However, Ye Li didn't mind Christina sitting next to him.
Although it didn't meet the standard for deep conversation.
But Christina's nice, sexy figure, combined with her alluring outfit, was pleasant to look at while sitting next to him.
It was like watching short videos.
The gorgeous women in the videos weren't as pretty as his little girlfriends, but it didn't stop him from enjoying watching them.
Pure appreciation.
No devaluation.
Tony didn't pay attention to Christina, continuing to chat with Ye Li, "Did you come on a motorcycle?"
Ye Li didn't deny it, "Otherwise, could the motorcycle have ridden me here?"
Both Pepper and Christina found this sentence amusing.
Pepper said, "Mr. Ye, you're so funny~"
Christina, hiding behind the coffee table, subtly grabbed Ye Li's hand, trying to place it on her thigh. The intention was obvious...
Ye Li stopped his hand, not following Christina's lead, instead using his fingernail to write a string of English letters on her thigh.
Christina felt a tickling sensation from Ye Li's sharp nails, and her body trembled slightly.
This made her think initially—
No wonder he's a charming artist, just a little trick, and it's so stimulating. He's much better at captivating than Tony Stark~
But once Ye Li finished writing.
She became secretly annoyed.
Because the string of letters said—
"Have you taken a shower?"
This was clearly implying that he disapproved of her just having interacted with someone.
An artist's obsession with cleanliness?
…..
Tony explained, "Ah no, I meant...."
He projected Veronica's still honking sound from the door, "You, the artist, riding such a cool motorcycle, seems a bit off..."
Vroom vroom—
The loud honking sound echoed through the living room.
"Hey, why is it still honking?"
Tony rubbed his ears, "Li, if there's something wrong with your motorcycle, I can help you fix it."
Vroom—!
Veronica's sound grew sharper, as if she was angry.
"Oh, does this horn have multiple rhythms? What a boring design." Tony kept complaining.
Vroom—!!!
"Alright, Tony."
"Stop commenting on my ride."
In order to prevent Tony from getting killed by Veronica the moment he went outside, Ye Li shouted, "Veronica, quiet down."
Vroom~
The honking sound finally quieted down.
"Voice-controlled?"
Tony still didn't realize Ye Li just saved his life again, "This thing has a lot of little features. If you like these small functions, I'm good with modifications...."
"Shut up, Tony."
Ye Li picked an unknown oval fruit from the fruit platter on the table.
Then, in a flash, he shoved it into Tony's mouth to stop him from making things worse.
"Cough!"
Tony coughed, quickly pulling the fruit out of his mouth, "Hey, I don't like this. It's just a decoration."
Ye Li's swift action left him stunned.
"Is this one of those martial arts techniques?"
Tony threw the fruit into the trash can, excited, "I can't wait to learn. After breakfast, we can start training."
Christina, seeing Ye Li and Tony seemed to be finishing their conversation, grew anxious. Once they were done, Tony would probably make her leave.
So, she set aside her frustration and pulled Ye Li's hand again, secretly writing on her thigh with his fingertips— "I've taken a shower, Mr. I'm very clean~"
Of course, both she and Tony had showered, or they wouldn't have lingered for so long.
After finishing the letters, Christina pressed Ye Li's palm down, guiding it to stroke her thigh.
This time, Ye Li's hand didn't resist, making her secretly happy.
However, whenever she tried to move his hand further in, it would slide away—after all, there was nothing else for his hands to do, but when it came to that area... he'd pass.
Though Christina and Tony surely took precautions, it still felt... off.
.....
"Hello, Mr. Ye Li, I've heard so much about you~"
"I've always wanted to interview the legendary artist, and I didn't expect to run into you here at Mr. Stark's place."
After Ye Li finished chatting with Tony.
Christina, unaware that she had been passed over by Ye Li, confidently started a conversation with him.
"I'm Christina Ever, a reporter for Vanity Fair. I was hoping to schedule a private interview, if you have the time?"
An interview with the famous artist Ye Li would make for a great feature story, even if it was just a freebie.
And if she could get him to paint a portrait, that would be even better, something to boast about for a long time, and maybe even a ticket into high society.
"Ms. Christina Ever... Is this how reporters from Vanity Fair do their interviews?"
Ye Li didn't hide his gaze, his eyes clearly landing on Christina's cool attire, the meaning obvious—
"Private interview?"
"Girlfriend, at least try to hide it."
