Genius

Starting the next day, Lu Qi was dragged around everywhere by Tony, carrying out Tony's so-called final wishes.

But in Lu Qi's eyes, Tony was completely acting on every whim. One day, they were fishing for sharks at sea; the next, they were parachuting from eight thousand feet up.

A week later, Lu Qi and Tony were lying on a yacht at sea because Tony had suddenly decided to tan himself into a healthy bronze.

But Lu Qi figured this guy would go get his skin whitened the very next day. Tony was ridiculously vain.

Tony held a tablet and watched the surveillance footage on it.

"Looks like your Shadow Legion is working quite well with those construction workers," Tony said, turning to Lu Qi.

Lu Qi glanced at the tablet in Tony's hand. His Shadow Legion had been requisitioned by this guy to help construct the buildings for the Stark Expo. All because Tony wanted to revive the Stark Expo and claimed there was not enough time, insisting on borrowing his Ninja Soldiers and Troll Soldiers for labor.

He had not taken many Blade Soldiers, though, because Blade Soldiers were not suited to construction work. Let one walk two steps around the Stark Expo and the ground would be full of craters...

"These guys are seriously strong!" Tony exclaimed as he watched several Troll Soldiers directly lift a massive steel sphere and place it into a circular frame.

"These guys are about as strong as the Hulk. Having them move those heavy things is really making things hard for them."

"How is that making things hard for them?" Tony put down the tablet. "This is making full use of available resources."

"You evil capitalist. They ought to hang you from one of those streetlights they just put up."

Tony decided not to stoop to this guy's level. If he really angered Lu Qi, Lu Qi could genuinely hang him from a streetlight.

As for how he knew that, it was because two days ago, when he had tried to find a few girls for Lu Qi, he had been hung upside down from the balcony all night.

Why had Lu Qi refused? Because the guy apparently had mild face blindness and felt nothing for those women, claiming he liked inner beauty.

But Tony would rather believe the guy could not get it up. Still, saying that aloud would definitely get him hung from a fishhook to catch sharks...

Lu Qi shook his head and flipped through the tablet, discovering that there were also plenty of reporters at the Expo construction site today.

When the Shadow Legion had appeared at the site a few days ago, they had attracted countless stares. Reporters had swarmed in like sharks smelling blood, to the point where there had nearly been more reporters than workers.

To keep the project running smoothly, Tony had Pepper drive the reporters out, allowing only one reporting team from each newspaper to remain.

Because of that, the Expo had drawn a great deal of attention before it had even begun. According to Pepper, Stark Group had already received countless exhibition applications recently. This made Lu Qi feel that Tony had deliberately sent his Shadow Legion to help; otherwise, with all that money, how could Tony possibly not afford enough construction workers?

And because the Shadow Legion had joined in, construction of the Expo had sped up tremendously. After all, the Expo did not have any buildings hundreds of meters tall. The tallest ones were the main exhibition hall and the ecological park.

After checking the Expo's construction progress, Tony turned himself over so his back could get some sun as well, trying to tan evenly. But to Lu Qi, it looked like flipping meat while frying it so it would not burn.

Lu Qi checked the progress as well. Most of the buildings within the Expo grounds had already been completed, with only landscaping and decorations remaining.

In a few more days, the Expo would probably be ready to begin, just in time for the date when the last Expo had been held.

"Say, ever since you threw the CEO job to Pepper, it feels like you haven't seen her in ages. Are you sure you don't want to spend some quality time with her during the final stretch of your life?"

Lu Qi suddenly spoke as he watched Tony happily take a sip of red wine.

Tony choked a few times, glanced at Lu Qi, then flopped back down like a piece of burnt meat. "The thing inside my body still hasn't been dealt with. I don't want to inject that thing into Pepper too."

Lu Qi gave him the middle finger. "Is that all you ever think about? Scumbag."

Seeing Tony's puzzled look, Lu Qi asked suspiciously, "Have you never actually dated anyone? Have you always just gotten down to business without talking about feelings?"

Tony coughed. "Are you questioning a battle-hardened genius?"

