Chapter 4871

"I think you're overestimating ordinary people a bit." Stark clearly placed himself among ordinary people. "How could I not do it?"

"I said it requires a little training." Chris also smiled. "Or rather, it doesn't need very strict training; just a reminder will do. Once you show your face on set with this look, the tabloids will definitely spread some scandals about you. How do you plan to explain?"

Stark instantly pulled a long face, his whole expression collapsing. He clasped his hands together, rubbed them vigorously a few times, then pressed his thumbs against his lips. "I don't know. I can only try my best to explain to Pepper. She'll believe me."

"Of course, your wife will definitely understand you." Chris nodded. "But to give her a better sense of security, why not take the initiative?"

"Oh, of course. I can't wait for her to see those reports before going to explain to her; that would be too late." Stark's EQ was still quite high in this regard. He said, "I'll go back and tell her today."

"How do you plan to put it?"

"Just say that some unscrupulous tabloids will write some groundless articles..."

Chris looked at Shiler, seemingly waiting for Shiler's evaluation. Shiler shifted his posture, took a sip of wine, then said, "Why not complain to her?"

"Am I not complaining to him right now?" Stark showed a worried look. "Those tabloids dare write anything for traffic. Completely fabricated things, they insist on dragging two people together. You guys might get dragged into it too..."

"That's not what I meant." Shiler seemed to find it interesting. He said with great interest, "Why not complain that someone is coveting you?"

Stark froze. "Is there?"

Even Strange couldn't stand it. "The total temperature of the gazes cast at you from the crew could probably melt the snow on the summit of Mount Everest. You're saying you didn't know?"

Strange had a "don't pretend with me, you playboy" look. Stark wasn't feigning innocence either. He said, "It's all Shiler's fault. I saw he looked like he was scared to death, yet he still had the leisure to care who was staring at me?"

"Indeed, many people are staring at you." Chris spoke fairly. "Maybe some are curious because they've never seen a young Tony Stark, but in no more than ten seconds, that curiosity turns into... would using the phrase 'lust at first sight' be a bit too offensive?"

"Ah, can't blame them either." Stark said. "I know my reputation is bad. Who knows how many people hit on me like this before. I let them succeed too many times, so naturally many people think they still have a chance..."

"You're quite understanding." Shiler said. "Then go tell Pepper just like that."

"That won't do." Stark shook his head so fast it left afterimages. "Why would I dig up my own black history? Who would want to hear their husband's romantic history?"

"So what exactly should I say?" Stark was a bit anxious.

"I think Pepper's quite generous." Shiler deliberately said this. "Weren't all those scandals you stirred up before resolved by her?"

"That's different." Stark hurriedly emphasized. "Before, we weren't dating, nor married. We were purely a work relationship. Protecting my reputation was her job description. She was just being professional."

"But once we became boyfriend and girlfriend, even husband and wife, she has the right to fly into a rage over any similar matter. Because loyalty is a basic quality of a partner, and the foundation of a stable relationship is mutual possession. A relationship without possessiveness is a relationship without feelings."

"Interesting." Shiler said. "I didn't expect your view on relationships to be like this."

"Precisely because I've experienced it, I can tell the difference." Stark showed a reminiscent look. "For my former bed partners, I didn't care in the slightest what they did before or after staying with me. They could fly straight to someone else's bed and do the same thing. I didn't use a single brain cell to calculate these things. I didn't even realize it would be a problem."

"And the first time I realized Pepper was different was when I started to care where she went and what she did after leaving me. Whether the kindness she showed others was just politeness or had some other meaning. At its peak, my head was crammed full of these things. I even forgot equipment parameters."

Stark just spoke to himself. Anxious people always immerse themselves in expression. What he didn't notice was that the other three people present engaged in immersive listening, and not a single one of them liked spending time listening to how others fall in love.

The main reason was that the emotions conveyed in Stark's eyes could clearly transmit his every shred of confusion, anxiety, sadness, and joy from back then to everyone. So the narration wasn't just narration; it was more like a vivid performance, or a full-bodied romantic comedy.

"... And then I said, 'No, you can't do that. I'll really be heartbroken.' When I said that, even I was shocked. I actually tried to use my own illness to blackmail someone. I couldn't believe I could be so despicable. I don't know if it was impulse or no other way, but Pepper almost immediately... just immediately, she hugged me. She must have said something in my ear then, but I don't remember..."

Stark was still rambling. Suddenly he snapped back to awareness, showed an embarrassed expression, and said, "Sorry, why did I suddenly start talking about this..."

