No sooner had he finished handling matters here than he had to set off to inspect the next project.
This was also the second purpose of Jiang Mu's trip: to invest in an artificial intelligence company.
When it came to foresight, if Jiang Mu claimed second place, no one dared claim first.
She might not always make the most money, but a great many companies took off after she invested in them.
Every year, the dividends from these companies amounted to a huge sum of income.
In the car.
Chu Xu followed the navigation, while surrounding cars hurriedly steered clear of the ten-million-yuan Mulsanne upon seeing it.
"What do you think of the artificial intelligence and AI industry?" Jiang Mu asked suddenly, looking down at her phone.
Chu Xu thought for a moment and replied, "It's a very good industry. All the major domestic internet giants are racing to compete. Why, is this the industry you're planning to invest in?"
"I'm just taking a look, not necessarily investing," Jiang Mu corrected him.
"Well... I wouldn't really suggest you invest in this industry," Chu Xu said slowly as he drove. "First of all, there are far too many enterprises entering the field, making it hard to guarantee that every company can turn a profit. Secondly, this industry burns through money like water. Thirdly, the chip problem is extremely difficult to solve; Huawei's Atlas 900 is hard to come by even for a single unit, let alone NVIDIA's computing power cards, which they simply won't sell to you. Right now, only a handful of major tech giants are truly building large-scale models, while the rest are just playing around. If you want to invest, I think you need to think it over carefully."
Jiang Mu was momentarily stunned, completely not expecting Chu Xu to understand so much.
Her original intention was just to ask casually, not expecting a real, substantive answer.
Seeing Jiang Mu's surprised look, Chu Xu explained, "I like reading this kind of information online, so I know a little bit about it. Of course, the inner workings here are definitely much more complicated; I was just casually sharing my perspective."
Chu Xu quite liked this kind of knowledge, reading up on it often, so naturally he understood it.
"Not bad, very good. It's pretty much the same as what my research has found," Jiang Mu said, her eyes bright with appreciation. "I'm just taking a look this time; whether to invest or not we can talk about later."
Chu Xu nodded and said no more; he believed Jiang Mu had her own judgment.
Besides, even if she wanted to invest, could he possibly stop her? Anyway, it wasn't his money, she could squander it however she liked.
Ten-odd minutes later, the two of them arrived at the company, and in less than half an hour, they came back out.
It was Chu Xu's first time seeing such a shameless company that spun grand illusions for investors.
With every opening sentence, they boasted about beating Penguin and kicking Huawei to the curb, while the "blue and green factories" would have to step aside.
Not only that, they even claimed they were going to surpass GPT.
They didn't even have a single computing cluster—he really had no idea where these people got the confidence to say such things.
Did they really take investors for fools?
Yet Jiang Mu seemed used to it, showing very little reaction.
She just went about her business as calmly as ever.
Sunlight filtered through the glass and fell upon her face, casting a dappled glow across her fair skin.
A few strands of hair fell past her cheek onto her chest, making her delicate facial features look even more three-dimensional.
In this state, she was drop-dead gorgeous.
If he hadn't been driving, Chu Xu would have loved to appreciate her properly and perhaps take a couple of portrait shots at twice normal focal length.
"Shall we head back to Yuzhou then?" Chu Xu asked, snapping back to reality.
A real man could not indulge in beauty; an occasional appreciation was enough.
"Don't rush."
Jiang Mu had no idea how lethal she had just been; if she had known, she surely would have teased Chu Xu properly.
"It's only a little past two, let's go to Kuanzhai Alley," Jiang Mu suggested.
Chu Xu was taken aback, and speechless, he said, "Driving at night isn't safe, I'll get drowsy. Do you take me for a machine?"
"..."
Jiang Mu cast a resentful gaze at Chu Xu.
She was angry—he had actually refused.
It was their first time going out together, and when she wanted to walk around a bit more, she got turned down.
Jiang Mu had already made up her mind to ignore him, but then she felt that keeping this up wasn't great either, so...
Adjusting her mood, Jiang Mu said with a wronged tone, "But, I want to go. Didn't you promise to accompany me?"
?
Chu Xu froze for a good long while.
A thirty-five-year-old woman acting coquettishly wasn't scary; what was scary was a beautiful thirty-five-year-old woman suddenly acting coquettishly with such contrast.
Looking at Jiang Mu right now left Chu Xu utterly dumbfounded.
How old was she and she was still pulling this stunt...
Well, it was certainly effective.
"Let's go, right now!"
Chu Xu sighed; he would just have to suffer a bit tonight and drink more coffee.
Jiang Mu, however, smiled triumphantly. If she couldn't even handle Chu Xu, how could she possibly manage a corporate group?
