Chapter 554 - Iris Of Hope
Although Iris couldn"t read her fans" comments online right now, she knew in her heart that most of them would be supportive. Fortunately, Hou Liang and Wu Chen were both onboard when she first informed them about her idea of connecting her foundation to Planet Monkey.
"My mighty slippers support this idea!" Wu Chen immediately agreed.
"You own both the company and the foundation. Do whatever you want," Hou Liang said before returning to work.
Back to the present, Iris was also pleased to see the standing ovation the guests were giving her foundation, Iris of Hope. To be honest, she was a little nervous of announcing it. This was an unfamiliar ground for her. She could be very generous, yes, but she had never really thought about "giving back" to strangers at this scale before Wei Lan planted the idea in her head.
"My mother will be helping me run my foundation. She will be one of the foundation"s main amba.s.sadors equal to myself," Iris continued announcing.
Everyone"s eyes widened in surprise. Although it was reported that the mother and daughter had repaired their relations.h.i.+p and became closer recently, they still couldn"t believe that Iris Long would give Wei Lan such a big and important responsibility.
What if they fought and became estranged again? Would the foundation be alright, especially since Iris Long claimed that it was inspired by Wei Lan? Would it still continue to exist and function properly even if the mother and daughter fought?
These kinds of the thoughts ran in the people"s minds. However, they didn"t have a definite answer right now. They would only know the fate of the foundation for sure when Iris Long and Wei Lan fought again like they always did in the past. They felt skeptical that the mother and daughter would be able to sustain the peace between them for long.
"If you want more information about my foundation, Iris of Hope, or to sign up as one of our patrons, please visit our dedicated booth over there. They"ll answer all of your questions," Iris told them.
The guests turned and saw a big booth occupying an entire corner at the back of the grand hall. It was a covered by a part.i.tion wall earlier but now it transformed into an information booth bearing a big "Iris of Hope" sign. There were also a few people standing by wearing Iris of Hope T-s.h.i.+rts. They held brochures containing information about the foundation.
Everyone was impressed at the professional set-up. They began looking at Iris Long in a completely different light. Although many people weren"t sure if all of these were her own work or if she depended on her fiancé Jin Liwei, they knew that everything presented tonight bore her name and image.
Tonight"s grand launch wasn"t just about Orchidia Beauty. It was also about Sang Bleu…oh right, she changed the name to Liberté. And finally, about her own foundation, Iris of Hope.
Iris Long wasn"t the first celebrity to establish her own foundation. There were many others before her. However, the people felt that Iris of Hope was special because it was first announced at such a grand event as this. Just look at the people in the guest list!
The current two top business families in the country were here—the Jins and the Lus.
Feng Wan, her three posh friends, and her cousin Feng Jiu were also quietly influential. Only a handful of guests present in the party knew about these ladies" deep backgrounds not only in high society, but also in the entire country. The most powerful among them, Feng Wan, was the least recognizable but she was actually the most influential. Her own family, the Fengs, and her husband"s family were from both extremely powerful clans. Gaining Feng Wan"s support was equal to the support of several influential families. Even Iris had no idea that one of her fans was this powerful.
In addition to them, there were also the current students and alumni of the legendary school of geniuses, Cross Academy. These figures would be welcomed with open arms by almost every nation in the world. Which country wouldn"t want to be connected to the prestigious academy?
There were also many celebrities, big and small alike, who attended tonight"s grand launch. Just from this guest list, Iris Long already succeeded in establis.h.i.+ng herself apart from the other celebrities doing the same thing. Some of the other celebrities might be more famous than her, but did they have this kind of high calibre connections? They might have one or two…but Iris? She had a large horde of them!
And indeed, after her announcement, her impressive guests headed to the booth.
Feng Wan, her cousin Feng Jiu, and her three posh friends were some of the first ones who signed up to support the foundation. The Jins, the Lus and the Longs also signed up, of course. All the foreign guests from Cross Academy also did so.
Seeing them, everyone else signed up to pledge their support. Not a single guest stayed back on their seats.
Wei Lan positioned herself at the front and centre of the booth, already performing her duty as a main amba.s.sador of Iris of Hope. With an impa.s.sioned expression, she shared her experiences travelling with her viscount husband to some of the poorest places in the world.
"I swear upon my t.i.tle as the Vizcondesa of Castillo de Estrellas that I will do my best to use my daughter"s foundation, Iris of Hope, to help those in need as much as I can and to do good in the world," she announced in a solemn tone.
Those who were familiar of her in the past didn"t believe her. They thought that she was just acting and pretending to be a Good Samaritan. However, many of the celebrities and beauty influencers invited in the event were only familiar of her ident.i.ty as Iris Long"s mother but didn"t know much about her personality.
It wasn"t only the guests who signed up to support Iris of Hope. The Black Stars, some of Jin Chonglin"s army of fans, and many of the viewers watching the livestream also signed up for newsletters online via the foundation"s official website. No donations were asked. It wasn"t compulsory. People could donate anytime once they found a cause they wanted to support.
This entire process took more than an hour. When the crowd at the booth petered out, the lights in the grand hall dimmed, replaced by flas.h.i.+ng party lights.
Dom: "Ladies and gentlemen!"
Clover: "Please welcome our first performers of the night…"
Both: "PANDEMONIUM!!!"
The small stage lit up. Blaze, Eros, Night and Thunder appeared in loosened ties and tuxedo suits. Their slightly rumpled looks elicited giddy shrieks from the younger members of the audience.
Pandemonium played one of their relatively popular rock songs. Next, they played "Nightmare" which became viral when Iris Long became the band"s subst.i.tute lead guitarist after Eros accidentally burned himself at their "MusicFest Tonight" performance.
Although the older members of the audience couldn"t relate to the loud and intense music style, the lively and cheerful atmosphere of the party made them tolerate almost anything.
After performing "Nightmare", the sweaty Blaze looked at Iris who was sitting beside Jin Liwei.
"We would like to invite Senior Iris to sing this next song for us," he said. "It"s our band"s most famous and biggest hit song to date. This song opened so many doors for us as musicians thanks to Senior Iris. Please sing this song with us, Senior! You wrote it!"
The audience"s eyes lit up. They knew which song Blaze was talking about! It was the song that won Iris Long the special technical award for inventing new musical techniques.
"YES! SING IT! SING IT! SING IT!!!" they began to chant.
The viewers watching the livestream were also commenting like crazy, wanting her to perform the now legendary hit song in the world of rock music.
Iris looked at Jin Liwei, smiling a little helplessly. Her dress wasn"t made for performing—heck, it wasn"t even made for climbing steps that were higher than usual! However, excitement sparkled in her eyes.
"Hm…" The corners of Jin Liwei"s mouth lifted in a faint smile. "You want to perform?"
She nodded.
"Then go have fun, love."
"Yes!" She gave her darling"s hand a squeeze before standing up and heading up the stage.
However, a certain someone also stood up and walked beside her.
Iris stopped. "Teacher?" she asked in a whisper.
Enrique Valdez"s hazel eyes looked uncharacteristically excited when he looked at her.
"I want to perform this song, too," he said in his mesmerizing voice.
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