"It's fine, continue." Director Chris was quite interested. Besides listening to the content, he was also appreciating Stark's eyes. They were truly inspiring the more he looked.

"Let's focus on the present." Stark said. "If there's a way, tell me quick. I really don't want to make her angry!"

"I know I should be the one to think of a way, but my brain's a mess right now. If you have any good suggestions, I'll definitely adopt them..."

"I already said, you can complain to her." Shiler swirled his wine glass, ice cubes clinking. "Pepper is someone who likes to demonstrate her sense of responsibility in every aspect. She derives joy from taking on responsibility, especially for people she has a favorable impression of."

Stark didn't object to this. As Pepper's husband, he naturally knew his wife well. Sometimes Pepper and Wanda acted very similarly, both exhibiting the same brooding behavior, but their motivations were different.

Wanda always strives to strengthen her maternality. Her motivation is more "pity for the weak." Because she feels the other is pitiable, she reaches out to help. This is a subjective emotion. She feels whoever is pitiable she helps. Whether the other is truly pitiable isn't that important.

Pepper, on the other hand, is responsible for those who objectively require her to bear responsibility. A person might be pitiable, she wouldn't necessarily help. But if she has a responsibility toward this person, then regardless of whether the other is pitiable, she will do her utmost to help. Her meticulous care for Stark started from the responsibility requirements brought by her duty.

She became Stark's personal assistant. To fulfill her responsibility to her boss, she did her absolute best. If the two had met not in this relationship, but in some other irresponsible relationship like a one-night stand, Pepper wouldn't have cared if Stark drank himself to death on the roadside.

"You have to give her the chance to be responsible for you." Shiler had to make it a bit clearer. "You are her husband. She inherently bears a certain responsibility for you. And she happens to be someone who doesn't treat responsibility as a burden but feels joy in shouldering it. The best way to appease her is to give her such an opportunity, isn't it?"

Stark fell into thought. He put himself in her shoes, substituting himself. Most of the time he couldn't help Pepper much. But if one day Pepper ran into trouble and came to him, and he successfully solved it, there wouldn't be a square mile in New York that hadn't heard his laughter, even if he was quite restrained.

"I get it." Stark thought briefly and came up with a plan. "I'll go complain to her. I just changed my look for the shoot, and so many people are staring at me I don't know where to look. If I happen to make eye contact with someone, those damn tabloids will definitely write nonsense again. I can't go argue with them either..."

Shiler snapped his fingers. He and Chris high-fived to celebrate Stark finally turning the corner.

The difference between this and Stark's previous approach was that it more directly emphasized his distress and helplessness. Because only this way is it clearly telling the other party that help is needed, rather than letting them guess, or wanting to do it but afraid of meddling.

"She might just directly help me deal with those damn tabloid reporters." Stark slammed the table. "They're done for!"

He knew this was playing the victim, but he also knew Pepper fell for this. Even with his old face it worked. With this face, wouldn't he be invincible?

Stark subconsciously reached up to touch his eyes, recalling the look in his own eyes he'd seen in the mirror. He suddenly realized this change might bring him not just trouble. It might make him invincible in emotional communication. After all, even Shiler and Strange had fallen for it.

Stark was just such a staunch materialist. If you said this was a talent for attracting psychopaths, he'd rush to change back non-stop. But if you said this was a skill that could be learned to improve his current life situation, he'd learn it more eagerly than anyone.

"So, this is..." Stark made a gesture. Shiler smiled and nodded.

"But I don't understand. How did you do it?" Stark was a bit puzzled. He knew his eyes had a huge advantage, but Shiler's appearance didn't seem to have...

He had just thought this when Shiler's gaze changed. Those gray eyes that looked calm with just a hint of amusement suddenly came alive.

Gray is a color representing inorganic matter. The impression it gives is usually cold, hard, mysterious, having nothing to do with vibrant vitality. Stark also knew that when Greedy took off his glasses, his gaze would be a bit cold, unreadable, instinctively making one feel danger.

He never thought this pair of gray eyes could convey such rich emotion. He couldn't tell true from false, only marvel.

"I seem to understand why you suddenly praised my eyes." Stark understood even more clearly. "Changing the window to the soul really is different."

But in a mere moment, Shiler returned to calm. This transition was too fast. Like the emotions just now were just an illusion. Because it was too controlled, it instead resembled an auto-running program, not a human, making Stark's hair stand on end again.

"Then let him be the detective." Stark shifted back, swallowed, and said quietly, "... At least the detective can't be the murderer."

?? Two Sherlock Holmeses, but the detective is someone else