"Such a good boy, that's a good man." Jiang Mu smiled, thinking that guys needed praise too.
Yet dark lines covered Chu Xu's forehead—who praised guys like that?
"Good" belonged on girls; guys needed to be called fierce.
Still, Jiang Mu didn't have the heart to let Chu Xu drive for so long, so she said, "We'll take the high-speed rail tonight."
"What about the car?"
"Do you really worry I have no one to use in Rongcheng?" Jiang Mu glanced at Chu Xu.
The latter was instantly speechless. Billionaires spoke with such confidence; they had a company here and a company there.
They practically had businesses spread all across the country.
Afterwards, he handed his ID to Jiang Mu to buy the tickets, and the car was soon approaching Kuanzhai Alley.
Chu Xu had never been there, but he roughly knew it was an attraction similar to Ciqikou.
So he wasn't expecting it to be all that fun.
Just accompanying Jiang Mu still made him quite happy inside.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, Kuanzhai Alley was still packed to bursting with people.
Rather than looking at the sights, it was more like looking at people.
"How did you think of coming here? It's all people, nothing much to see," Chu Xu said as they walked.
"What, finding it boring to be with me, feeling hard done by?" Jiang Mu retorted with a light hum.
Chu Xu shook his head and said, "I'm merely talking about the scenic spot. As long as I'm with you..."
Chu Xu smiled, turned his head slightly, and said, "Everywhere is scenery."
"All you know is sweet talk all day long." Jiang Mu shot Chu Xu a disdainful look, though she could barely suppress her smile.
There were many shops in the alley, selling snacks and souvenirs alike.
Since neither of them was a fan of snacking, they didn't go near the food stalls.
Instead, a young girl holding a DSLR camera further ahead caught Chu Xu's attention.
He asked Jiang Mu, "Let's go take some photos."
"Huh? What?" Jiang Mu hadn't noticed the people ahead.
Chu Xu pointed forward and said, "Over there, let's keep a memento."
Since they weren't frequent visitors, naturally they had to take photos as a keepsake.
Memories were hard to recreate in the same setting, but photographs could, which was why Chu Xu loved photography.
Jiang Mu readily agreed; she also felt that commemorating the occasion was quite nice, seeing as it was her first time going out with this blockhead.
After waiting a few moments for the young sister to finish photographing someone else, Chu Xu inquired about the price and learned it was thirty yuan per photo, printing included.
Chu Xu told her to go ahead and shoot first, and they would pick a few photos afterward.
"Big brother, is this your girlfriend? She's so pretty." The girl adjusted her camera, preparing to take great pictures of this couple whose looks were off the charts.
Having been here for so long, this was the first time she had seen such a stunning couple, so naturally she wanted to show off her skills.
The three essentials of portrait photography: the subject is beautiful, the subject is beautiful, and the subject is beautiful.
Many people thought other people's photos of them were ugly, but could it be...
"Not yet, actually. I've been pursuing her, but she refuses to agree no matter what," Chu Xu said with a smile, turning his head to look at Jiang Mu.
The latter rolled her eyes. What a thick skin! Calling it pursuing when he had never even proactively invited her out for a meal—she was always the one taking the initiative.
The young photographer found an angle and arranged for the two of them to stand in a spot where the background wasn't too cluttered.
Perhaps because their looks were indeed too striking, some people actually gathered around to watch them, and murmurs could even be heard from the crowd.
"Are those two here to shoot a movie? Why do they both look so good?"
"I don't know. I saw everyone crowding around, so I came to look too."
"Tsk tsk tsk, the guy is handsome, the girl is pretty—a match made in heaven."
Hearing these words, the corners of Jiang Mu's lips curved upward involuntarily.
"Handsome, why don't you hold your girlfriend's hand?" the photographer suggested. Although all the shots so far looked good, they didn't quite capture the romantic feel of a couple.
Chu Xu nodded and firmly grasped Jiang Mu's slender hand.
Jiang Mu was basically used to Chu Xu's sudden actions and wasn't startled. Looking into the camera lens, she gently rested her head on Chu Xu's shoulder.
Chu Xu turned his head sideways, and the two smiled at each other just as the camera shutter clicked.
"Click."
The frame was frozen in time.
"Give you a few minutes, they'll be printed right away."
Chu Xu thought for a second and asked, "Can you send me the raw photos?"
The photographer smiled and nodded. "Of course. Add my WeChat."
Chu Xu was just about to take out his phone to scan the QR code when Jiang Mu had already scanned it, her voice cool and detached: "Send them to me."
Chu Xu shrugged, unconcerned; sending them to either of them was the same.