Chapter 536 - Dangerous Path
After that one fan noticed the final arrivals, everyone turned their heads so fast that they almost broke their necks (okay, that was an exaggeration). Many of them caught the moment when Iris Long pulled her head away from Jin Liwei"s kiss after realizing that they had now become the centre of everyone"s attention.
She looked a little fl.u.s.tered and shy. On the other hand, Jin Liwei looked smug, like a cat who ate the canary, before arranging his face into his usual cold and indifferent expression. He might look like the usual emotionless Jin Liwei but the possessive arm he wrapped around Iris Long"s tiny waist was anything but cold and indifferent.
The Black Stars immediately went into full cheering mode as soon as they saw their boss. They waved their special banners in the air and screamed for her at the top of their lungs.
"Boss Iris is here!!! The boss is here!"
"All hail the Emperor and the Empress!!!"
"Our mighty slippers welcome the boss!!!"
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! Boss Iris is so beautiful! CEO Jin is so handsome! Their babies are gonna be so CUTE!!! I can"t freaking wait!!!"
Maestro Ludovico De Luca and Enrique Valdez were soon forgotten. Yes, they were music legends and huge superstars, but Iris Long and Jin Liwei were currently one of the hottest trending topics in the country. Everyone wanted to see and confirm with their own eyes if the two were really in a relations.h.i.+p.
The two music legends had no problem of having the people"s attention diverted away from them, especially since it was because of their own student. It even made them proud.
"I heard that people still don"t know that Xiulan is the owner of Orchidia Beauty. It"s the biggest mystery of the night. Everyone will be so shocked after they learn the truth," Maestro De Luca whispered to his friend.
Enrique Valdez nodded. Then he paused, his expression showing deep thought. "She might be our music student, but she"s also Jianhong"s student in business. She learned how to effectively hype up her business from that wily old man."
Maestro De Luca laughed out loud. "Jianhong is one of the most shameless people I"ve ever met in my entire life but n.o.body can deny his ingenuity and that great devil luck of his when it comes to business. Xiulan is also becoming shameless in business but I think that"s a good thing. It means that n.o.body will be able to take advantage of her. She also has Liam beside her. That young man is a formidable and reliable leader. He"ll be able to help Xiulan stay on track when she becomes overenthusiastic in implementing all of her ideas at once. She has a tendency to do that."
"A common trait of geniuses," Enrique Valdez said.
"Ahahahaha! Very true. We"re also guilty of it, especially when we were younger."
The two music legends glanced at Iris and Jin Liwei, smiling and waving at them, before heading inside the convention centre to join the others from Cross Academy.
As for Iris and Jin Liwei, they had no choice but to resign themselves to deal with everyone"s attention. They started walking on the red carpet together with Jin Liwei keeping his arm around Iris" waist.
"It seems that Clover"s plan to lessen the attention on us only worked for a few seconds," Iris whispered, sighing.
Jin Liwei didn"t reply because he didn"t mind the attention at all. He couldn"t be any prouder walking together with his baby girl in front of all these thousands of people with more watching the livestreams online. Maybe there were already hundreds of thousands of viewers. Maybe even millions.
Iris was a little concerned about the two of them getting too much attention. She didn"t want the two of them to overshadow her company tonight. This night was for Orchidia Beauty and their first batch of products. She wanted the people to focus on the business and the products rather than on her relations.h.i.+p with Jin Liwei, even for just tonight.
"Don"t worry, love. It"s still only the red carpet. Once you officially launch your company later, I"m sure that everyone will focus on it and your amazing products," he rea.s.sured her, squeezing her waist a little to comfort her.
She nodded. "Yes. You"re right."
The camera flashes almost blinded the two of them as soon as they started posing. The cameras were even more numerous and intense than during the Sommet International Film Festival. All the media were focused on them. Almost everyone from the crowd behind the barricades were also taking photos of them.
Iris continued smiling, even though she couldn"t see anything besides the bright, flas.h.i.+ng lights. Jin Liwei looked like a G.o.d of ice beside her, his expression looking cold but not so indifferent this time.
He couldn"t maintain the indifference in his expression, especially after hearing so many sons of b.i.t.c.hes and motherf.u.c.kers shouting "Will you marry me?" to his baby girl. It was a good thing that one of his arms was wrapped around her waist because if it wasn"t, he would"ve probably already stormed off to the crowd and beat the s.h.i.+t out of the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.
Feeling the slight murderous aura emanating from her darling, Iris looked at his face.
"What"s wrong? Are you feeling uncomfortable? Do you want us to go inside now?" she asked.
Jin Liwei realized the direction of his thoughts and forcefully tamped down on the familiar green-eyed monster rearing its ugly head inside him again. He took several deep breaths before controlling his murderous aura.
"Don"t worry about it, love. I"m okay. I know that you want to interact with your fans first so you should. We"ll go inside after you"re done," he told her.
She nodded, grateful for his understanding. Then she headed straight towards the crowd behind the barricades to greet her fans, the Black Stars.
Jin Liwei followed her, of course, in addition to the event"s security which was actually made up of a mixture of his men and his Fifth Brother Lu Zihao"s subordinates. It was both of their idea to use their own subordinates, instead of hiring unknown people from a security agency. This way, they would be able to ensure that each member of the security had top-notch skills and loyalty to them. Most importantly, they would be rest a.s.sured that their people would always prioritize Iris" safety over anyone else.
Ketchup had also taken over the area"s surveillance and communication systems. She also already hijacked the police"s communication system without their knowledge, increasing her monitoring capabilities even further.
Even a tiny mouse wouldn"t be able to escape from the white cat"s thorough detection. There was no way a person would slip past her, especially right now that Ketchup was in a bad mood because of being grounded for two weeks. As a result of not being able to entertain herself freely online, she developed a ruthless mindset in punis.h.i.+ng anyone who dared to try slipping past her security systems at the event tonight.
"I will destroy anyone who dares ruin tonight"s launch party. Mommy worked so hard for this. And if anyone tries to hurt Mommy and Daddy, I will hurt them a million times—no, a billion times! Mreow!!!"
The white cat"s glowing silver-green eyes developed a golden hue in the middle while her paws and the tip of her tail started to darken. Her cute expression also became fierce and feral. However, this only lasted for a couple of seconds before she reverted to the sweet and adorable Ketchup. Even the white cat wasn"t completely aware of what happened to her.
Unbeknown to Iris, her cat AI and third baby had slipped into a dangerous path of evolution that night.