"With you looking all disheveled, it's hard to imagine this is some serious interview..."
"You didn't even bother dressing properly before coming for the interview."
"Is this an interview or something else...?"
"I'm sure you'll like it~"
Christina wasn't embarrassed by Ye Li's words— 'What are you pretending for? Your hand's still on my leg~'
She struck a seductive pose and smiled, "Perhaps you could ask Mr. Stark."
"He's quite knowledgeable on this subject, we just had a pleasant interview~"
Upon hearing that.
Tony, sitting across the sofa, lifted his eyes and casually said, "Oh, yes, her interview was great."
"Li, if you're interested, I can lend you both a conference room~"
Saying that, he even mimed silently to Ye Li—
— 'She's clean now.'
"Wow, you're really generous, Tony."
Ye Li rolled his eyes.
He was here for business, not... What's up with Tony lately? He seems more reckless than usual.
Pepper couldn't watch this anymore.
She stood up and got Christina's dry-cleaned clothes, handing them to her, "Lady, here are your clothes, they've been dry-cleaned and pressed."
The implication was clear—Stop flirting here and put your clothes on!
"Heh~ Thank you~"
Christina let out a light laugh.
She took the plastic bag, opened it, and began changing on the sofa next to Ye Li, seductively.
Her long legs, intentionally lifted high.
Pepper's temples twitched in irritation.
Not wanting to watch, she turned to Tony and said, "I'll go prepare breakfast for you."
Tony nodded, "Go ahead, Pepper."
"You guys...."
Before leaving, Pepper glanced back at Christina still changing clothes, "Have a good chat."
If she didn't know Tony didn't go back to old flames and didn't have any special preferences.
She'd be worried these two men and one woman might do something outrageous in the living room...
…..
"So, what do you think?"
After Pepper left.
Christina, now dressed, loosened up, wrapped her arm around Ye Li's and leaned her full body against him, asking, "Mr. Ye, have you thought about the interview?"
Now that the other lady had left, Ye Li felt he could be a bit more direct.
However, he wasn't going to say something blunt like, "You don't meet my standards, I'm not interested."
That would be lacking in gentlemanly manners.
So Ye Li tactfully said, "Ms. Christina, don't you think when we sit together, there's no 'couple chemistry'?"
'Just now, you were touching my leg, and now that I'm dressed, you don't recognize me?'
"Christina."
Tony also started to send her off, "The car has been waiting for a while, I think it's time for you to leave. We should be considerate of the driver, don't you think?"
Though Tony didn't care about Christina, it was uncomfortable for him to see a woman he just spent the night with, now clinging to another man right in front of him.
Christina had no choice but to silently curse, "Stupid men!"
But she wasn't ready to give up, so as she was leaving, she handed Ye Li a small note...
…..
After Christina left.
Ye Li glanced at the phone number on the note, then with a flick of his finger, ignited the paper with a spark.
Seeing this, Tony was even more amazed at Ye Li's basic skills with the Golden Light Spell, "Your martial arts can even turn your hands into a lighter?"
Ye Li let the burned paper ashes fall into the ashtray, saying, "Normally, this isn't something you could train for, Tony. Maybe I just have extraordinary talent."
It wasn't impossible to train Thunder Magic using the Golden Light Spell, but Ye Li didn't have the right method for that, so he didn't mention it to Tony.
"Alright."
Tony glanced at the ashes in the ashtray and teased, "She's actually quite nice. Why don't you consider it?"
"I have a standard Eastern aesthetic, Tony."
Ye Li clapped his hands and stood up, "Alright, let's get some nutrition from breakfast, and then I'll teach you a few moves today."
…..
"I noticed you've bought quite a lot of company stocks lately?"
On the boxing ring.
Tony, wearing boxing gloves, threw a punch at Ye Li while talking, "You know, ever since I announced closing the weapons division, the stock has been falling. You really trust me this much?"
"Focus, Tony."
Ye Li couldn't be bothered to explain. With a sweep of his foot, he brought Tony down to the ground, "This isn't a boxing match, your level is still far from enough, Iron Man."
"Hey, hey, hey!"
"Do you know who you're looking down on?"
Tony immediately got up and attacked again, "Being a superhero isn't as easy as you think."
"Heh."
Ye Li executed a swift move, throwing Tony onto the ground with a shoulder toss, "Superheroes shouldn't be stuck on techniques. The enemy won't follow your ring rules."
"Oh."
