Boys in a battle of wills

Even though Henry was very mindful of his manners, his rapid eating still made some noise. The constant chewing sounds, in particular, annoyed Tony Stark, causing the young master to roll his eyes.

Frustrated beyond measure, Tony, as if in a fit of pique, picked up his hamburger and took a huge bite. He then smacked his lips and ate, as if trying to outdo Henry in who could eat more terribly and noisily.

Under normal circumstances, if anyone displayed such poor dining manners in front of these two Hepburn ladies, even without slapping them,

They'll probably have to put down all their tableware and listen to a lecture for at least half an hour.

However, both ladies tacitly avoided mentioning this today, letting the two boys bicker.

Even though Henry ate very quickly, he was faced with a table full of food, while Tony only had a hamburger.

So in no time, the young master had nothing in his hands.

Despite still eating, Tony grabbed the honey-drizzled muffin that no one had touched yet and stuffed it into his mouth, making a racket that was incredibly Deadman.

Seeing his muffins taken, Henry didn't bark and snarl like a dog guarding its food. He simply raised his hand, beckoned to the waitress, and said, "Another peach pie, Apple, honey muffins, and a large serving of fries, please."

Even Audrey was surprised. She stared wide-eyed at the young man beside her.

Henry chuckled, "You guys seem to be enjoying your meal; I'd like some too."

When the food was served, Henry continued to devour it quickly. Tony, though much slower, was still eating non-stop, grabbing food with his hands like a starving savage.

Finally, everything on the table was finished, and Henry picked his teeth, looking about 70% full. Tony Stark, on the other hand, was stuffed and sprawled in his seat, sucking on his greasy fingers.

Just as Tony was about to wipe himself on his clothes, Catherine finally snapped. She slapped Tony's hand away and yelled, "You filthy bastard!"

She then took out wet wipes from her handbag and, as if wiping a stick, cleaned Tony's fingers one by one. She looked just like a grandmother doting on her grandson.

But instead of enjoying the warmth, this grandson stared wide-eyed at a certain Kryptonian.

Henry believed that if Tony Stark also possessed the ability to use Heat Vision, he would have pierced through him by now.

But this guy didn't have any! So Henry comfortably enjoyed the attention he received.

It's said that only mediocre people are not envied, so to be disliked by a genius must mean you've done something right. Therefore, Henry was quite pleased with himself.

After a moment, as if realizing his gaze wouldn't work on a shameless person, Tony gave up his death stare. Rubbing his bloodshot eyes, he casually asked, "What do you think What If...? I were to abandon Stark Industries?"

The two Hepburn ladies were shocked once again! But before they could think of a good way to persuade him, Henry casually replied, "What do I think? It's fine. It's just that it's a bit unexpected, unlike your previous actions."

"What's different?" Tony asked in a loud voice.

After finishing his coffee, Henry called the waitress for another cup. Then he slowly said, "If Mr. Old Man Stark were still alive, it would certainly be more difficult for you to give up Stark Industries and start from scratch than to Stark Industries."

"But now that Mr. Old Man Stark has passed away unexpectedly, I don't know how well he prepared you to succeed him, but the current situation is clear: you are surrounded by wolves and tigers."

"At a time like this, you're saying you want to abandon Stark Industries and start from scratch. I can only say that's quite wise, isn't it?"

Because it was obvious that it would be too difficult to save Stark Industries from a group of greedy bigwigs.

"In contrast, abandoning Stark Industries, which is seen as a target by others, and starting from scratch in your own garage, you can create another Stark Industries in just another seventy years."

"This outcome was almost inevitable. After all, if Old Man Stark could do it, how could you not? It's as easy as squeezing a pie, right?"

"Oh, perhaps Old Man Stark has arranged everything. You just need to stand on the stage, and like the heirs of kings in the past, find a pope or bishop, and you can be crowned king."

"In that case, if you manage to run Stark Industries well, people will say it's because Old Man Stark laid a good foundation. Even a pig could do the same thing if he inherited it."

"If we mess up Stark Industries, people will definitely say that the young Stark is no match for the Old Man Stark, and that the Stark Family is going backwards."

"It's incredibly difficult to silence everyone and force them to acknowledge your abilities and contributions. Instead, why not just let go of everything and start over? Wouldn't that be better?"

"Let's talk about social responsibility. I don't know how many employees Stark Industries has, let's say 200,000. Assuming everyone is married and has two children, then behind these 200,000 people are 800,000 families."

"Asking someone with absolutely no experience to suddenly shoulder the livelihood of 800,000 people is too difficult. It would be better to hand it over to a bank or another big player willing to take it over."

"Although we all know how people on Wall Street handle these kinds of physical assets, it's nothing more than looking at the financial statements, cutting off unprofitable departments, and then packaging the rest together and selling them for three or four times the price."

"So how many of the 200,000 employees will be left? Let's assume a 10% attrition rate, meaning that if 20,000 are laid off, 180,000 will remain."

"Those who stay will have their salaries and jobs readjusted. They might end up earning more or less than before. Let's also assume that another 10% will be affected and end up worse off than before."

"So if Stark Industries is allowed to be ruined by Wall Street, only 30,000 to 40,000 people will suffer, which is just about 160,000 families behind them."

"Ah, the livelihoods of over a hundred thousand people, what a heavy burden that is. It would be better to abandon all of this and go back to the garage to do it yourself. Anyway, you're in a situation where you only need to feed yourself, so who cares about tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people, right?"

"So I believe that your choice today is definitely not based on the difficulty of the matter, but simply because you want to get away from Mr. Old Man Stark and his business."

"If that's how you see it, then your attitude is consistent with before. Criticizing your actions as different from before is simply because I'm stupid; I spoke without thinking. I apologize for my lack of consideration."

A torrent of words left Tony speechless. All he could do was pound the table, cursing, "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"