Chapter 515 - Grand Welcome
10:39 AM.
The sun was s.h.i.+ning brightly in the blue sky. The weather wasn"t too warm, nor too cold.
In this beautiful day, the jumbo jet, LX Air, landed on the private airport. It was the largest aircraft present in the place. The other smaller private planes looked like dragonflies next to the ma.s.sive Pterodactyl which was LX Air. Fortunately, the private airport was big enough to hold such a gigantic aircraft.
Just before 11 AM, the pa.s.sengers of LX Airdisembarked. Iris Long, Jin Liwei, and the others were finally back to their home country.
Contrary to what one would expect from someone who travelled for more than ten hours, both Iris and Jin Liwei didn"t look exhausted at all. In fact, they were both glowing and energetic.
The others snickered and peeked at them with knowing expressions after seeing their refreshed appearances. Iris and Jin Liwei spent the majority of the flight locked inside their bedroom. It didn"t take much imagination to know what the two had been doing.
Unlike the couple, the others looked exhausted and weary. The jumbo jet was extremely comfortable, but there were so many things to do that they spent almost the entire flight dining, playing around and entertaining themselves. They became too busy having fun that they neglected to have a proper rest in the bedrooms.
Now that they were back in China, they intended to go home and sleep for the entire day. However, they were all surprised when a grand welcome reception greeted them at the airport. Thus, their original plans to rest had to be delayed for a few more hours.
Everyone was driven to the airport"s main building. As soon as they entered, they were greeted by a sea of screaming, shrieking, jumping, whistling, and clapping people. Iris and the others were almost blinded by the bright camera flashes clicking nonstop at them.
"Welcome back, Boss Iris! Congratulations on the Best Soundtrack Award! We, the Black Stars, are so proud of you!"
"Boss Iris, we love you so much! Our mighty slippers will be supporting you every step of the way!"
"Iris Long, you"re so beautiful!"
"Kyaaaaah! It"s CEO Jin! Kyaaaaah! He"s so handsome! Kyaaaaaah! He"s holding Boss Iris" hand! Kyaa—"
"Oh s.h.i.+t! Help! Someone fainted!"
The Black Stars made up a large portion of the ma.s.sive crowd. They held big banners showing Iris Long"s name and image along with their messages of support and adoration. Among them were the WeiRis s.h.i.+ppers waving banners showing both Iris and Jin Liwei"s images together, declaring them as the most perfect couple in the face of the planet.
Aside from the Black Stars, there was a smaller group of fans holdings banners of Lu Zihao. Their eyes lit up in rabid wors.h.i.+p as soon as they saw him.
"Kyaaaaaaah! Lu Zihao, you"re so HOT!!!"
"Lu Zihao, I love you! Please marry me and put babies in my tummy!!!"
"Hunter Lu, you can hunt me anytime!!!"
Beside Lu Zihao, Grandpa Lu heard everything that these fans were screaming at his grandson.
"Pft! Did you hear what they were saying, Haohao my boy? "Put babies in my tummy! You can hunt me anytime!" Bahahahaha! Why are kids these days so funny? I want to know! Bahahaha!"
Grandpa Lu"s booming laughter made Lu Zihao"s eyes dim a bit. A sullen expression flashed in his eyes, unhappy that the old man was laughing at him. But he quickly covered it up with his usual devilish expression. He didn"t give a d.a.m.n about all of these adoring fans. He wasn"t like his little sister who cared about her fans. These people had nothing to do with him. All he cared about was the safety of his sister.
His eyes made a silent command. His subordinates immediately responded, fanning out before encircling their entire group. Jin Liwei also issued a similar command to his own men. The two groups coordinated, making the security tighter and more organized. Their subordinates were protecting all of them, but upon a closer look, they were actually more concentrated around Iris. It was because the majority of the fans present were here for her.
Both Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao didn"t want to risk her being grabbed or jumped at by any of these people, either on purpose or by accident. Even if it was only by mistake, both men wouldn"t forgive anyone who hurt her.
The airport also provided its own professional security to protect everyone in Iris" group, but compared to Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao"s subordinates, the difference in quality was obvious. The two men"s subordinates were all intimidating and had dangerous auras. They looked like they could kill someone if needed to protect their employers. In contrast, the airport"s security only had their uniforms which said "Security" as a deterrent to troublemakers.
Iris Long liked greeting and interacting with her fans in person. Today was no different. She headed straight to her fans. Jin Liwei also followed because they were holding hands. He stayed close to her, making sure that n.o.body got too touch-feely with his baby girl.
She signed autographs and took photos with her fans. She shook their hands and even hugged some of them. Jin Liwei allowed hugging to some extent, as long as they didn"t touch her where they shouldn"t touch. The fans became well-behaved in his presence. His cold and scary gaze made them tremble. As a result, they didn"t touch Iris longer than necessary.
Some WeiRis s.h.i.+ppers wanted to ask Jin Liwei for an autograph too but his cold and scary expression discouraged them from doing so. They could only turn to Iris instead who was many times nicer than him.
There were also a few who asked Lu Zihao for an autograph, but he didn"t grant their repeated requests. He flashed them his devilish smile instead, making them descend into another fit of screaming and shrieking until they forgot about asking for an autograph from him.
The great crowd didn"t only consist of the Black Stars, WeiRis s.h.i.+ppers and the Lu Zihao"s fans. There were also fans who came for Yin Meixing and the other actors and actresses from "Strong Yet Broken". There weren"t many of them, but they held their own and screamed for Yin Meixing and the others.
After interacting with the fans, the owner of the private airport, the bosses of Bright Summit and the talent companies managing Yin Meixing and the others" careers all came in person to officially welcome Iris" group back home in China.
"Sorry, Iris. I was told that Bright Summit is coordinating with the airport and the other management companies for this grand welcome, but I didn"t know that it would be this big. It looks like they also arranged a press conference right here at the airport. At this rate, it"ll already be afternoon before we could go home," Tang Yiyi whispered to Iris.
"It"s alright, Elder Sister Yiyi. I appreciate everyone coming to welcome us back. I"m happy," Iris replied in a warm tone.
"Okay, that"s good. But after this, you"re not allowed to work on anything today. You need to rest. We"re going to be busy in two days for your company"s launch."
"Yes, I understand."
"I"m serious, Iris. You"re too much of a workaholic that I can"t help but worry about your health. You have a history of collapsing and being hospitalized. I don"t want that to happen again," the manager said in a stern voice.
"Don"t worry, Miss Tang. I"ll keep an eye on Xiulan and make sure that she"s well-rested," Jin Liwei interjected into their conversation.
"Oh…I see. Okay…" Tang Yiyi felt a little awkward talking directly to Jin Liwei. She cleared her throat. "Please take care of Iris, then."
"Always," Jin Liwei simply said.
Thus, the group had no choice but to attend the press conference. It was now noon, lunchtime. They were all hungry but endured it after the big bosses of the airport and the management companies promised to treat them to a feast afterwards.
The cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken", including Guan Jintao and the President of LX Productions sat for the press conference. Iris Long and Yin Meixing, as the two award winners in the Sommet International Film Festival, took the most prominent positions at the very centre.
Jin Liwei, Grandpa Lu, Lu Zihao, Wei Lan and the others stayed offstage. Instead, they sat on VIP seats near the front of the stage separate from the reporters and the fans.
There were many reporters who attended the press conference. They weren"t only focused on Iris Long, Yin Meixing and everyone from "Strong Yet Broken". They also couldn"t stop looking at Jin Liwei and Wei Lan who threw the biggest bombsh.e.l.ls in France along with Iris Long.