Tony sat on the ground, not getting up, pressing his back, "Alright, alright, let's call it a day. I've already learned a lot."
He had been thoroughly defeated and couldn't continue.
Ye Li didn't care. He jumped down from the ring and took the cup of tea from Jarvis's mechanical arm, "Well, practice more on your own."
"Buddy."
Tony invited, "Do you want to see my Iron Man suit?"
.....
Tony wanted to save face, so he took Ye Li on a tour of his basement.
Ye Li saw Ethan, who seemed to now be Tony's assistant.
Tony stood in front of the suit, arms spread wide, looking proud, "So, what do you think?"
"What's the 'so' about?"
Ye Li stepped forward and tapped on the iron suit.
The structure of this next-gen Iron Man suit, Ye Li could dismantle it with his seismic abilities.
Tony lowered his arms, disinterested, "Li, you should give me some feedback."
Ethan, who was working on the module parts, laughed, "Tony, only the ladies will scream for you."
"True."
Ye Li nodded in agreement and extended his hand, "Ye Li."
Ethan shook his hand, smiling, "Ethan."
"What is this...?"
Ye Li looked at the silver armor in front of Ethan, parts of it dismantled, "What's this for?"
He recognized it as the imitation Iron Man suit that Obadiah had commissioned, made into the Iron Monger suit.
But Obadiah never had the chance to use it, as it was crushed by him. Quite a frustrating turn of events for Obadiah.
"This is from Tony."
Ethan explained to Ye Li, laughing, "He said he wanted me to use it, hehe~ I don't have the ability for that, I can only help him take it apart."
Tony walked over and said, "I almost died because of this thing, thank goodness Black Spider saved me."
Ethan twisted a wrench and removed a part, "You owe him a lot, Tony. I owe him too."
"Actually..."
Ye Li confessed, "I am Black Spider."
"Oh, Black Spider~"
Tony slapped him on the shoulder and laughed, "I wondered why you didn't like my Iron Man suit, turns out you're a fan of his~"
Ethan looked amused as well.
Clearly, they didn't believe him.
Ye Li shrugged helplessly, not saying more—It's your own disbelief, don't blame me when it all comes to light later.
"Since you like superheroes so much, how about using this?"
Tony pointed to the Iron Monger suit. "Want to try being a superhero? I'm sure you could use it well."
"Let me use this Iron Monger?"
Ye Li shook his head, "Forget it, you should leave it for Ethan."
Not only would it freeze at high altitudes, even if Tony fixed that flaw, Ye Li still wasn't interested.
"Fine."
Seeing Ye Li wasn't interested, Tony didn't insist. He turned to say, "Well then, how about the expo in Flushing tonight, are you interested?"
"The Stark Expo?"
Ye Li tilted his head.
He smirked, thinking, Oh, you want me to watch your show-off entrance, huh?
…..
[All you women who want a man of the street!]
[Just keep coming and put your hand out to me!]
"Can you turn off this music, Tony?"
Night, 6:00 PM.
Ye Li was seated in the transport plane.
Why a transport plane?
Just look at Tony Stark and you'll understand.
He was now wearing the Iron Man suit, standing at the hatch, ready to jump down at any moment, playing music on the transport plane to set the mood.
[Isn't it just showing off?]
[All this unnecessary stuff.]
Ye Li rubbed his ear.
This hard rock music was a bit too loud.
"Your taste is still so average."
"Turn it off, Jarvis."
The destination had arrived.
Tony signaled Jarvis to turn off the music. As the hatch opened, he was ready to jump out—
Ye Li reminded him just in time, "Be careful, don't take my motorcycle down with you."
That's right.
Veronica was also being transported along.
After the expo.
He didn't plan on going back to Tony's house.
If it weren't for Tony saying the expo was exciting, Ye Li wouldn't even be interested in watching Tony make his grand entrance.
"Watch my performance, Li!"
Tony jumped down dramatically—
[Cause I'm the one who's gonna make you burn!]
The music was redirected into the suit.
[I'm gonna take you down-down, down, down!]
Fireworks were launched into the sky at the Stark Expo below, framing the descending Iron Man.
It was truly the epitome of show-off.
Ye Li looked down from the cabin window a few times.
The preparation for this...
I have to admit.
For the first few seconds.
Tony did look quite cool.
Until—
Boom!!
A firework hit him right on the forehead...
"..."
Ye Li shook his head.
"Jarvis, let's go down too."
[Understood, Mr. Ye.]