"I'm questioning a serial womanizer."

The more Lu Qi thought about it, the more likely it seemed. He frowned, walked over, hauled Tony to his feet, drew a door, and returned directly to Tony's Long Island Mansion.

"JARVIS, drive the yacht back. I need to talk to Tony about something else."

A day later, Tony finally returned to Stark Industries and entered the CEO's office.

Pepper was on the phone, looking extremely busy.

Tony coughed twice to announce his presence. Pepper glanced at him and gestured for him to wait. Tony then sat idly by the desk, staring at the perpetually swinging ornament.

Seeing that Pepper still had not finished her call after a long while, Tony felt rather helpless. He looked at the ornament still swaying nonstop, found a data cable, tied it haphazardly around the ornament, then used several boxes to block it.

Pepper smiled at the sight, said a few more words into the phone, and finally hung up.

"So, why did you suddenly come here?"

Tony hesitated, unsure how to begin. Damn Lu Qi, he had shoved him right in here. At least let him think of what to say first!

"Tony, what do you want to say? I'm very busy right now. Stark Industries will be holding the Expo soon, and there's a huge amount to deal with every day."

To Pepper, becoming CEO represented Tony's greater trust and closeness toward her, so she had worked very hard to do well as Stark Industries' CEO.

Because of this, she had not rested in a long time, yet she was still full of energy.

Tony thought for a moment and ultimately decided to take a roundabout approach.

So Tony said, "Are you free tomorrow?"

Pepper gave him a strange look, then checked her schedule.

"Mm, there's still a lot to do tomorrow. Or rather, there'll be a lot to do until the Expo begins, and perhaps I'll still be busy after it starts. What is it?"

Thinking of the guy blocking the door outside, who said he would not let Tony leave unless he got Pepper out of the office, Tony could only steel himself and continue.

"Uh, I was thinking... tomorrow, I could take you to see... the Expo's construction progress." Tony stumbled over his words. "Just the two of us."

Pepper froze for a moment, wondering why they could not simply check the construction progress on a tablet. But after hearing that last sentence, she only needed a moment to understand Tony's true intention.

"Is that an invitation to a date?" Pepper asked with a smile.

"Uh, it's... work?"

Hearing that even Tony himself did not understand what he was saying, Pepper shook her head.

"Tony, I'm very happy you said that, but how about we don't have our first date at a construction site? How about the Long Island Mansion instead? No one else will be there. We can even turn JARVIS off. We can do anything we want there."

With a little thought, Pepper knew Tony could not have said this on his own initiative. Someone had definitely forced him to do it. But she was still very pleased.

Silently thanking that someone, Pepper went straight on the offensive.

"Uh, isn't that a little fast?" Tony was completely thrown off. He had wanted to try the sweet feeling of dating that Lu Qi had described. Though Lu Qi had never dated either, his vivid description had made it sound wonderful.

Pepper rolled her eyes at him. "I mean a delicious lunch, then watching a movie together in the afternoon, followed by a candlelit dinner in the evening. How about that? The classic date combination."

Tony laughed awkwardly, but hearing Pepper's description, he thought it sounded pretty good too.

Pepper leaned down and kissed Tony on the cheek. Smiling, she said, "Of course, if you have any brilliant ideas, you can suggest them, or give me a surprise. Lastly, I still have a lot to do. See you tomorrow, and help me thank Lu while you're at it."

"Why should I thank Lu Qi?" Having been kissed, Tony was floating on air and had completely missed what Pepper had said earlier.

Pepper shook her head, somewhat speechless.

Outside, Lu Qi had heard their conversation with his astonishing hearing and revealed a knowing smile before quickly composing his expression.

He knocked on the door. "Tony, I think we can leave now."

When he pushed the door open, he saw that Pepper had already begun handling official business again, while Tony was still sitting there like a complete idiot.

Lu Qi shook his head and shoved Tony out under Pepper's grateful gaze.

Once outside, Lu Qi draped an arm around Tony's shoulders. "You did an excellent job today, great genius."