"Why are you in such a hurry, afraid you'll lose it?" Edward Clark asked. "You must have memorized everything in this book by now..."

"I can't remember it," Eric Bennett said. "I have to read it every day."

"No way," Edward Clark laughed. "I remember almost everything after just two days."

"Yeah, right. I'll keep your secret," Eric Bennett replied casually.

"The healthy color of the hand is variegated, with the palm lighter and the base of the palm darker," Edward Clark said, then turned to look at him. "People who are indecisive often have trouble clenching their fists tightly, and when making a fist, they tend to hide their thumb in their palm."

Eric Bennett looked back at him.

"Next to this sentence, it says, 'Not necessarily, it could also be a lack of security,'" Edward Clark's smile faded, and he looked very serious. "It's pretty impressive for an elementary schooler to know this stuff. What kind of books do you usually read?"

"Damn," Eric Bennett said.

"Horizontal ridged marks indicate that something happened to your health that caused your nails to temporarily stop growing," Edward Clark smiled. "These are all notes you made."

"Want me to give you a round of applause?" Eric Bennett said.

"Sure," Edward Clark nodded.

"The part after 'stop growing' isn't underlined," Eric Bennett said.

"If I say it out loud," Edward Clark said, "can you verify it right away?"

"...No," Eric Bennett said. "I only remember the general idea."

"That's good enough. I only remember the general idea too." Edward Clark cleared his throat, turned, and kept walking forward. "When the ridged line reaches the tip of the nail, illness will occur. It takes about six months for the ridged mark to grow from the base to the tip of the nail. When this happens, you should pay attention to health issues..."

Edward Clark kept walking ahead, and Eric Bennett stopped listening closely. He had to admit that, at this moment, he was impressed by Edward Clark.

This wasn't just the general idea. Even though he said he only remembered the gist, he knew that what Edward Clark recited was word for word.

Even if Edward Clark had prepared in advance just to show off his photographic memory... As for why he'd bother doing something so boring and time-consuming when the college entrance exam was approaching and everyone felt pressed for time—let's not get into that... Being able to memorize all this word for word in such a short time was still pretty impressive.

Even if it was boring.

After all, Edward Clark didn't know he'd be quizzed, nor did he know which part would be chosen.

When they reached the dorm entrance, Eric Bennett slowed down. Dorm supervisors usually had an amazing ability to recognize faces—at the very least, they could tell if someone was a student from their own school.

"I'll wait here..." Eric Bennett hadn't finished speaking when Edward Clark grabbed his wrist and pulled him forward.

Eric Bennett stumbled as he was dragged through the dorm entrance. Before he could steady himself, Edward Clark pressed a hand to the back of his head and pushed him forward. "Run."

"Shit," Eric Bennett muttered through clenched teeth, hunching over and following him as they dashed under the window of the guard room and into the stairwell.

"Outsiders aren't allowed in our dorm," Edward Clark stopped on the second floor and said, "Sorry."

"Dude! I said I'd wait outside," Eric Bennett was exasperated. "I'm not coming in!"

"I thought you wanted to come in and have a look," Edward Clark said.

"What the hell would I want to see in a boys' dorm?" Eric Bennett said.

"Oh?" Edward Clark looked at him.

"I don't have any interest in the girls' dorm either," Eric Bennett quickly added. "I'm not interested in student dorms at all."

There was no one in the dorm. Edward Clark picked up the book from his bedside, flipped through it a few times, and handed it to Eric Bennett. "When did you buy this book?"

"First grade," Eric Bennett took the book and stroked the cover. "Bought it at a book stall."

"A book published in 1988," Edward Clark said. "An elementary schooler actually bought it, and the key thing is, it was even available for sale."

"It's interesting, you just don't get it," Eric Bennett flipped through the book, the familiar feel making him feel at ease. "It's even appreciated in value."

"Hmm?" Edward Clark didn't get it.

"Do you know what the original price was?" Eric Bennett asked.

"Two yuan ninety," Edward Clark said.

"...You didn't even let that slip by?" Eric Bennett sighed.

"Come on, I saw the publication date. How could I miss the price next to it?" Edward Clark leaned against the desk.

"It's gone up tenfold now. Even the lowest price for a secondhand copy is twenty-nine," Eric Bennett patted the book.

Edward Clark said nothing, just looked at him.

Eric Bennett looked back at him.

After a while, he couldn't help but laugh first. "See? It appreciated!"

"It did," Edward Clark gave a thumbs up. "You've got an investor's mind."

"Thanks," Eric Bennett patted the book. "Let's go."

"Or..." Edward Clark hesitated, "Can I borrow the book for a few more days?"

"Borrow?" Eric Bennett looked at him.

"Didn't you say it was interesting?" Edward Clark said. "Let me see how interesting it is?"

"You can already recite it word for word," Eric Bennett said.

"Not really. I just bet you couldn't recite it, but I definitely remembered the parts you annotated, so I only looked at the pages before and after your notes," Edward Clark admitted honestly.

But Eric Bennett noticed his choice of words.