The phrase "road trip" was one I'd heard countless times.
But coming from Tony Stark's mouth, it left Shi Xiaolei a bit confused.
"Why the sudden urge for a road trip? With your personality, shouldn't you just fly directly to your destination on your private jet after setting it? Leisurely cruising along the road, driving long distances until you're half-dead… Tony, that's not like you." With a hint of confusion, Shi Xiaolei looked at Stark with an inquiring gaze, curious.
"No, this is exactly my style," Stark retorted with a touch of arrogance. "I do what I want, freely and unrestrained, and no one can stop me."
Whether it was having a private jet on standby at the airport or personally driving to experience a road trip, ultimately, both were manifestations of a rich man's whimsical nature. From this perspective, Stark's words weren't entirely unreasonable.
"Alright, you're rich, you're willful." Shi Xiaolei chuckled helplessly, giving Stark a thumbs-up. "But speaking of which, how did you suddenly come up with this idea? There must be a reason."
Although he had appointed Pepper Potts as CEO to manage all company affairs, as the owner of Stark Industries, Tony Stark's significance could never be entirely replaced by Pepper Potts. For example, public relations, business negotiations, hosting expos, lawsuits, and many other miscellaneous matters still required Stark's personal appearance.
He didn't necessarily have to clock in at the company every day, and compared to Pepper, Stark was indeed more leisurely. But this didn't mean he could be a hands-off boss, completely ignoring company matters.
To be honest, given Stark's status, a leisure activity like a road trip, which required a continuous investment of a lot of time and energy, wasn't really suitable for him.
And according to his usual preferences, such a thought shouldn't have suddenly popped into his head.
"Nothing, I just suddenly felt like clearing my head."
His pride made Stark extremely wary of exposing his vulnerable side, so, facing Shi Xiaolei's inquiry, he didn't speak his true feelings, but instead, as usual, deliberately acted very casual.
"Aren't you going to try and talk him out of it?" Shrugging, Shi Xiaolei turned to look at Pepper, who was entertaining the little girl, and then pointed back at Stark.
"He's the boss." Pepper smiled. "If I could talk him out of things, I wouldn't have to find ways to de-stress every day."
"Why so many questions? Just say whether you're coming or not."
Seeing Stark growing impatient, Shi Xiaolei finally gave a direct answer: "Alright, the shop renovation will still take some time anyway, and I'm free right now. Tony, tell me your plan. What day are we leaving, and how many days do you plan to spend on the road?"
Mistakenly believing that Stark was only inviting him, Shi Xiaolei hadn't considered asking for time off for Conna.
"The day after tomorrow, or the day after that. As for the itinerary, I don't want to make it too tiring… two weeks, what do you think?"
Although he hadn't personally done it, having been in America for so long, he had heard some related news—crossing the United States from the East Coast to the West Coast, if you take the most famous Route 66, the journey is about 4000 kilometers. If you drive a bit faster, it takes about 7 days, but if you want to see more scenery and take it easy on the road, 12 days is a more suitable pace.
Even if you go slower, 12 days should be enough.
Stark said two weeks, that speed… "Doesn't need to be that long, is it too slow?" Scratching his head, Shi Xiaolei couldn't help but advise, "A little faster, how about ten days? Two weeks is too long, you know, the little one definitely can't wait that long."
"Huh?" Hearing this, Stark showed a surprised expression. "Are you mistaken? I don't think I said it would be just the two of us, a one-on-one trip."
"Eh?"
"I'm planning to bring Pepper and Happy." Stark shrugged, nodding towards Conna. "And you, bring those two. The more people, the livelier the road."
"…" Staring at Stark for a few seconds, then turning to look at Conna, whose mouth was smeared with chocolate sauce, Shi Xiaolei rubbed his nose sheepishly. "I thought it was just the two of us. Tony, Conna still has school, you know."
"Just take time off, she's only in first grade, isn't she?" Stark paused, then continued, "Besides, from what I know of her, her learning progress has long surpassed that of a first-grader… She won't learn much in the classroom anyway, going out to see the world would actually be better for her. I'm sure the teachers at school would think so too."
Taking children on trips to broaden their horizons and expand their knowledge is a very popular form of family education in the United States. Having been in the U.S. for several months and having sent Conna to school for some time, Shi Xiaolei had heard recommendations from teachers more than once, and had even taken Conna out once or twice himself.
Although these outings were always on weekends and didn't go far, through these two or three excursions, little Conna had learned some common sense she didn't know before. Judging by the effect alone, this approach was indeed quite effective.
"Let's still ask Conna what she thinks. Maybe she'd prefer to go to school and play with her classmates?" After thinking about it, Shi Xiaolei felt that this decision should still be made by Conna herself.
"I have no objections."
No need to mention the process of asking Conna; in short, the girl agreed very readily.
No, it should be said she was very enthusiastic… Before Stark had even finished explaining the whole plan and asked the question, the little girl's eyes were already sparkling, and she excitedly raised her short hand, clutching an ice cream spoon, shouting, "I want to go too!"
"OK, it's settled." Stark nodded in satisfaction, reaching out to ruffle the little girl's head. "Conna, I'm very pleased with your answer. So I've decided to reward you with two very delicious puddings. Hehe, I specially asked a very, very skilled pastry chef to make them, I don't even want to eat them myself, do you want some?"
"Yes~!" While chocolate was good, when it came to her favorite, pudding was number one. As soon as she heard Stark's words, the little girl nodded vigorously, her small face showing an expression of fear that he might go back on his word.
He said he "didn't want to eat them," but in reality, they were prepared for the little girl. To be honest, Stark genuinely liked the cute and well-behaved Conna; this doting affection even surpassed the importance he placed on the young Spider-Man in "Spider-Man: Far From Home."
"I'll have Dummy bring them to you." Caressing the little girl's head once more, Stark looked up and instructed Jarvis. Then, he turned his gaze to Shi Xiaolei, nodding towards the stairs leading to the basement. "Come on, I'll take you to see your car."
"...Only bringing this up now, Tony, you didn't turn my car into an RV, did you?"
"You're going to love it, I guarantee it."