her tracks.

Chen Cheng glanced at the poster stuck to the glass: Dvořák.

The corners of his mouth twitched upward; he remembered that Guan Juer really liked classical music.

He smiled and said to Guan Juer, "Shall we go in and take a look?"

Guan Juer's face immediately lit up with joy, and she nodded vigorously. Then she stepped into the store.

Seeing her somewhat naive and charming look, Chen Cheng also smiled knowingly. He truly liked Guan Juer's innocent and cute demeanor.

Actually, it was a bit surprising.

Chen Cheng had never visited this kind of shop before.

Digital music had matured long ago; he had only ever listened to cassettes, and as for CDs, he'd only heard them from other kids when he was very young.

In front of the shelves, Guan Juer's eyes lit up as she looked at a record. She picked it up to share with Chen Cheng. "Brother Cheng, do you know..."

As she turned around, she bumped right into Chen Cheng's chest with a thud.

Thump, thump, thump...

Meeting Chen Cheng's gaze, Guan Juer instantly felt as if the world had stood still; she could only hear her own heartbeat.

Brother Cheng is so handsome.

His facial lines were well-defined, his features perfectly proportioned, with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, red lips and white teeth, and a gaze that was deep and captivating.

And Brother Cheng's pectoral muscles...

*Gulp*

Guan Juer unconsciously swallowed.

Chen Cheng looked at Guan Juer, who had bumped into his arms and whose pretty face was rapidly flushing, and his heart began to beat with a strong rhythm.

Their gazes met like the two ends of a lightning bolt, merging into one and exploding with incandescent light in the dark night.

Chen Cheng couldn't help but lower his head toward Guan Juer. She seemed to sense his intention; her cheeks flushed slightly, she nervously bit her lower lip, and gently closed her eyes, forgetting to breathe in her nervousness.

The moment their lips touched, Guan Juer froze completely. Her eyes widened, and it felt as if the world had stopped turning; time solidified in that instant.

Chen Cheng kissed her very gently, bit by bit, with great care. Her lips were as soft as petals blooming in spring, carrying a faint sweetness.

Slowly, Guan Juer felt her stopped heart begin to beat anew.

It suddenly became frantic, a mixture of nervousness, joy, and shyness, yet she was intoxicated by this gentle kiss.